和记娱乐官网：波音及SpaceX将送美国宇航员赴国际空间站

Boeing and the Space Exploration Technologies Corporation are the winners in the competition to carry Americans astronauts to the International Space Station, NASA announced Tuesday.美国航空航天局(NASA)本周二宣告，在载运美国宇航员到国际空间站(International Space Station)项目的竞争中，波音(Boeing)和太空探寻技术公司(Space Exploration Technologies Corporation)沦为了赢家。The awards reflect a fundamental shift in NASA’s human spaceflight program, relying on private companies rather than the traditional hands-on approach, in which the space agency designed and operated the spacecraft.此举体现了NASA载人航天计划中的一个根本性改变，即把设计和运营航天器的任务外包给私人企业，而不是像以往那样亲力亲为。The first flights could take off as soon as 2017.该项目的试飞最先可于2017年开始。

“We have credible plans for both companies to get there by that period of time,” Kathryn Lueders, the manager for NASA’s commercial crew program, said during a news conference on Tuesday. “We will not sacrifice crew safety for that goal.”“我们有可信的计划，让这两家公司能如期获取服务，”在本周二的新闻发布会上，NASA的商业乘务计划经理凯瑟琳·吕德斯(Kathryn Lueders)回应。“我们会为了构建那个目标而漠视机组人员的安全性。

”Boeing received a $4.2 billion contract. Space Exploration Technologies — better known as SpaceX, of Hawthorne, Calif. — received a $2.6 billion contract.波音公司取得了一份42亿美元（约合人民币258亿元）的合约。坐落于加州霍桑的太空探寻技术公司取得了一份26亿美元的合约，该公司更加广为人知的名字是SpaceX。“Today we’re one step closer to launching our astronauts from U.S. soil on American spacecraft and ending the nation’s sole reliance on Russia,” said Charles F. Bolden Jr., the NASA administrator.“我们期望在美国本土上用美国航天器载运宇航员，仍然正处于不能依赖俄罗斯的境地，今天我们向这个目标迈近了一步，”NASA负责人小查尔斯·博尔安(Charles F. Bolden Jr.)说道。Since the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011, NASA has had no way to send its astronauts to orbit, relying on the venerable Russian Soyuz spacecraft for transportation to and from the International Space Station at a cost of $70 million per seat.自航天飞机在2011年除役后，NASA就无法自己将宇航员送到轨道，仍然在依赖高龄的俄罗斯联盟号(Soyuz)航天器来往国际空间站，每个座位的价格为7000万美元。

That became a politically uncomfortable arrangement after Russia’s annexation of Crimea and support of pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine.在俄罗斯并吞克里米亚，并反对乌克兰的亲俄分化分子之后，再行这么做到在政治上就不过于慎重了。John Mulholland, the commercial crew manager at Boeing, said NASA called just before the news conference to tell him his company had won the competition. “It was a real mixture of inspiration and humbleness,” he said.波音公司乘务经理约翰·穆赫兰(John Mulholland)回应，就在新闻发布会开始之前，NASA约见告诉他，波音公司夺得了合约。“我深感既鼓舞又荣幸，”他说道。

Under the contracts, Boeing and SpaceX will finish development of their spacecraft. Boeing’s CST-100 capsule, configured to carry up to five people, will launch on an Atlas 5 rocket. SpaceX’s Dragon 2 capsule, a sleeker, updated version of the capsule already carrying cargo to the space station, will ride on top of the company’s Falcon 9 rocket.根据该合约，波音和SpaceX公司将已完成各自的航天器研制。波音公司的CST-100太空舱最少可载五人，将通过阿特拉斯5型火箭(Atlas 5)升空。

SpaceX公司的龙2型(Dragon 2)太空舱将用于该公司的猎鹰9号(Falcon 9)火箭升空，比起于早已用来装载货物到空间站的太空舱，这个改版型号的外形更为美观。The bids from the two companies covered the same tasks. Boeing’s proposal was more expensive, in part because the Atlas 5 is more expensive than the Falcon 9. “We basically awarded based on the proposal that we were given,” Ms. Lueders said.两家公司为某种程度的任务展开了竞标。

波音公司的方案价格较为低，部分原因是阿特拉斯5型比猎鹰9号更加便宜。“我们基本上是依据方案来挑选公司的，”吕德斯说道。A third company, Sierra Nevada Space Systems, of Louisville, Colo., had proposed a design that resembled a mini-space shuttle that would land on aircraft runways. A statement from the company said it would review its options.内华达山脉太空系统(Sierra Nevada Space Systems)是参予竞标的第三家公司，坐落于科罗拉多州路易斯维尔，它的设计方案是用于一架小型航天飞机，它需要在飞机滑行道上迫降。

