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The speed of the shuttle continued to increase, becoming faster as the air thinned, though the lift it could provide diminished accordingly.

The two astronauts kept a close watch on the various data streams. When all the data converged on a predetermined value, the main pilot said, "Thrust level six-six, full engine power!"

"Understood! Engines five and six are initiating, full thrust!"

The co-pilot immediately acknowledged, activating the last two engine switches, while the main pilot pushed the throttle lever all the way up.

At this point, all six T-1 'Dart' annular engines were at full thrust, pushing the spacecraft into space with a force of 93.6 tons.

Due to previous fuel consumption, the spacecraft's weight had decreased from a hundred tons to ninety tons, resulting in a thrust-to-weight ratio exceeding 1, ensuring continued acceleration without any issues.

With the thrust at maximum, Tang Chao could already feel significant pressure and vibration, but according to Werner, this vibration and G-force were much smoother than in the 'Tin Can' spacecraft.

Tang Chao's personal experience mirrored this; while not particularly comfortable, it was at least comparable to sitting on an airplane. His current physical condition represented that of an average Earthling, and if he could withstand it, so could other Earthlings.

Werner later told him that this was also due to the powered spacesuit he was wearing.

This spacesuit had a cushioning layer that further reduced vibrations; without it, Tang Chao would have felt even greater shaking.

However, their experiments and validations confirmed that the vibration and G-force were within the acceptable range for ordinary humans.

That was good.

Achieving this was already commendable. Further improvements in comfort would require a complete technological upgrade, essentially leading to a true spaceplane.

Annular engines are still rocket engines, and once activated, their fuel consumption rate is extremely high.

The shuttle's fuel reserves were limited, leaving little time to consider comfort factors excessively. Only with the use of true spaceplane engines, which would significantly reduce fuel consumption in the atmosphere, could designers consider further comfort improvements.

Just as Tang Chao was contemplating how many waves of investors he could fleece and when it would be appropriate to release the spaceplane, he suddenly felt the G-force and vibration disappear, and the entire space seemed to quiet down.

He also felt lighter.

No, not lighter, but rather the shuttle had reached the first cosmic velocity, and he was experiencing weightlessness.

"Shut down engines, entering inertial flight mode," the main pilot announced.

"Understood!"

The co-pilot followed suit, shutting down the six engines in the reverse order, three at a time.

"All engines are now off."

The spacecraft was still in the shadow of Kerbin. Through the screen in front of him, Tang Chao could see the lights below. Looking up at the observation window, he was greeted by a brilliant starry sky.

In the dark and deep space, the world of stars and seas presented an unimaginable spectacle.

Countless stars converged into a celestial river, perhaps similar to or different from the Milky Way. The Kerbin system's location seemed to be on the edge of this galaxy, so Tang Chao could see their convergence into a 'Milky Way,' as beautiful and vast as the one seen from Earth.

Without the scattering effect of the atmosphere, he could see even more beautiful things, with each shining star resembling a gem embedded in a star chart.

He could even sense patches of space nebulae composed of various colored dust, gases, and debris, connected together, ultimately forming various wonderful patterns.

"BOSS, we have entered Kerbin orbit. The pilot has shut down the engines. You can unbuckle your seatbelt now. The pilot will help us recline the seats to give us more room to move around."

Werner's voice brought Tang Chao back from his awestruck gaze. He turned his head and replied, "No problem."

He raised his floating hand to unbuckle the floating seatbelt.

"Click~"

The unbuckled seatbelt naturally floated to both sides, and his body also floated up naturally.

He didn't make a standing motion; this was simply the result of his body repeatedly touching the seat when he first unbuckled the seatbelt.

The action of forces is mutual.

This law was vividly displayed in the weightless state.

After he floated away from the seat, it slowly began to recline.

Ignoring the reclining seat, he floated directly to the observation window, gently grabbing the handrail by the window with his mechanical hand. The first things that caught his eye were a space station and a moon.

There wasn't much to say about the moon. Kerbin had two moons, and this should be the larger one.

The space station was worth discussing.

Werner had previously introduced him to this space station, which was Kerbin's only space station and was positioned similarly to Earth's International Space Station.

However, it was much larger than the International Space Station, weighing 1200 tons, roughly three times the mass of the International Space Station.

Moreover, it was a 'four-generation' station, integrating modules from the first, second, third, and fourth generations of space stations within its 1200-ton mass.

Due to the previous 'Cosmic Upgrade' event, all man-made equipment in and beyond Kerbin's orbit was gone, and the Kerbals had to re-explore Kerbin and return to space.

They first launched a 1.3-meter diameter module to conduct experiments.

This module seemed small to Tang Chao, but it was sufficient for the Kerbals who were less than 80 centimeters tall.

After completing the experiment, the Kerbals launched two more of the same model, forming a small space station.

This 'multi-module, building block structure' was somewhat similar to Earth's third-generation space station concept, but the Kerbals didn't think so. They classified generations based on a comprehensive state of size and structure.

Afterward, the module was upgraded to a 2.6-meter diameter, and three more were launched, still in a building block structure.

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Because they were progressing too quickly, the previous small first-generation space station hadn't reached its design life, so it was pieced together.

After that, their space station module diameter was upgraded again to 3.9 meters, and several more were launched, pieced together with the previous two generations.

At this point, the Kerbin space station was already very complex, but the Kerbals still felt it wasn't enough and wanted to add more modules.

Because the structure was somewhat unstable, they also installed trusses to fix the structure, and then added some large 3.9-meter diameter modules, eventually forming this 1200-ton super-large space station.

They called it the fourth generation.

Now that he was here, Tang Chao naturally wanted to go inside and take a look.

The 3.9-meter diameter module was quite good, between the 3.35-meter diameter of Earth's Tiangong-1 and 2 space labs and the 4-meter diameter of formal space stations. Tang Chao could enter without any problems.

This space station had several cupola modules. On Earth, these were observation decks, but on Kerbin, they were cockpits.

Perhaps the game developers were influenced by old bomber cockpits, where observation technology wasn't advanced, so visual observation was necessary, resulting in transparent cockpits that allowed the crew to observe most areas.

However, he looked at several cupola modules and found that only one still retained the control panel; the others had been dismantled and turned into pure observation decks.

As he observed Kerbin's night through the cupola module, Kerbin's sun rose from behind Kerbin, allowing him to witness the spectacular sight of a space sunrise.

He noticed that in the sunlight, Kerbin's atmosphere, visible to the naked eye, was hazy, only a thin layer.

And the entire Kerbin civilization was born in that thin layer of atmosphere, and most Kerbals still lived in that thin layer of atmosphere.

He had seen this scene on Earth's internet. They, humans, were the same.

Although the location was different and the civilization on the planet was different, he was deeply moved to have personally flown into space to witness this scene.

Whether it was Earth or Kerbin, they were both large, nurturing hundreds of millions of intelligent lives.

At the same time, they were also very small. From space, their ecosystems were only that thin layer.

He turned to look at the starry sky. Those points of light were planets in the Kerbin system, and even more were distant giant stars, even entire galaxies.

Such huge things were seen here only as small bright spots.

It was astonishing.

The Kerbals had long had an unwavering goal, which was to head towards the brilliant starry sky.

At this moment, Tang Chao's goal was the same, more determined than ever. The future of humanity was also that brilliant starry sky.

At this moment, his thoughts underwent a transformation that he himself didn't understand.

The remaining two chapters will be updated at 9 PM.