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Key Points 要点
 NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore, left, and Suni Williams pose inside the hatch connecting Boeing’s Starliner to the International Space Station on 美国国家航空航天局的宇航员布奇 · 威尔莫尔(左)和苏尼 · 威廉姆斯在连接波音公司的星际客机和国际空间站的舱口内合影留念 NASA 美国宇航局 Log entry: Day 71. 日志记录: 第71天。 Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are waiting. Boeing is waiting. And throughout the halls of NASA, leaders and engineers are gathering, analyzing and deliberating. 布奇 · 威尔莫和苏尼 · 威廉姆斯在等你。波音在等着呢。在 NASA 的大厅里，领导者和工程师们聚集在一起，进行分析和讨论。 Boeing’s Starliner capsule “Calypso” has been at the International Space Station since early June, on a mission that’s been extended indefinitely as the company and NASA try to identify why multiple of the spacecraft’s thrusters failed during docking. 波音公司的 Starliner 太空舱“ Calypso”从六月初就开始在国际空间站执行任务，由于公司和美国国家航空航天局试图确定为什么航天器的多个推进器在对接过程中失败，这项任务被无限期延长。 Those thrusters, part of the spacecraft’s propulsion system, are key to Starliner’s return from the ISS. But NASA remains uncertain of whether the capsule is safe to return with the two astronauts on board. 这些推进器是航天器推进系统的一部分，是星际客机从国际空间站返回的关键。但是，美国宇航局仍然不确定太空舱是否安全返回与两名宇航员在船上。 “Our big concern is having a successful deorbit burn — making sure that the [propulsion] system works just the way it needs to all the way through the deorbit burn. That’s why we’re looking so closely at the thruster jets and even thinking about how the larger thrusters work,” NASA Associate Administrator Ken Bowersox told reporters during a press conference on Wednesday. “我们最大的担忧是成功进行脱轨燃烧ーー确保(推进)系统在整个脱轨燃烧过程中按照需要的方式工作。这就是为什么我们如此密切地关注推进器喷流，甚至思考更大的推进器是如何工作的,”美国宇航局副局长肯 · 鲍尔索克斯在周三的新闻发布会上告诉记者。 Read more CNBC space news阅读更多 CNBC 太空新闻NASA has already adjusted the schedule for the next SpaceX launch of astronauts headed for the ISS, but it needs to make a decision soon on returning Starliner crewed or empty — or otherwise further delay its current plans. If Starliner comes back empty, SpaceX would serve as the rescue option for returning Wilmore and Williams. 美国宇航局已经调整了 SpaceX 下一次发射前往国际空间站的宇航员的时间表，但它需要尽快做出决定，是让 Starliner 的乘员返回，还是让 Starliner 空无一人ーー否则将进一步推迟目前的计划。如果 Starliner 回来的时候是空的，SpaceX 公司将作为回来的威尔莫尔和威廉姆斯的救援选择。 Bowersox said a final round of data analysis is expected to be complete by Aug. 23, which would lead to NASA conducting a Flight Readiness Review, the deciding moment for how Starliner returns. 鲍尔索克斯说，最后一轮数据分析预计将于8月23日完成，这将导致美国宇航局进行飞行准备评估，决定星际航班如何返回的时刻。 Boeing has made its case to NASA for why the company is confident that Starliner is safe, going so far as to make public appeals about the amount of thruster testing that’s been done. But the final decision that’s expected before the end of August will be NASA’s call and may go as high as its chief, Administrator Bill Nelson. 波音公司已经向美国宇航局解释了为什么该公司相信 Starliner 是安全的，甚至公开呼吁已经完成的推进器测试数量。但是最终的决定预计在八月底之前将由美国宇航局决定，可能会高达其首席执行官比尔 · 纳尔逊。 Originally intended to last about nine days, the Starliner crew flight test was supposed to be a final box checked for Boeing and a key asset gained for NASA. The agency was hoping to fulfill its dream of two competing companies — Boeing and SpaceX — flying alternating missions to the ISS. 最初计划持续大约9天，Starliner 机组人员飞行测试被认为是波音公司的最后一个选项，也是美国宇航局获得的一项关键资产。美国宇航局希望实现两家竞争公司波音(Boeing)和 SpaceX 交替执行国际空间站任务的梦想。 Instead, the flight test is further setting back Boeing’s progress in NASA’s Commercial Crew program and, with over $1.5 billion in losses absorbed already, threatens the company’s future involvement with it. 相反，飞行测试进一步阻碍了波音公司在美国宇航局商业机组计划方面的进展，并且已经吸收了超过15亿美元的损失，威胁到该公司未来的参与。  Boeing spacecraft Starliner is seen from the window of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule “Endeavour” on July 3, 2024 while docked with the International Space Station during the crew flight test. 2024年7月3日，从 SpaceX 公司“奋进”号飞船的窗口可以看到波音航天器“星际飞船”，当时它正与国际空间站对接，进行乘员飞行测试 NASA 美国宇航局 As for the astronauts themselves, the head of NASA’s spaceflight safety office, Russ DeLoach, stressed that Wilmore and Williams will do “their job as astronauts,” trusting in the agency’s decision-making process. 至于宇航员本身，美国国家航空航天局航天安全办公室负责人拉斯 · 德罗奇(Russ DeLoach)强调，威尔莫尔和威廉姆斯将“履行他们作为宇航员的职责”，相信国家航空航天局的决策过程。 Joe Acaba, leader of NASA’s astronaut office, further emphasized that the pair are test pilots who willingly and intentionally take on risk. 美国宇航局宇航员办公室负责人乔 · 阿卡巴(Joe Acaba)进一步强调，两人都是自愿并故意冒险的试飞员。 “This mission is a test flight and, as Butch and Suni expressed ahead of their launch, they knew this mission might not be perfect. Human spaceflight is inherently risky and as astronauts we accept that as part of the job,” Acaba said. “这次任务是一次试飞，正如布奇和苏尼在发射前表示的那样，他们知道这次任务可能并不完美。载人航天本身就有风险，作为宇航员，我们接受这是工作的一部分。”。 Spacecraft are often named after iconic maritime vessels: Williams dubbed Starliner as “Calypso” in honor of Jacques Cousteau’s research ship, which in turn was named for the mythological Greek nymph. 宇宙飞船通常以标志性的海上船只命名，威廉姆斯为了纪念雅克-伊夫·库斯托的研究船，将星际航行者号命名为“海神号”，而这艘船也是以神话中的希腊女神命名的。 For now, Boeing’s spacecraft shares an unfortunate similarity to its namesake — a critically damaged vessel with an indefinite timeline for repairs — as well as an eerie likeness to its namesake’s namesake — who trapped the hero Odysseus for seven years against his will. |
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