Chapter 935 - The Livid Bolden

What The F*CK!

“Musk! That bastard!”

Bolden slammed the file on the table, and collapsed into his chair. His heavy breathing sounded like he was about to spurt fire.

As the director of NASA, he always favored SpaceX as a representative of private aerospace companies in the UA. Whenever a good project appeared, he always thought of the company. However, Musk just now told him that they outsourced the supply mission of the International Space Station to Celestial Trade.

What the fu*k!

How dare they, how can they do this!

Traitor, this is betrayal!

Other staff members in the office were all silent. Even Bolden’s assistant sped up when he passed by his desk. Everyone knew why this grumpy old man was angry. SpaceX actually outsourced the supply mission.

The space market was a highly fragmented market. In general, even if the launch price of SpaceX was low, Hua and Russia didn’t give their launch projects to SpaceX. The market of each country consisted of a maximum of 10-30 launch missions a year. It was already difficult to feed the domestic aerospace companies, who would outsource their projects to other countries?

Russia’s outsourcing of supply missions to Celestial Trade was an exception, on the one hand because of Russia’s own economic situation, and on the other hand because Jiang Chen promised to sell the RM-320 rocket engine… Although the RM-320 was eliminated by Celestial Trade, Jiang Chen did fulfill the commitment of the contract.

But in the UA, such exception would never exist.

What made Bolden angry was that he once touted the Falcons 10 rocket in front of the president and praised as “a technology masterpiece that will down in history”, “the rocket that will change the future of mankind”, “the hope of the UA”, etc. The titles were given to a project that had yet to produce results.

However, Musk now told him – “Sorry, our Falcon 10 rocket development is now cancelled.”

Oh! God! I will definitely be the laughing stock of the Capital!

Just as Bolden was fuming, his assistant anxiously walked over and articulated quickly. “Musk is outside. He said that he wants to see you.”

Bolden’s eyebrows raised and he forced down his rage. After he calmed himself down, he said to his assistant, “Let him come in.”

“Yes…” The assistant nodded and quickly left.

He knew that his boss was at the brink of explosion. The reason why he didn’t roar out was nothing but the silence before the storm.

Soon, the office door was pushed open and a man in a coat came in.

Bolden made a scoffing sound and his penetrative sight fixated on the person that just entered the room.

“I was looking for you, but you came yourself.”

Musk coughed, then said, “Let me explain…”

“Explain to the Capital,” Bolden said. “You have outsourced a subsidized project to a foreign company. Are you that desperate to make money?!”

“Of course I’ll explain to the Capital, in fact, I am already preparing the materials for the hearing.”

If he didn’t prepare a reasonable explanation, the misers at Budget Committee would probably directly send him from the congressional hearing to the Federal Court.

After a pause, Musk continued without pressure, “I have to clarify, even if I just outsourced the launch mission to Celestial Trade, the supply work is still completed by us.”

Bolden, who was fuming, sneered, “What is the difference?”

“Do you think it makes sense to go back and forth with chemical rockets from the surface to the orbit?” Musk asked.

Bolden’s eyebrows furrowed as he was just about to open his mouth, but he suddenly stopped.

Yes, the space elevator has been completed, so what is the significance of continuing to develop chemical rockets? That is not the future!

He was just raging and lost his calmness without being able to properly think. Now that some rationality returned to him and he began to re-examine the issue, it may have actually been a wise choice to give up the Falcon series rocket. As an expert in the aerospace field, Bolden knew exactly the limits of chemical rockets.

Seeing that his old friend had calmed down, Musk also breathed a sigh of relief and built off his previous statement.

“I promise that the budget saved from the launch project in February and on the Falcon 10 rocket development plan will be used in the development of the third generation Dragon spacecraft. Over the past few years, we have continuously improved the Falcon rocket. The Dragon Spacecraft series plan had been stagnant for too long, and now it is time to make a step forward.”

Bolden was still gloomy, but there was a sign of his wavering. “This means that we have to borrow the space elevator of Celestial Trade in the next few decades.”

“And ports and berths at the space station. I tried to probe when I called Jiang Chen. Celestial Trade is very sensitive to the rental of the space elevator track. There is almost no room for negotiation, but they didn’t exclude the leasing of ports and berths.” Musk paused slightly. “There are still three days until the UN Outer Space Summit. I think… this information can be used as a reference.”

Bolden’s eyes lit up slightly.

He immediately stood up and strode to his assistant’s desk.

“Meeting in the conference room in an hour. NASA executives must be present.”

“Yes!” The assistant stood up and was about to leave the desk, but Bolden reached out and stopped him.

“And, contact the Capital for me!” Bolden said. “I hope that the Capital will pay enough attention. It is best to send someone and make a transcript. Remember, I don’t want an intern!”

“Understood.” The assistant hurriedly nodded.

Before leaving, the Mexican-American assistant secretively examined Musk. He didn’t understand how this guy calmed his boss’s anger. He had thought that it would turn into a brawl after they met. After all, it was not a rare event to start a fight as part of the “office culture”.

After the assistant left, Bolden again issued several orders to his subordinates to ensure that everyone started to move and then returned to his desk. His mouth felt dry, but he remembered his assistant was already arranging for the meeting.

Just as he was about to get up, a cup of coffee appeared right in front of him.

“At the congressional hearing, I need your help.” Musk smartly made a cup of coffee when his old friend ignored him.

Bolden raised his eyebrows. He glanced at the coffee and then glanced at Musk.

“I will help you, but it is still up to yourself.”

Musk smiled.

“With your words, I feel assured.”

Just as NASA launched a heated discussion for the upcoming UN summit, Jiang Chen already ended separate meetings with representatives from Hua, the UA, Russia, and the UK. Although the results were limited, Jiang Chen was already prepared for the upcoming summit.

After this summit, the political landscape of the world wouldn’t necessarily be changed.

But the history of human civilization would certainly be rewritten.