波音及SpaceX将送美国宇航员赴国际空间站

2014-09-25 14:11:43来源：可可英语

　　Boeing and the Space Exploration TechnologiesCorporation are the winners in the competition tocarry Americans astronauts to the InternationalSpace Station, NASA announced Tuesday.

　　美国航空航天局(NASA)本周二宣布，在运送美国宇航员到国际空间站(International Space Station)项目的竞争中，波音(Boeing)和太空探索技术公司(Space ExplorationTechnologies Corporation)成为了赢家。

　　The awards reflect a fundamental shift in NASA’s human spaceflight program, relying onprivate companies rather than the traditional hands-on approach, in which the space agencydesigned and operated the spacecraft.

　　此举反映了NASA载人航天计划中的一个根本性转变，即把设计和运行航天器的任务外包给私人企业，而不是像以往那样亲力亲为。

　　The first flights could take off as soon as 2017.

　　该项目的首飞最早可于2017年开始。

　　“We have credible plans for both companies to get there by that period of time,” KathrynLueders, the manager for NASA’s commercial crew program, said during a news conferenceon Tuesday. “We will not sacrifice crew safety for that goal.”

　　“我们有可靠的计划，让这两家公司能如期提供服务，”在本周二的新闻发布会上，NASA的商业乘务计划经理凯瑟琳·吕德斯(Kathryn Lueders)表示。“我们不会为了实现那个目标而罔顾机组人员的安全。”

　　Boeing received a $4.2 billion contract. Space Exploration Technologies — better known asSpaceX, of Hawthorne, Calif. — received a $2.6 billion contract.

　　波音公司获得了一份42亿美元(约合人民币258亿元)的合同。位于加州霍桑的太空探索技术公司获得了一份26亿美元的合同，该公司更广为人知的名字是SpaceX。

　　“Today we’re one step closer to launching our astronauts from U.S. soil on Americanspacecraft and ending the nation’s sole reliance on Russia,” said Charles F. Bolden Jr., theNASA administrator.

　　“我们希望在美国本土上用美国航天器运送宇航员，不再处于只能依靠俄罗斯的境地，今天我们向这个目标迈近了一步，”NASA负责人小查尔斯·博尔登(Charles F. Bolden Jr.)说。

　　Since the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011, NASA has had no way to send its astronautsto orbit, relying on the venerable Russian Soyuz spacecraft for transportation to and fromthe International Space Station at a cost of $70 million per seat.

　　自航天飞机在2011年退役后，NASA就无法自己将宇航员送入轨道，一直在依靠高龄的俄罗斯联盟号(Soyuz)航天器往返国际空间站，每个座位的价格为7000万美元。

　　That became a politically uncomfortable arrangement after Russia’s annexation of Crimeaand support of pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine.

　　在俄罗斯吞并克里米亚，并支持乌克兰的亲俄分裂分子之后，再这么做在政治上就不太妥当了。

　　John Mulholland, the commercial crew manager at Boeing, said NASA called just before thenews conference to tell him his company had won the competition. “It was a real mixture ofinspiration and humbleness,” he said.

　　波音公司乘务经理约翰·穆赫兰(John Mulholland)表示，就在新闻发布会开始之前，NASA致电告诉他，波音公司赢得了合同。“我感到既振奋又荣幸，”他说。

　　Under the contracts, Boeing and SpaceX will finish development of their spacecraft. Boeing’sCST-100 capsule, configured to carry up to five people, will launch on an Atlas 5 rocket.SpaceX’s Dragon 2 capsule, a sleeker, updated version of the capsule already carrying cargoto the space station, will ride on top of the company’s Falcon 9 rocket.

　　根据该合同，波音和SpaceX公司将完成各自的航天器研制。波音公司的CST-100太空舱最多可载五人，将通过阿特拉斯5型火箭(Atlas 5)发射。SpaceX公司的龙2型(Dragon 2)太空舱将使用该公司的猎鹰9号(Falcon9)火箭发射，相比于已经用来运载货物到空间站的太空舱，这个更新型号的外形更加美观。

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