《卫报》为中国航天之父钱学森所撰写的讣告

As a result both of his work, and of support from the Soviet Union (despite the fact that relations between these two countries had deteriorated badly in the late 1950s), China was able to test its own atomic bomb in 1963-64. A mere 15 years after its founding, it had joined the elite nuclear club. This was a seminal moment in the country's development.

尽管在50年代末期，中苏关系恶化，但在他的努力以及苏联的支持下，中国得以在1963年至1964 年之间试爆自制的原子弹。使得中国仅仅在建国 15年之后跻身于“大国核俱乐部”。而此事对于中 国的发展产生了重大影响。

Qian seems to have been largely unaffected by the tumult of the Cultural Revolution, from 1966, probably because he was working in such a key national strategic area. While chaos reigned in the rest of China, military and technical research continued unaffected.

可能出于国家关键性战略项目工作缘故，钱学森似乎并没有受到始于1966年的文化大革命动乱的 影响。尽管举国上下动荡不安，但军事以及技术研究似乎一直未受影响。

In 2009, as China is preparing to build a space exploration launch pad on the island of Hainan, and has set itself the aim of getting a Chinese man on the moon in the next decade, Qian's contribution to China's space and missile programme should not be underestimated. Much of the technology behind the Shenzhou rockets, launched into space from the 1990s onwards to much national fanfare, can be traced back to research that Qian undertook. And much of that was based on what he had studied in the US during his 20 years there.

到了2009年，中国已计划在海南省建立一个太空发射场，并且订立了要在十年内实现中国人登月 的目标；此时此刻，钱学森对中国航天以及导弹项目所作的贡献仍然不容小觑。从90年代开始经历了 一系列发射活动的神舟载人飞船，曾在全国范围内掀起了热潮，而该系列飞船背后的技术，大多可以 追溯到钱学森当年所做的研究，而他所做的研究，又大多是源于他在美国20年的学习。

After his retirement in 1991, he maintained a low profile, despite being garlanded with awards. He is survived by his wife, the highly acclaimed Beijing opera singer Jiang Ying.

钱学森在1991年退休之后一直被各种奖项和光环围绕，但他仍然保持低调。其身后遗下夫人蒋英 ，是北京备受尊敬女歌唱家。

Qian Xuesen, rocket scientist, born 11 December 1911; died 31 October 2009

钱学森，航天科学家，生于1911年12月11日，2009年10月31日逝世。