Name: 為什麼波音公司花了十年時間才成功送太空人到國際太空站？ (Why It Took Boeing A Decade To Launch NASA Astronauts On Starliner)
Uploaded: 2024-06-11T04:57:33.000Z
Duration: 13 min 47 s

情態副詞

Boeing's been making headlines lately and not for the right reasons.

波音公司最近成為頭條新聞，但原因並不正確。

Boeing's Dave Calhoun says he'll leave by year's end after five years of crisis and groundings involving two MAX 8 crashes, the MAX 9 door plug blowout and quality control breakdowns across Boeing.

波音公司的戴夫-卡爾霍恩（Dave Calhoun）表示，在經歷了五年的危機和停飛（包括兩次 MAX 8 墜毀、MAX 9 門塞爆裂以及整個波音公司的品質控制故障）之後，他將於年底離職。

情態助動詞 B1

Amid the turmoil with its commercial airlines business, Boeing's space arm could have been a bright spot for the company, but it too has faced issues.

在商用航空業務動盪不安的情況下，波音公司的太空部門本可以成為公司的一個亮點，但它也面臨著各種問題。

NASA again delaying Boeing's debut of its Starliner capsule.

美國國家航空航天局（NASA）再次延後波音公司的 "星際客艙 "首次亮相。

Disappointing day at Cape Canaveral in Florida as NASA was forced to again scrub the first launch of Boeing's Starliner spaceship with astronauts on board.

今天是佛羅里達州卡納維拉爾角令人失望的一天，美國國家航空航天局（NASA）被迫再次取消波音公司首次發射載有太空人的 "星際客機 "飛船的計劃。

Boeing's Starliner is a human-grade space capsule designed to take astronauts to and from the International Space Station under NASA's commercial crew contract.

波音公司的 "星際客機"（Starliner）是一個載人級太空艙，旨在根據美國國家航空航天局（NASA）的商業乘員合同，運送太空人往返國際空間站。

The latest delayed mission was yet another setback for a program that's been in the works for a decade and cost Boeing $1.5 billion in overruns.

波音公司的這一項目已經醞釀了十年之久，超支達 15 億美元，而最近一次任務的延後是該項目遭遇的又一次挫折。

In 2011, when the space shuttle retired, NASA was beholden to the only other entity that could fly crew to low Earth orbit and back safely, and that was Russia.

2011 年，航天飛機退役後，美國國家航空航天局只能依靠唯一一個能將機組人員安全送入低地球軌道並返回的實體，那就是俄羅斯。

Between 2011 and 2020, NASA relied on Russia's Soyuz rockets to fly U.S.

在 2011 年至 2020 年期間，美國國家航空航天局依靠俄羅斯的聯盟號火箭來運送美國太空人。

astronauts to the ISS, paying Russia as much as $90 million per seat in 2020.

到 2020 年，俄羅斯將為每名太空人支付高達 9000 萬美元的費用。

美國國家航空航天局決定需要其他選擇。

The idea of Starliner was one of two capsules that NASA wanted to develop competitively in an effort to return the capability to the U.S.

星際客機 "是美國國家航空航天局（NASA）希望通過競爭開發的兩個太空艙之一，目的是讓美國重新擁有這種能力。

That capability was returned to NASA in May of 2020.

這種能力已於 2020 年 5 月歸還給美國國家航空航天局。

When SpaceX, the second company NASA tapped for its commercial crew contract alongside Boeing, successfully flew two astronauts to the International Space Station.

SpaceX 公司是美國國家航空航天局（NASA）與波音公司（Boeing）簽訂商業乘員合同的第二家公司，該公司成功地將兩名太空人送往國際空間站。

Since then, SpaceX has completed over a dozen crewed missions to space, launching both NASA astronauts and private citizens on its Dragon capsule.

從那時起，SpaceX 已經完成了十多次載人太空任務，用它的 "龍 "太空艙發射了美國國家航空航天局的太空人和普通公民。

Boeing, meanwhile, has yet to fly a single operational mission with Starliner and just recently launched its last test, which must be completed before NASA certifies the spacecraft for regular launches.

與此同時，波音公司的 "星際客機 "尚未執行過一次飛行任務，最近剛剛進行了最後一次測試。

Boeing is stepping into a much more competitive environment today than it did 10 to 12 years ago when this program began.

與 10 至 12 年前開始實施該計劃時相比，波音公司如今正步入一個競爭更為激烈的環境。

At the start, Boeing was viewed as the incumbent, the player with the most experience and the most ability to get to and from space.

