NASA将发射新型登月火箭--副总统将亲临现场

NASA is ready to launch a new rocket to orbit the moon.

美国国家航空航天局(NASA)准备发射一枚新火箭绕月飞行。

If the countdown gets to zero as planned, a rocket launches today from the Kennedy Space Center.

如果按计划倒数到零，一枚火箭将于今天从肯尼迪航天中心发射。

It will carry a spacecraft called Orion.

这枚火箭将搭载一艘名为“猎户座”的航天器。

It doesn't carry people this time, but it's designed to.

这艘航天器这一次不载人，但它的设计是为了载人。

Orion is the follow-up to the famous Apollo space capsules that first carried people to the moon in 1969.

“猎户座”是著名的“阿波罗”太空舱的升级，“阿波罗”太空舱于1969年首次将人送上月球。

Several Apollo missions followed, the last of which was 50 years ago in 1972.

随后进行了几次“阿波罗”任务，最后一次任务是在50年前，也就是1972年。

Brendan Byrne of member station WMFE is at the Kennedy Space Center and joins us now.

WMFE成员站的布伦丹·伯恩现在在肯尼迪航天中心，现在他将和我们连线。

Good morning, Brendan.

早上好，布兰登。

Good morning.

早上好。

So tell us what it's like there.

和我们说说那里是什么样子。

Is there a lot of excitement?

有很多令人兴奋的事情吗？

There is a lot of excitement in this mission that NASA's calling Artemis 1.

这个被NASA称为阿尔忒弥斯1号的任务有很多令人兴奋的地方。

So officials here in Brevard County estimate some 200,000 people are visiting the Space Coast for the launch.

布里瓦德县的官员估计，大约有20万人前往太空海岸观看发射。

Hotels have sold out.

酒店的门票已经售罄。

People began camping out for a good spot to view the launch over the weekend.

上周末，人们开始露营，寻找一个观看发射的好地方。

And in a sense, the anticipation for this began building back in 1972.

从某种意义上说，对这个发射任务的期待早在1972年就开始了。

That's the last time people stepped foot on the lunar surface.

那时是人类最后一次踏上月球表面。

Since the end of the Apollo program, NASA has always wanted to go back to the moon, and NASA administrator, Bill Nelson, says that time has finally come.

自从阿波罗计划结束以来，NASA一直想重返月球，NASA局长比尔·纳尔逊表示，这一时刻终于到来了。

And to all of us that gaze up at the moon, dreaming of the day humankind returns to the lunar surface - folks, we're here.

对于我们所有仰望月球，梦想着人类能重返月球表面的人来说--伙计们，这一时刻到了。

We are going back.

我们要返回月球了。

And that journey, our journey, begins with Artemis 1.

这段旅程，我们的旅程，从阿耳特弥斯1号开始。

And there are lots of VIPs here for that journey, including a handful of NASA astronauts, and also, Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to be here today.

这次旅行现场会有很多贵宾，包括几名NASA宇航员，副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯定于今天到场。

Now, this mission isn't carrying any astronauts, though.

不过，这次任务并不会搭载任何宇航员。

So where does this flight fit into NASA's new moon program?

那么，这次飞行与NASA的新月计划有何关系呢？

So this essentially is a test flight.

这基本上是一次试飞。

So NASA built a brand-new rocket called SLS, the most powerful the agency has ever created.

NASA制造了一种名为SLS的全新火箭，这是该机构有史以来制造的最强大的火箭。

And now, the team did conduct a simulated launch countdown back in June, which did have some problems.

而现在，该团队确实在6月份进行了模拟发射倒计时，但确实存在一些问题。

This rocket has yet to fly.

这枚火箭还没有升空。

So another critical test will come with the Orion capsule.

因此，“猎户座”太空舱将迎来另一次关键考验。

Its job is to get astronauts to lunar orbit and keep them alive and then safely return them back to Earth.

它的工作是将宇航员送入月球轨道并保证他们的生命安全，然后将他们安全送回地球。

So NASA's going to be stress testing this capsule to the max.

因此，NASA将对这个太空舱进行最大限度的压力测试。

It's going to spend some six weeks in space orbiting the moon.

它将在太空中绕月飞行约六周。

Now, onboard will be some mannequins that will measure the stresses on future astronauts, including how much radiation they'll be exposed to.

现在，飞船上会有一些人体模型，用来测量未来宇航员承受的压力，包括他们会暴露在多少辐射中。

And NASA's also testing key systems like communication, navigation and the spacecraft's heat shield.

NASA也在测试通讯、导航和航天器隔热罩等关键系统。

I spoke with Doug Hurley about testing like this.

我和道格·赫利谈到了这样的测试。

He was the final space shuttle pilot and then commanded the first human mission from the U.S. after shuttle on SpaceX's Crew Dragon.

他是最后一位航天飞船飞行员，在登上SpaceX公司的“龙飞船”实现往返之后，他指挥了美国的第一次载人任务。

He now works for Northrop Grumman.

他现在为诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司工作。

That's the company that builds the two solid rocket boosters on SLS.

就是这家公司在SLS上制造了两个固体火箭助推器。

You want to see the ground team, of course, the contractor team, integration team, all those teams - mission control - coming together and kind of hitting their stride.

地面团队中，自然有承包商团队，整合团队，所有这些团队-进行任务控制-聚集在一起，全力以赴。

And I think we're ready for that now, and this is that next test is the uncrewed test flight.

我认为我们现在已经准备好了，下一次测试是无人试飞。