VOA双语新闻：奋进号航天飞机准备发射升空-英语课

时间：2019-02-14 作者：英语课 分类：VOA双语新闻 2009年7月

英语课

　　Space shuttle Endeavour is set to launch on a mission to the International Space Station, after a series of weather delays.

奋进号航天飞机已经准备就绪，发射前往国际空间站。在此之前，一连串恶劣的天气推迟了发射。

The seven-member crew of Endeavour is hoping the weather will clear at Kennedy Space Center for the latest launch attempt Tuesday evening.

载送7名宇航员的奋进号希望肯尼迪航天中心的天气转晴，让他们可以做最新的发射尝试。

NASA officials called off the last attempt late Sunday, only minutes before they had hoped to send the shuttle on its way to the International Space Station. A series of lightning strikes near the launch pad forced officials to delay the launch attempt on Saturday.

美国国家宇航局官员原本希望在星期天晚间送航天飞机出发到国际空间站，但是在任务开始的几分钟前取消了发射计划。之前靠近发射台一连串的闪电，迫使官员推迟了星期六的发射。

Shuttle weather officer Kathy Winters said officials must monitor conditions very closely around the shuttle facilities.

美国宇航局负责天气的官员凯西.温特斯表示，有关官员必须密切注视航天飞机设施附近的天气情况。

"Our primary concern on launch day is the thunderstorms and showers that could be in the area, particularly within 20 nautical 1 miles [37 kilometers] of the shuttle landing facility and 10 nautical miles [19 kilometers] of the launch pad," Winters said.

“我们在发射当天主要关心的是发射地区可能出现大雷雨和阵雨，特别是在航天飞机着陆设施37公里及发射台19公里的范围内。”

Endeavour is running a month behind schedule, due to a hydrogen leak on the launch pad. NASA officials say they have fixed 2 that problem in the shuttle's external fuel tanks.

奋进号因为发射台上的氢气泄露，已经比预定计划延迟了1个月。美国国家宇航局官员表示，他们已经解决了航天飞机外部燃料箱的问题。

The main objective of the Endeavour mission is to deliver the third and final segment of the Japanese Kibo science laboratory. The Kibo module 3 will expand work space on the station and allow astronauts to expose experiments to the vacuum of space.

奋进号的主要任务是载送日本希望号科学实验舱的第三部分，也是最后一部分。希望号实验舱将扩展空间站的工作空间，并且让宇航员将实验曝露在真空空间中。

The Endeavour crew will spend nearly two weeks at the station to install Kibo and perform other maintenance tasks, such as swapping 4 out batteries in the station. Astronaut Tim Copra will replace Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, who has been living aboard the station since March.

奋进号宇航员将用将近两星期的时间在空间站安装希望号，并执行其他维修任务，像是换掉空间站的电池。宇航员迪莫西.科帕拉将取代日本宇航员若田光一。若田光一从今年3月开始就一直生活在空间站上。

While the shuttle is docked to the station, the number of astronauts will rise to 13 - the most in space at one time during the station's history.

在航天飞机与空间站对接的时候，宇航员人数会增加到13人。这是空间站有史以来宇航员最多的一次。

After Endeavour returns to Earth, only seven shuttle missions will remain before NASA plans to retire the fleet next year.

奋进号回到地球后还剩下7次飞行任务。美国宇航局计划明年淘汰这组航天飞机。