一開始，波音公司被視為現任者，是經驗最豐富、最有能力往返太空的公司。

現在，SpaceX 就處於這樣的位置。

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has criticized Boeing over the company's constant delays with commercial crew.

SpaceX 公司首席執行官埃隆-馬斯克（Elon Musk）責備波音公司不斷拖延商業乘員計劃。

Despite getting the lion's share of the contract's awards, CNBC wanted to explore why Boeing, a legacy space company, has struggled to build a vehicle to take people to space.

儘管波音公司獲得了該合同的大部分獎勵，但 CNBC 仍想探究波音公司作為一家老牌航天公司，為何在製造載人航天飛行器方面舉步維艱。

Space is part of Boeing's defense, space and securities business unit.

太空是波音公司國防、太空和證券業務部的一部分。

If you look at on a revenue basis what BDS makes up as a total of the rest of Boeing, it's somewhere around 30 percent of the company's revenue at nearly $25 billion for last year in 2023.

如果按波音公司其他部門的總收入計算，BDS 佔波音公司去年（2023 年）收入的 30%左右，接近 250 億美元。

It's important to note that this $25 billion is also made up of non-space related projects, including contracts for military helicopters, fighter jets and munitions.

值得注意的是，這 250 億美元還包括與太空無關的項目，包括軍用直升機、戰鬥機和彈藥合同。

Although Boeing doesn't break out its space business, we believe it's several billion dollars across NASA and satellite programs.

雖然波音公司沒有對其太空業務進行細分，但我們相信它在 NASA 和衛星項目上的投入高達數十億美元。

The company's financial juggernaut is its commercial airplanes business, which brought in nearly $33 billion in 2023.

該公司的財務巨頭是其商用飛機業務，該業務在 2023 年將帶來近 330 億美元的收入。

Still, Boeing's space arm does carry a lot of prestige for the company.

儘管如此，波音公司的太空部門還是為公司贏得了很多聲譽。

Boeing's heritage in space actually dates back to the earliest days of the U.S.

波音公司在太空領域的傳統實際上可以追溯到美國建國之初。

You can see their fingerprints all over major aspects of the Apollo missions, for example, and pretty much every major U.S.

例如，在阿波羅任務的主要方面，你都能看到他們的足跡，幾乎美國的每一個重要任務都有他們的身影。

Following the Apollo Moon program, NASA chose Boeing as the prime contractor to build the International Space Station.

繼阿波羅登月計劃之後，美國國家航空航天局選擇波音公司作為建造國際空間站的主承包商。

Today, Boeing is still in charge of managing operations on the ISS.

如今，波音公司仍負責管理國際空間站的運行。

The company is also the maker of the X-37B.

A mysterious space plane that the Space Force uses to perform classified tests.

太空部隊用來進行機密測試的神祕太空飛機。

Satellites and rockets are also part of Boeing's portfolio.

衛星和火箭也是波音公司產品組合的一部分。

The space launch system, which is the massive rocket that NASA is planning to use to deliver astronauts to the moon as a part of its broader Artemis program.

太空發射系統是美國國家航空航天局（NASA）計劃用於將太空人送往月球的大型火箭，是其更廣泛的阿爾特米斯計劃的一部分。

Boeing's the lead contractor on building that rocket as well.

波音公司也是建造這枚火箭的主要承包商。

You also have another key piece of the rocketeering business, if you will, which is the United Launch Alliance.

你們還有另一項重要的火箭業務，那就是聯合發射聯盟。

That's a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, and that joint venture represents a 50 percent interest of each in flying ULA's rockets, such as its Atlas V and now its upcoming Vulcan-class rocket.

這是波音公司和洛克希德-馬丁公司的合資企業，在 ULA 的火箭飛行中，雙方各佔 50%的股份，如 Atlas V 火箭和即將推出的火神級火箭。

With its identity deeply rooted in America's space ventures, Boeing was the clear choice to win NASA's Commercial Crew Program contract in 2014.

波音公司深深紮根於美國的航天事業，是以在 2014 年贏得了美國國家航空航天局（NASA）的商業乘員計劃合同。

But not wanting to put all its eggs in one basket, NASA also tapped SpaceX, then a relative newcomer, for the job.

但由於不想把所有雞蛋都放在一個籃子裡，NASA 還選擇了當時相對較新的 SpaceX 公司來承擔這項工作。

The entirety of the Commercial Crew Program was very much a new venture.

整個商業乘員計劃在很大程度上是一項全新的嘗試。

Prior to that, NASA relied on the space shuttle and on a lot of its own engineering talent to get humans to the space station.

