CRI听力:US Space Shuttle Blasts into History

The last space shuttle of the United States, Atlantis blasted off Friday as expected, marking an end to an era of human spaceflight. Many American people felt regret for the retiring of the space shuttles, US media called it a "bittersweet" moment, and NASA said the US should move on to a new chapter of deep space exploration. Our Washington correspondent shanshan has more.

Despite the NASA forecast that there was a good chance the launch would be delayed due to the weather, Atlantis lifted off at 11:29 local time, 3 minutes behind the scheduled time, from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. In the end, though, the countdown was held at 31 seconds, not by the weather but by the need to verify that the launch pad support equipment was retracted all the way. After everything was checked, four astronauts rocketed into orbit as hundreds of thousands of spectators were on hand to witness the historic moment.

In other parts of the United States, this final journey of the shuttle era roused emotions on a scale not seen since the Apollo moon shots. NASA scientist Igor Eberstien is one of them. He has witnessed the whole story of the space shuttles, from birth to retirement. He says his feeling sad.

"Of course I'm sorry to see it go. It's too bad that we can't keep it up. It's a political decision. Personally I'd like to see it keeps flying, but decision has been made, that's the way it is."

Leonard Poll is a doctor in Washington DC, who is also a big fan of space shuttles. He says being sad a little bit, he is more with a forward-looking spirit.

"A little bit for nostalgic purposes, and in some way excited because you know there is gonna be newer missions, greater missions. We're leaving one program of space exploration, but engaging in a greater aspect of it."

Atlantis in on the 135th shuttle mission of NASA, 30 years and three months after the very first flight of space shuttles. NASA promised 50 flights a year, but never managed more than nine flights in a single year. The program suffered two tragic accidents that killed 14 astronauts and destroyed two shuttles, Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003. The other two, Discovery and Endeavor retired in March and June this year. The total tab was $196 billion, or $1.45 billion a flight.

Dean Cheng, a security expert with the Washington thinktank, the Heritage Foundation, says being sentimental as they are, most people would find it hard to support further flights of the space shuttles.

"They regret the shuttle being retired, but you ask them should we keep the shuttle flying, I think the answer is if it doesn't take too much money, sure. Keeping the shuttle flying will be extraordinarily expensive. Until something captures the imagination again, I think manned space will be a very expensive and difficult proposition to support."

NASA says it is sacrificing the shuttles because there is not enough money to keep the expensive fleet going if the space agency is to aim for asteroids and Mars. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden was an astronaut himself, flying Columbia, Discovery and Atlantis on 4 space flights. He says US manned spaceflight is not ending, rather, the country is completing a chapter of a journey that will never end.

"We're not ending human space flight. We're recommitting ourselves to take necessary and difficult steps today to ensure US's preeminence in human space exploration for years to come. But we have to do things differently. For one, we have to get out of the business of owning and operating lower orbit transportation system, and hand it off to the private sector. We need to focus on deep space exploration, while empowering today's innovators and entrepreneurs to take care of the rest. "

Atlantis is scheduled to return on July 20 after 12 days in orbit. The three remaining shuttles will become museum pieces. Private rocket companies will take over the job of hauling supplies and astronauts to the space station. The first supply run is targeted for later this year, while the first trip with astronauts is projected to be years away, at least three years, possibly five or more. Until those flights are up and running, American astronauts will be hitching rides to and from the space station via Russian Soyuz capsules, at more than $50 million per trip.

For CRI, this is shanshan from Washington.