2006年VOA标准英语-Astronauts Struggle with Installing Solar Wings

By David McAlary
Washington
13 September 2006

The International Space Station (ISS) spreads its new solar wings Thursday. Spacewalking astronauts from the U.S. space shuttle Atlantis have spent two days preparing them for operation, and now they are ready to unfurl and provide extra electricity for the research complex. The astronauts had some difficulty Wednesday in their set up work.

-----

Mission Specialists Steve MacLean, right, and Dan Burbank, left, gather their tools as they finish work on newly installed solar array during spacewalk outside ISS  
  
Astronaut Dan Burbank and his Canadian colleague, Steve MacLean, ventured outside Atlantis Wednesday for the second spacewalk in two days to prepare the solar arrays for their rollout.

On Tuesday, another pair of astronauts had connected cables for power, data, and cooling, while MacLean and Burbank Wednesday removed bolts and covers that held down during launch the 17-ton girder on which the solar panels are installed.

But the crewmembers experienced some problems along the way.

"Today we had numerous battles with the hardware," said space station flight director John McCullough.  "Today it took a couple of strong folks to get the job done. I know it's not a very good analogy, but it was almost like giving birth today, the fighting we had to go through and the labor¹ pains."

Astronauts on space walk Wednesday  
  
The astronauts together struggled with a balky bolt that refused to unfasten, so they retrieved² a different wrench³ from a toolbox and slipped a long bar over the handle for extra leverage⁴. The bolt finally loosened.

Another bolt flew away when MacLean was removing a protective cover from the rotating joint⁵ that will swivel the solar panels toward the sun. A similar bolt loss occurred during Tuesday's spacewalk. Mission officials say both bolts floated away and pose no threat to the station.

MacLean also broke a tool he was using, but he was able to grab the parts before they floated away.

Shuttle spacewalk supervisor⁶ John Haensly says mishaps⁷ like these are going to happen.

"You've got to imagine when a crewmember is in a suit, this is a pretty bulky environment they are in and to drop something - it may happen. I think you may see small problems like this happen in the future during station assembly, but we work through these and I don't see them as a big issue," he said.

After the spacewalk was over, Mission Control tested the solar array swivel joint with ground commands and confirmed that it moved.

Later Thursday, flight controllers will unfurl the solar panels slowly to their full length of nearly 80 meters. To prevent the thin mylar plastic panels from sticking together as a previous pair did, they will warm and relax them first in the sun, unfurl them half way, wait 30 minutes while the sun warms them more, and continue for the full extension.

The new arrays will double the amount of power to the space station for components⁸ to arrive in the future.

1 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

2 retrieved   

v.取回( retrieve的过去式和过去分词 )；恢复；寻回；检索（储存的信息）

参考例句：

• Yesterday I retrieved the bag I left in the train. 昨天我取回了遗留在火车上的包。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He reached over and retrieved his jacket from the back seat. 他伸手从后座上取回了自己的夹克。 来自辞典例句

3 wrench   

v.猛拧；挣脱；使扭伤；n.扳手；痛苦，难受

参考例句：

• He gave a wrench to his ankle when he jumped down.他跳下去的时候扭伤了足踝。
• It was a wrench to leave the old home.离开这个老家非常痛苦。

4 leverage   

n.力量，影响；杠杆作用，杠杆的力量

参考例句：

• We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
• He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力，他的计划失败了。

5 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

6 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

7 mishaps   

n.轻微的事故，小的意外( mishap的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a series of mishaps 一连串的倒霉事
• In spite of one or two minor mishaps everything was going swimmingly. 尽管遇到了一两件小小的不幸，一切都进行得很顺利。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。