全球太空竞赛正上演--格局发生新变化

That's a partial quote from a U.S. Senator who was asked recently if America is a new space race with China.

这是一位美国参议员的部分言论，他最近被问及美国是否正在与中国展开新的太空竞赛。

Neither of those countries was the first to reach space with a satellite.

这两个国家都不是第一个利用卫星进入太空的国家。

That feat was accomplished by the Soviet Union in 1957.

这一壮举是苏联在1957年完成的。

Four years later, that same country also launched the first person into space, Yuri Gagarin in 1961.

四年后，这个国家还在1961年将第一个人尤里·加加林送入太空。

But in the years that followed, the United States eventually outpaced the USSR and historians say America effectively won the first space race by putting two men on the moon in 1969.

但在随后的几年里，美国最终超过了苏联，历史学家认为，美国在1969年将两个人送上月球，实际上赢得了第一次太空竞赛。

Since then, the U.S. has been the global leader in space exploration and development, but China as you'll see in just a minute is taking steps to catch up.

从那时起，美国在太空探索和开发方面一直处于全球领先地位，但你马上就会发现，中国正在采取措施迎头赶上。

General David Thompson, who heads up the U.S. Space Force, says China is moving twice as fast to develop its capabilities in space, and he says the Asian country could surpass America there by the end of the decade.

戴维·汤普森将军，主管美国太空部队，他认为中国发展太空能力的速度是美国的两倍，这个亚洲国家在这个十年结束前可能会超过美国。

Is all this space exploration worthwhile?

所有这些太空探索值得吗?

There's been a debate going on about that for years.

关于这个问题已经争论了好几年了。

Supporters say investigating other planets and galaxies teaches us more about our own, and encourages the development of new technologies to solve problems.

支持者表示，研究其他行星和星系可以让我们更多地了解我们自己的行星和星系，并鼓励开发新技术来解决问题。

Opponents say deep space missions carry too much risk, and bring too little benefit to people on Earth to justify the amount of money and time spent on them.

反对者表示，深空任务风险太大，给地球上的人带来的好处太少，不足以证明在这些任务上花费的金钱和时间是合理的。

In the past, that money came through government investment using taxpayer funds.

在过去，这些钱是通过使用纳税人的资金进行政府投资。

More recently, privately funded space efforts have gotten off the ground.

最近，私人资助的太空项目已经顺利开启。

And regardless of how people may feel about space exploration, the efforts to push it onward and upward are expanding in several parts of the world.

不管人们对太空探索的看法如何，推动太空探索的努力正在世界上一些地方不断扩大。

Lifting off from the satellite launch center in the Gobi Desert, China rocketed three astronauts towards the country's new space station.

中国从戈壁沙漠的卫星发射中心发射升空，用火箭将三名宇航员送往该国的新空间站。

The crew will now live and work there for 183 days.

宇航员将在那里生活和工作183天。

It's China's longest mission yet, and a major step in the country's young space program quickly become one of the worlds most advanced.

这是中国迄今为止最长的任务，也是中国新建立的太空计划迅速成为世界上最先进计划之一的重要一步。

Though China arrived late to space exploration, the government has been investing billions of dollars in its advancement.

尽管中国在太空探索方面起步较晚，但政府已经投入了数十亿美元来推进这一进程。

In the past three years, Chinese missions have brought rock samples from the moon back to Earth for the first time in 40 years.

在过去的三年中，中国代表团已经从月球带回了岩石样本，这是40年来的第一次。

Successfully landed an exploratory rover on the far side of the moon, and then one on Mars.

一辆探测车成功地在月球背面着陆，然后又在火星上着陆。

They were only the second country to do so. The United States unsurprisingly came first.

他们是第二个这样做的国家。毫无疑问，美国是第一个这样做的国家。

But America's cosmological dominance could soon be challenged by China, as well as other space ambitious nations.

但美国在宇宙领域的主导地位可能很快就会受到中国以及其他雄心勃勃的太空国家的挑战。

As its space program expands, the United Arab Emirates also reached Mars earlier this year, though their missions didn't touch the surface.

随着太空计划的扩大，阿拉伯联合酋长国今年早些时候也抵达了火星，不过他们的代表团并没有触碰到火星表面。

The UAE scientific satellite began orbiting the red planet in February.

阿联酋科学卫星于今年2月开始环绕这颗红色星球运行。

The country also plans to send an uncrewed to the moon in 2024.

中国还计划在2024年向月球发射无人飞船。

India hopes to do the same later this year, or in 2022.

印度希望在今年晚些时候或2022年也这样做。

After a failed attempt in 2019, the country has been inching towards a new date for the unmanned lunar landing.

在2019年的一次尝试失败后，该国正在慢慢接近无人登月的新日期。

India's prime minister also encouraging the private sector to help the country's space ambitions following the U.S. in a pivot towards commercializing space.

印度总理还鼓励私营部门帮助印度实现太空雄心，追随美国主要将太空商业化的战略。

Another with lunar ambitions is the European Space Agency, which is working to develop a moon lander.

另一个抱有登月雄心的是欧洲航天局，他们正在努力开发月球着陆器。

The ESA also has probes currently exploring the solar system.

欧洲航天局目前也有探测太阳系的探测器。

Still a player in space, Russia is planning a collaborative asteroid mission, joining forces with China for a robotic probe set for 2024.

俄罗斯仍然是太空中的参与者，正在计划一项合作的小行星任务，与中国联手于2024年发射机器人探测器。

They are also hoping to launch an automatic lunar station in July of next year.

他们还希望在明年7月发射一个自动登月站。