In a warehouse at the ESA research center in Athens, Greece, sat a huge spacecraft. It looked no different from an ordinary airplane, but its technology was far more advanced.
The nameplate read: Liquid-fuel twin-engine manned spacecraft, Model Z17A. Built by ESA (Athens) Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Registration number SX2017z17a0669. Made in Greece.
News reports said the craft was developed jointly by ESA, Boeing, and Airbus, taking from 2000 to 2017 to complete research and production. The first unmanned prototype broke apart during its very first test flight. According to surveillance footage, about 15 minutes after takeoff, a component fell off the spacecraft. Seconds later, the fuselage largely disintegrated, followed by an explosion. All the debris crashed into the Aegean Sea.
However, much of the wreckage hit onlookers, causing heavy casualties. An investigation was launched after the accident, but with no flight data recovered, it made no progress. After years of delay, the crash was finally ruled an accident caused by metal fatigue in a spacecraft part. Victims injured by debris received large compensation and proper follow-up arrangements.
Naturally, no airworthiness certificate was ever issued. The manufacturers could not avoid investigations by authorities, which lasted more than a year. They paid massive fines, and in the end, ESA announced it would develop a new model.
In 2022, after several years of redevelopment, ESA announced plans to test a new generation of spacecraft. When the news came out, residents near the sea protested fiercely, posting their objections on social media. One post read: "Looks like ESA just won't give up. Sending a pile of junk into space just to let it crash into our own people. Even if you make it to space, you're only delaying space junk."
When the news reached China, ESA's Chinese official website in Wuhan posted an astronaut recruitment notice. Roughly speaking, it used a pre-lottery system with about 100 to 200 places per country. Personal information submitted would be kept confidential, and results would be sent by email within three to five years. Many Chinese netizens thought it sounded unreliable, at most a symbolic move by ESA to keep people from forgetting the project.
Inside a teacher's office at a middle school in China, three students stood facing the wall as punishment. They were all boys: the tallest was Lü Yanjie, the one with long hair was Zhang Shuai, and the grinning one was Lin Wei.
Zhang Shuai whispered to Lin Wei and Lü Yanjie: "Why couldn't you two even write a note properly? The teacher was watching you from behind. And that study committee member—what's his name? He ratted me out too."
The English teacher who had caught them passing notes said to the head teacher at the next desk: "Look at these three from your class. Everyone else is practicing handwriting, but they take a blank exam paper and write all kinds of nonsense on it, saying things like 'I want to join ESA' and 'If we get rich, we'll buy luxury cars and villas together.'"
The head teacher asked: "What's ESA?"
The English teacher smiled and said: "European Space Agency. The one in the news a while ago."
The head teacher stood up, raised his voice, and said to them: "If you three could actually get into some ESA, then any cat or dog could go to space. Next time I catch you writing this kind of stuff, I'll call your parents. Now get back to class."
The three struggled not to laugh as they left the office.
Lin Wei said: "Next class is computer. I've got something fun in mind."
During computer class, the three secretly opened a browser, went to the ESA official website, and filled in their personal information. Afterward, they closed the browser, cleared their search history, and continued the lesson.
Maybe it was youthful ignorance, maybe they really wanted to go to space. Gradually, the three forgot all about it. Little did they know that one day, they really might fly into space.