VOA慢速英语2019 NASA推迟火箭发射计划至2020年（在线收听）

NASA's New Rocket Delayed

NASA's large new rocket will not be ready for launch next year, the American space agency's top official said this week.

美国宇航局（NASA）巨型新火箭明年还无法发射，这是NASA本周备受热议的官宣。

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told a Senate committee that he is thinking about using rockets made by private companies to keep the planned June 2020 launch date.

NASA局长吉姆向参议院委员会表示自己正在思考通过私企制造的火箭来保证2020年6月的发射如期进行。

NASA's delayed rocket is called the Space Launch System, or SLS.

NASA推迟的火箭名作太空发射系统（SLS）。

It's a "critical piece of what NASA needs to build," Bridenstine told the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.

这是NASA需要建造的关键环节，吉姆对参议院商务、科学与交通委员会如是说道。

Bridenstine added that NASA would need two private rockets to take over the SLS' job of launching the Orion capsule and an upper stage. Orion must dock with the upper stage in orbit around Earth before going to the Moon.

吉姆补充表示，NASA需要私企制造的2个火箭来承担SLS发射猎户座飞船的任务和火箭上面级的任务。猎户座飞船必须与现在轨道的火箭上面级进行对接，然后才能进入月球。

"This is 2019," Senator Roger Wicker, the committee chairman, told Bridenstine. "I'd sure like to keep us on schedule."

委员会主席、参议员罗杰对吉姆表示，现在是2019年，我当然希望我们能如期进行。

The first test flight had first been planned for this year. "I want to be clear: NASA has a history of not meeting launch dates, and I'm trying to change that," Bridenstine said.

第一次试飞起初定于今年。我想明确一点：NASA素来无法如期发射火箭，我一直在尽力改变这一点，吉姆表示道。

NASA seeks a sustainable moon program. In the past, Apollo lunar landings were direct trips from and back to Earth. The goal now is to have a base with astronauts near the moon.

NASA希望其月球项目能够可持续进行。以前，阿波罗的月球着陆都是月地直接往返的。现在的目标是让宇航员在月球附近有一个基地可用。

Orion would not carry a crew and would not land on the moon. Instead, the Orion would get close to the Moon before traveling beyond it.

猎户座飞船将会是无人飞船，而且也不会在月球上着陆。相反，猎户座飞船先要靠近月球，然后才会飞离月球更远的地方。

A NASA statement says Orion "will travel 280,000 miles [450,000 kilometers] from Earth, thousands of miles beyond the Moon over the course of about a three-week mission."

NASA在一份声明中指出，猎户座飞船飞离地球28万英里，将在为期3周的任务中飞离月球外数千英里的地方。

The statement adds, "Orion will stay in space longer than any ship for astronauts has done, without docking to a space station, and return home faster and hotter than ever before."

声明补充表示，猎户座飞船在太空中逗留的时间比历史上的任何可载人飞船都要久，不过不会与国际空间站对接，而且返回地球的速度更快，温度也更高。

NASA is already using private companies to make International Space Station shipments. If private rockets were to be used for the 2020 mission, SLS would be put in operation for NASA's second exploration mission by 2023.

NASA已经在通过私企制造国际空间站的火箭了。如果私企制造的火箭能用于2020年的任务中，那么SLS将在2023年之前投入NASA的第二次空间探索中。

Words in This Story

capsule – n. a small part of a spacecraft that is separate from the rest of the spacecraft and that is where people live and work

stage – n. a particular point or period in the growth or development of something

sustainable – adj. able to last or continue for a long time

schedule – n. a plan of things that will be done and the times when they will be done

dock – v. to join together (two spacecraft) while in space