在此之前，美國國家航空航天局依靠航天飛機和自身的大量工程人才將人類送往空間站。

With the Commercial Crew Program, it was offloading some of those responsibilities to the private sector.

通過商業乘員計劃，它將這些責任中的一部分移交給了私營部門。

And actually, there was some reticence in Congress towards this type of approach.

實際上，國會對這種方法也有一些保留意見。

And it was only because Boeing threw its hat in the ring that Congress, and by extension NASA, was confident enough to actually go forward with this program.

正是因為波音公司的加入，美國國會和美國國家航空航天局才有足夠的信心推進這一計劃。

To date, Boeing has received nearly $5 billion to build the Starliner capsule, while SpaceX has gotten around $3 billion to build Crew Dragon.

迄今為止，波音公司已獲得近 50 億美元用於建造 "星際客艙"，而 SpaceX 公司則獲得約 30 億美元用於建造 "乘員龍"。

But development has not always gone as planned.

So the engineering team has evaluated the vehicle is not in a configuration where we can proceed with flight today.

是以，工程小組評估認為，飛行器的配置不適合今天進行飛行。

Initially, SpaceX and Boeing were neck and neck in development of their crewed vehicles.

最初，SpaceX 公司和波音公司在乘員飛行器的研發上不相上下。

That really started to change in about 2018 when we first got an idea that there were some propellant issues with the Starliner capsule.

這種情況真正開始改變是在 2018 年左右，當時我們第一次瞭解到 "星際客艙 "存在一些推進劑問題。

And then during Boeing's first uncrewed flight test in 2019, there was an onboard computer issue that really caused a major failure during the flight and meant it actually couldn't even reach the International Space Station because it was in the wrong orbit.

而在波音公司 2019 年進行的首次無人駕駛飛行測試中，機載計算機出現問題，導致飛行過程中出現重大故障，這意味著它實際上甚至無法抵達國際空間站，因為它進入了錯誤的軌道。

And what that meant was that Boeing had to redo the uncrewed flight test entirely.

這意味著波音公司必須重新進行無人駕駛飛行測試。

NASA launched an investigation into the incident and recommended that Boeing make 80 changes to its spacecraft before attempting the test again.

美國國家航空航天局對這一事件展開了調查，並建議波音公司對其航天器進行 80 項改動，然後再嘗試進行試驗。

The agency also admitted that it hadn't monitored Boeing as closely as it should have because of Boeing's long legacy of working on space programs.

該機構還承認，由於波音公司長期從事太空項目的工作，它沒有對波音公司進行應有的密切監控。

I would say in the software area, from a NASA perspective, we may have been focused a little more on SpaceX because they use a bit of a non-traditional approach to their software development.

我想說的是，在軟件領域，從美國國家航空航天局的角度來看，我們可能更關注 SpaceX 公司，因為他們在軟件開發方面採用了一些非傳統的方法。

We had maybe more familiarity with the Boeing process from those that had worked on International Space Station.

曾在國際空間站工作過的人員也許對波音公司的流程更為熟悉。

Many of the team that did the software for International Space Station was actually working on the Starliner.

為國際空間站開發軟件的團隊中，有許多人實際上都在為 "星際客機 "工作。

And so we maybe just didn't quite take the time that we needed to.

是以，我們可能沒有花足夠的時間。

Further issues with valves failing to open in the Starliner propulsion system meant that Boeing was not able to carry out a successful uncrewed test until 2022.

由於 "星際客機 "推進系統的閥門無法打開，波音公司直到 2022 年才成功進行了一次無人駕駛測試。

More recently, they've identified issues with the design of the parachute system, as well as flammable tape that was throughout the interior of the capsule.

最近，他們又發現了降落傘系統的設計問題，以及整個太空艙內部的易燃膠帶問題。

And then as they've been moving towards this final big milestone, which is flying actual people, there was a valve issue first identified with the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket that was resolved.

然後，在他們邁向最後一個重要里程碑--實際載人飛行--的過程中，聯合發射聯盟阿特拉斯五號火箭首先發現了一個閥門問題，這個問題已經得到解決。

But then they also identified further propulsion issues with the valve system on the Starliner capsule.

但隨後他們又發現 "星際客艙 "上的閥門系統存在進一步的推進問題。

This crew flight test is something that was really looked at to be happening in 2019, 2020.

這次機組人員飛行測試預計將在 2019 年或 2020 年進行。

And now we're five years later and it's only just now happening.

五年後的今天，這一切才剛剛發生。

And liftoff of Starliner and Atlas V carrying two American heroes.

