时间:2019-01-12 作者:英语课 分类:2014年VOA慢速英语(九)月


英语课

 


NASA Chooses Boeing, SpaceX to Fly Astronauts 美国航天局联手波音及SpaceX两公司共建太空船


Three years after the United States ended the space shuttle program, the American space agency today announced the return of “human space flight to U.S. soil.”


NASA has chosen two spaceships, the Boeing CST-100 and SpaceX Dragon version 2, to bring American astronauts to the International Space Station. The program will cost $6.8 billion.


NASA administrator 1 Charles Bolden said “this wasn’t an easy choice.” He said the decision will “end our reliance 2 on Russia” to transport American astronauts to the International Space Station.


The decision followed four years of work by Boeing, SpaceX and a smaller company called Sierra Nevada.


The Boeing CST-100 is designed to transport up to seven passengers or a mixed load to the International Space Station. Boeing has built spaceships for NASA for more than 40 years. It was one of the main builders of the space station.


NASA has used the SpaceX Dragon spaceship since 2012 to carry supplies to the space station. It is the first private company to do so. But it has always said its goal is to transport humans into space.


Boeing and SpaceX will own and operate the spaceship. In the space agency’s words, “once development is complete, NASA plans to buy a service -- simply put, like getting a taxi ride to low-Earth orbit.”


The final space shuttle mission ended July 21, 2011. Shuttles had been used to carry astronauts and others from the United States and other countries into space for 30 years. After NASA stopped using the shuttles in 2011, it was forced to pay Russia to carry American astronauts to and from the International Space Station. The flight costs about $70 million for each American astronaut. At least four American astronauts fly to the space station every year.


NASA plans to stop using the Russian Soyuz spaceship in 2017. The agency hopes the new Boeing and SpaceX vehicle will transport humans to space by the end of that year. 


NASA says it has been visiting low-Earth orbit since 1962 and it wants to give that work to private companies.  NASA says that will permit it to get “the most research and experience out of America’s investment in the International Space Station.” And, NASA notes, it will also be able to spend its time on “building spacecraft and rockets for deep space missions, including flights to Mars 3 in the 2030s.” Those trips may also include landings on asteroids 4. NASA is reportedly planning to send a deep-space exploration spaceship on a test flight in December.



n.经营管理者,行政官员
  • The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
  • He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。
n.信任,信赖,信心
  • A child has reliance on his or her mother.孩子都依赖于母亲。
  • Our policy should rest on the basis of self-reliance.我们的方针要放在自力更生的基点上。
n.火星,战争
  • As of now we don't know much about Mars.目前我们对火星还知之甚少。
  • He contended that there must be life on Mars.他坚信火星上面一定有生物。
n.小行星( asteroid的名词复数 );海盘车,海星
  • Asteroids,also known as "minor planets",are numerous in the outer space. 小行星,亦称为“小型行星”,在外太空中不计其数。
  • Most stars probably have their quota of planets, meteorids, comets, and asteroids. 多数恒星也许还拥有若干行星、流星、彗星和小行星。
标签: VOA慢速英语
学英语单词
aculars
address-book
agglutinating
agryban
at (one's) pleasure
autoequivalences
Baccaurea
banana-leaf
Bartholomew doll
bass flute
blood-spattered
brown rice belly
buttered someone up
caridina brevicarpalis
circuit tourism
clomiphenes
closed circuit filling system
coleocela
constrictor naris
corneal abrasion
cosmic microwave radiation
Dalby's carminative
decentred lens
degree of polymerization of a polymer
derrick erecting truck
diachronic public relations
double ended wrench (double ended spanner)
ear tick
focal reducer
Fortcinolone
gafiating
glans of clitoris
gourd vegetables
graphic control
Green Cay
Grosa, I.
heat analysis
high modulus weave
homotharicrine
hosecock
house-party
i-hoked
induced homomorphism
indurain
infant-toddler
infantile oxyuriasis
integral joint casing
Jiantizi
Kombinat
Krasnovodsk
lepiota alba
liverer
low frequency electrical porcelain
mcgarvey
mercurification
nearest neighbor search
nerve cement
non-convertible
off-keier
one group critical equation
ony
orris-powder
palew
palmatipartite
partially hanging rudder
petrophytes
phase accumulator
photohobia
phylloporus rhodoxanthus
Piper betle L.
platismatia formosana
pledge card
plumpline
preset potentiometer
profitability index
propylene glycol alginate
public-address systems
randonnee
reflected radiation
relocating loader
ricebird
rolled joint
roof baggage rack
rubber sleeve core barrel
sea otter fur
shore-fast
sight bill
sodium ethyl sulfate
somlich
spell-binders
stabilized sulphur trioxide
synandrium
tan sb's hide
tank drainback
time correction circuit
too littlest
turbine low vacuum protection
two-way latticed grid
video-tapeds
well-carved
woodland pasture
Yatenga, Prov.