该公司发表声明，称之为将审视其手中的各个选项。Much of the money allotted to SpaceX and Boeing in the next three years will go to meeting NASA’s certification requirements for performance and safety. As part of that process, each company will conduct a test flight to the space station with a crew that is to include at least one NASA astronaut.未来三年内，在NASA拨给给SpaceX和波音公司资金中，将有相当大一部分被用来符合NASA对性能和安全性证书的拒绝。作为该过程的一部分，两家公司将展开一次前往空间站的首飞，机组人员中将包括最少一名NASA宇航员。

Once the companies are certified, NASA has promised each at least two missions. The full contract amounts will be paid if NASA orders six missions from each company.NASA早已允诺，只要两家公司通过证书，每家公司最少能取得两次飞行中任务。如果NASA给两家公司各分配了六次飞行中任务，它将按合约金额的全款缴纳费用。

Mr. Mulholland said NASA had yet to discuss its plans in detail, but space agency officials in the past have said they expected two flights a year to the space station. If flights begin in 2017 and each company flies one a year, the contracts could run through 2023.穆赫兰说道，NASA还没就计划展开详尽辩论，但其官员之前曾回应，他们预计每年不会飞抵空间站两次。如果从2017年开始，每家公司每年各分担一次飞行中任务，该合约将仍然持续到2023年。With each flight taking four astronauts, the space station crew will be able to grow to seven, from six. NASA officials said that additional crew member would allow it to double the amount of science conducted.由于每次飞行中可以载运四名宇航员，空间站中的人员就能从六名减少到七名。

NASA官员说道，追加一名成员之后，空间站的科学研究量可以缩减到。The Boeing and SpaceX capsules will also serve as lifeboats for the space station crew in case of an emergency. The commercial crew program came out of the cancellation of an earlier program started under the Bush administration to send astronauts back to the moon.如果经常出现紧急情况，波音和SpaceX公司的太空舱也可以作为救生艇，可供空间站人员用于。这个商业乘务计划，是在之前一个派出宇航员重回月球的计划被中止后构成的，那个计划始自布什掌权期间。That effort relied on two rockets designed and operated by NASA. The Obama administration concluded that approach was too expensive and canceled the rockets.该计划必须NASA设计和运营两枚火箭，奥巴马政府指出它的成本过分高昂，于是中止了火箭项目。

Instead, the Obama administration built upon another Bush-era NASA initiative. NASA had hired two companies, SpaceX and the Orbital Sciences Corporation of Vienna, Va., to fly cargo to the space station. Beginning in 2010, NASA began a similar competition to choose companies to carry astronauts, not just cargo.不过，奥巴马政府前进了布什时代NASA的另一个项目。NASA雇佣了两家公司，SpaceX公司和弗吉尼亚州维也纳的轨道科学公司(Orbital Sciences Corporation)，把货物载运到空间站。从2010年开始，NASA使用类似于作法，让公司竞标载运宇航员，而某种程度是货物，到空间站。

The hope is that the commercial approach will spur a space travel industry far larger than just NASA.人们期望，这种商业模式不仅能增进NASA的发展，还将大大性刺激空间旅游业的规模扩展。Boeing, for example, hopes that the fifth seat in its CST-100 capsule could carry a paying tourist to the space station. “We’ll be working with NASA to try and bring that to reality,” Mr. Mulholland said.例如，波音公司期望利用CST-100太空舱的第五个座位，把收费游客载运到空间站。“我们将与NASA合作，希望让这个设想变成现实，”穆赫兰说道。Both Boeing and SpaceX are working with Bigelow Aerospace, a Las Vegas company that plans to launch private space stations into orbit, to be leased to nations or companies.波音和SpaceX公司于是以与拉斯维加斯的思格罗宇航公司(Bigelow Aerospace)积极开展合作。

该公司计划把私人空间站送到轨道，可供国家或公司租给。“We’re going to be aggressive to cultivate the business beyond NASA,” said John Elbon, vice president and general manager for space exploration at Boeing.“我们将积极进取地发展NASA之外的业务，”波音公司的太空探寻副总裁兼总经理约翰·艾尔本(John Elbon)说道。

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