VOA双语新闻 NASA Says Debris May Have Struck Shuttle Wing（在线收听）

NASA officials say images taken of the space shuttle Discovery's launch on Tuesday show a small piece of foam insulation may have struck the orbiter's wing. A similar wing hit during the launch of the Columbia in February 2003 caused the disaster when it burned up upon reentry into the earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts. Mission controllers remain optimistic that there is little or no damage to the Discovery.

美国航空航天局官员说，美国发现号航天飞机星期二发射时的照片显示，一小块泡沫绝缘材料很可能击中了飞机机翼。哥伦比亚号航天飞机2003年2月发射时也发生了机翼被击中的类似事件，结果哥伦比亚号在回程中进入地球大气层的时候燃烧起火，机上7名宇航员全部遇难。飞行控制人员乐观地认为，这次脱落没有对发现号造成什么大的损坏，甚至没有造成任何损坏。

The piece of foam insulation that's got NASA officials concerned is a small piece that flew off Discovery's external fuel tank moments after lift-off Tuesday.

令美国航空航天局官员担心的这块泡沫绝热材料是星期二发射升空后不久从飞机的体外燃料箱脱落下来的一小块碎片。

Something similar happened with Columbia when a bigger chunk of loose foam punctured the wing during launch and caused the vehicle to break up in the searing heat of reentry.

哥伦比亚号升空的时候也发生了类似的事件，飞机机翼被一块更大的泡沫材料打中，结果飞机在返回大气层时的高热中燃烧分解。

So, it came as a bit of a surprise when cameras trained on Discovery captured images of flying foam once again. At first, mission controllers said they were fairly certain that none of the insulation had struck the orbiter.

当发现号上的摄像机再次拍到飞落的泡沫材料时，大家都很吃惊。飞行控制人员起先说，他们相当肯定绝热材料没有打到飞机。

Now, assistant space shuttle manager Wayne Hale says they're not so sure. "The indications are that this little piece of foam took a turn, and so there is some concern or some thought that it most likely struck the wing," he said.

但是现在，航天飞机项目助理经理韦恩.赫尔则说，他们不敢肯定：“图象显示这一小块泡沫材料转了个弯，所以我们担心它很可能击中了机翼。”

Mr. Hale said if it turns out the chunk of foam did strike Discovery's wing, it was probably too small to do any major harm. He said NASA engineers will begin pouring over high resolution images of the wing to see if they can detect any significant damage.

赫尔说，如果这一小块泡沫材料真的击中了机翼的话，它恐怕小得不会对机翼造成任何重大损坏。赫尔说，美国航空航天局的工程师们将开始详尽考察机翼的高精度图象，看看是否能看到机翼受到任何损坏的迹象。

Mr. Hale believes the astronauts will return home safely. But NASA has the space shutle Atlantis standing by just in case. "We said we had at the very bottom of the tricks in our bag would be to perform a rescue operation. We're nowhere near doing that. I expect that by flight day six, we're going to get approval to fly home as is. So, that's not even under consideration at this point," he said.

赫尔相信宇航员们将会安全返回。不过航空航天局还是让亚特兰蒂斯号航天飞机处于待命状态，以备万一。赫尔说：“我们说了，我们最后还有一招，那就是进行援救。但是我们还没到那种地步。我估计到了飞行第六天的时候，我们会得到飞机原样返回的准许。所以，我们眼下甚至还没有考虑援救的问题。”

The shuttle's seven astronauts will spend eight days with the two-man crew of the international space station, where they will conduct maintenance space walks and resupply the space laboratory.

航天飞机上的7名宇航员将在国际空间站上和那里的两名宇航员一起停留8天。他们将进行太空行走，对空间站进行维护，并且补充空间站实验室的物品。