September to October was the time Lin Ju put all his effort into recruiting people.
According to the base's size, at least 80 engineers and more than 200 skilled workers were needed, the arrangements so far simply weren't enough.
There weren't many people that could be poached from the Sixth Institute, so they had to recruit from the public.
Luckily, recruiting senior workers and engineers for manufacturing didn't require a strict adherence to aerospace majors, which were more oriented towards space flight and had less demand and could rely on System Engineers.
It was still quite easy to recruit manufacturing workers in China, as long as the company was willing to offer good benefits, filling the ranks was relatively easy.
The rapid expansion of New Yuan Aeronautics's size, akin to inflating a balloon, also brought management pressures.
At this time, the role of Accountant Cai, enhanced by Lin Ju's skill card, came into play, ensuring that a group of more than three hundred people didn't create trouble, as an executive.
Unfortunately, a factory wasn't an office building, so one couldn't stand in the clouds and look down on all creatures, but looking at rockets was quite exhilarating as well.
Because Lin Ju's expertise wasn't exactly in line with that of System Engineers, and he didn't have a strong desire to make money for enjoyment, his hobbies began to develop like Ma's: boasting and pie in the sky planning.
Of course, his pie in the sky was scientific and somewhat feasible.
After all, the System was too powerful, reminiscent of the style of a grandee, and as soon as he called for assistance, everything would be arranged smoothly.
The most reassuring was the System Unit Research Institute, which was the ultimate cheat code.
Generally speaking, there's no necessary correlation between the input and output of scientific research, which might suddenly yield something incredible or might lead to no result at all and sink like a stone in the sea.
But the System Research Institute was different; once a task was established, as long as there was investment, the research progress would surely increase, akin to no matter how strong a monster was, if you struck a blow, it would lose one point of health.
Lin Ju had tried directly creating a task "Research and Develop Fusion-Powered Spaceships," which also showed as feasible, only the estimated time had a long string of zeroes at the end.
The first flight time for the piloted space mission's New Yuan-2 rocket was expected to be three months later, while the space plane was expected to have its first flight nine months later.
Moreover, there needed to be frequent tests within a month, and even though the performance data for the H1 space plane was given clearly by the System, it still had to be done again to become familiar with the flight performance and procedures.
And during this period, Lin Ju had to find a location to build a launch site and runway for the use of the New Yuan-2 rocket and the space plane, but that too was an easily solvable minor issue.
The only slightly scarce resource was funds; the Sixth Institute had provided a hundred million, and this time's commercial launch could earn just shy of ten million, just barely covering the initial costs.
The later phases could only rely on continuing to accept commercial orders, but now wasn't the time to worry.
Lin Ju now felt that the primary task at hand was to expand his fame, because only with reputation would orders seek him out.
In this period, together with the System Engineers, he had formulated many grand plans for moon landings, Mars landings, and space stations, all of which sounded impressive, seemed feasible, but were actually purely speculative.
Of course, the main focus was still on the manned spaceflight program, which didn't need to be concealed, as New Yuan Aeronautics was already researching where to find astronauts.
This was about going to space and flying a space plane, not the traditional method of sitting in a spacecraft waiting for ground control. The requirements for the astronauts were very high.
Training them from scratch was definitely out of the question, and poaching active astronauts was even more fantastical.
The only viable option was to find pilots with excellent skills and train them to pilot the space planes.
As for how to find them, it certainly wasn't through placing job ads.
There's a theory in the world: regardless of how far apart two completely unacquainted people are in distance and status, they can be connected through no more than six steps.
So as long as one wants to find a specific person, there's always a way.
…
"Left! To the left! Did you not understand what 'formation' means?"
"Are your hands made of cement? Trim, trim it!"
"Cut the throttle, we're going to collide!"
"..."
"Thank you, thank you for sparing the instructor's life."
After completing the first formation training with the rookie, Deng Lei felt more exhausted than when he used to tangle with foreign militaries on the border.
Every time he finished with a new pilot, he would wonder how such idiots managed to become pilots.
"Instructor, I'm sorry, I definitely won't make the same mistake next time."
"Next time? Go back now and fly the simulator, or next time you'll take the instructor to heaven!"
Having sent the rookie back to the simulation base, Deng Lei suddenly felt a sense of emptiness.
He was already forty-two years old and wouldn't be able to work as an instructor much longer; he might not be able to fly at all in a few years.
As a once outstanding fighter jet pilot who narrowly missed being selected as a reserve astronaut, he had fallen to training rookies at the flight school.
Quietly retiring was a difficult thing for him to accept.
His phone in his pocket suddenly vibrated. Deng Lei answered the call to find it was from a nephew of his.
This nephew had been scolded by him not long ago for leaving the Sixth Institute for a private company, and they had not made contact for several days.
"Hello? Were you kicked out, kid? Uncle can't help you with that."
"No, uncle, I heard you once participated in astronaut selection?"
Deng Lei was stunned, the question brought back memories from ten years ago.
At that time, after General Yang had gone to space, there was a frenzy for astronaut recruitment, and the astronaut detachment was expanding among the pilots.
Deng Lei, who was flying the J-8II at that time, also took part, even completed several months of astronaut training with excellent results but ultimately was cut.
The reason was that his fiancée had cheated on him, the wedding was called off, and according to the rules, unmarried individuals could not become astronauts.
So Deng Lei's career and love life both suffered, and he missed out on becoming an astronaut. His work didn't go well after that, and he stayed single, eventually becoming a flight instructor as he got older.
Although he didn't know what his nephew meant, he still proudly said:
"I had even entered the reserve astronaut team, went through all the required training. Did you know I scored top marks in everything? I not only met General Yang but also had dinner with him.
If it weren't for that mess, maybe I would be in the sky right now."
"Oh~, uncle, our company is recruiting astronauts, are you interested in trying out? The salary is negotiable, but it's definitely not low... and by the way, married or not, either is fine."
"What? Recruiting astronauts?"
Deng Lei ignored the last part, taken aback by the news, then quickly countered:
"How can your private company possibly recruit astronauts? Do you know how difficult manned spaceflight is? If I go now, I might not make it to space before I die."
Although Deng Lei sounded incredulous, his nephew heard a hint of anticipation in his voice, which suddenly gave him confidence.
"That's not the case, uncle. From what I've seen in the internal information, we are planning to send people to space next year, and it will be aboard a spacecraft. The plan will be made public soon, and right now we are especially recruiting expert pilots who can pilot spacecraft.
I was thinking about you, uncle. Your flying skills are excellent; you've done wonders with the J-8. There won't be a problem with this, and I was just asking. It's not even certain they would want you. But if you're interested, you can come and have a look. If not, just pretend I didn't say anything."
"Of course I fly well; I rank well within the whole squadron," Deng Lei subconsciously affirmed his own skills, then after a while, he said:
"Let me think about it."