美国有线新闻 CNN 开普勒望远镜进入紧急模式 BEAM太空舱运送至国际空间站

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0002:40repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser 1 to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. Problems and progress in space.

First, the setback 2 for NASA's Kepler Space Observatory 3. It was launched in 2009 in a cost of $600 million. Its mission is to look for habitable planets in outer space.

NASA engineers found out late last week that the telescope is in emergency mode. That means it's having problems and burning through power quickly.

One challenge in repairing Kepler is the delay. It's estimated to be about 75 million miles away from earth and it takes 13 minutes for signals to transfer between our planet and the telescope.

Next, a SpaceX mission to the International Space Station. Dragon is an unmanned cargo 4 capsule that was launched Friday afternoon. It's carrying 7,000 pounds of equipment and experiments to the International Space Station, including this, the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module 5 or BEAM that we told you about last week.

BEAM was built with an $18 million contract from NASA and if it passes its tests before it's detached and destroyed in earth's atmosphere, the module could one day become a place to stay in space.

SUBTITLE 6: Future space homes.

RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now, this would theoretically be a space hotel. You've got the sleeping quarters over there. You've got storage over here. You've got your seats over there.

There's even a window actually. You come over here, they've got a telescope right here so you could look out and you would use this, because when you're floating in space, you're floating and you need to be able to navigate 7. So, pretend like I'm flying and I'd be grabbing this to move along.

There'd be no floor. The core system is here. You've got all your storage here. You have your batteries, your gloves, your wipes, your cables.

You've got your sleeping bag over here. So, in space, when you're sleeping, you have to tether yourself to the wall, so you won't go flying around.

They actually have vegetation growing here, hydroponically. You look up, you've got a mockup of that. Even someone tending to it, doing the space gardening.

Here’s the window, look out, see the stars.

AZUZ: There's another part of SpaceX mission that went well. Part of the rocket that carried the Dragon cargo capsule into space returned to earth and for the first time landed intact on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. Each Falcon 8 IX rocket costs more than $60 million. So, being able to reuse them would save a lot of money.

Several previous attempts have failed. Falcon IX rockets have exploded in flight or tip over and exploded on landing. So, last Friday's success at sea as historic.