載有兩位美國英雄的 "星際客機 "和 "阿特拉斯五號 "升空。

The two-person test flight launch in early June is the last step before NASA can certify Starliner for operational missions to the ISS.

6 月初的雙人試飛發射是美國國家航空航天局（NASA）認證 "星際客機 "執行國際空間站飛行任務前的最後一步。

But all these delays have cost Boeing years of extra work and over a billion dollars in cash.

但所有這些延誤使波音公司付出了多年的額外工作和超過 10 億美元的現金。

Unlike the cost-plus contracts that Boeing was used to working on, the commercial crew contract was set up as a fixed price structure.

與波音公司慣用的成本加成合同不同，商業機組人員合同採用固定價格結構。

NASA basically said, hey, we're going to fund up to this amount to develop your space capsule.

美國國家航空航天局基本上是這樣說的：嘿，我們將資助你們開發太空艙，最多不超過這個數目。

After that, you know, the costs are your own.

之後，費用就由你自己承擔了。

Boeing has blamed these types of contracts for hurting the company's bottom line and said it would steer away from them in the future.

波音公司指責這類合同損害了公司的底線，並表示今後將避免這類合同。

Here's Boeing's CFO on the company's Q3 2023 earnings call.

以下是波音公司首席財務官在 2023 年第三季度財報電話會議上的發言。

As you know, part of the challenge we're dealing with are legacy contracts that we need to get out from under.

如你所知，我們面臨的部分挑戰是我們需要擺脫的遺留合同。

Rest assured, we haven't signed any fixed price development contracts nor intend to.

請放心，我們沒有也不打算簽署任何固定價格的開發合同。

Conrad says it's a pattern they're seeing across the aerospace and defense sector.

康拉德說，這是他們在整個航空航天和國防領域看到的一種模式。

There's been public commentary from a lot of crimes, some high profile withdrawing from certain programs.

很多犯罪都有公開評論，一些知名人士退出了某些項目。

We've definitely seen, you know, industry somewhat shy away from those heavy fixed price development programs just because of the risk.

我們確實看到，你知道，由於風險的存在，業界對那些固定價格的開發項目有些退避三舍。

But fixed price contracts were nothing new to SpaceX, which was used to being scrappy.

但固定價格合同對 SpaceX 來說並不新鮮，因為 SpaceX 已經習慣了 "苟且偷生"。

Prior to commercial crew, SpaceX worked on another fixed price contract for NASA that required the company to build a capsule to carry cargo to and from the ISS.

在商業乘員組之前，SpaceX 曾為美國國家航空航天局（NASA）簽訂過另一份固定價格合同，要求該公司建造一個太空艙，用於往返國際空間站運送貨物。

SpaceX's cargo program certainly helped them with developing their Dragon crew vehicle.

SpaceX 公司的貨運計劃無疑有助於他們開發 "龍 "運載火箭。

And there were a lot of similarities between the two.

Their cargo program had to launch on their Falcon 9 rocket.

他們的貨運計劃必須使用獵鷹 9 號火箭發射。

It had to dock with the International Space Station and it had to deliver goods to and from orbit.

它必須與國際空間站對接，必須在軌道上往返運送貨物。

Those were all useful skills for the Crew Dragon program that the company could transfer over.

這些都是 "乘龍 "計劃的有用技能，公司可以將其轉移過來。

Kalturer likely also played a role in SpaceX's success.

Kalturer 很可能也在 SpaceX 的成功中發揮了作用。

In SpaceX's case, I think the biggest advantage comes from the fact that they see flying people to space safely as a key milestone in their broader goal of being able to send people to the moon and Mars and other planetary bodies.

就 SpaceX 而言，我認為其最大的優勢在於，他們將把人類安全送入太空視為一個關鍵的里程碑，而這正是他們實現將人類送上月球、火星和其他行星體這一更廣泛目標的關鍵所在。

You're not looking at Boeing and hearing from program executives that are saying, hey, the very future of this company, the fabric of our identity is wrapped up in whether or not we can fly astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

在波音公司，你不會聽到項目主管們說："嘿，我們公司的未來，我們身份的結構，都與我們能否讓太空人往返於國際空間站息息相關。

And then there's SpaceX's ability to operate independently.

SpaceX's level of vertical integration, which is significantly higher than most other companies in the space industry, gives it an ability to move more quickly than a company or a competitor that may have to rely on multiple suppliers in different states and in different time zones to get the same program going.

SpaceX 的垂直整合水準遠遠高於航天工業中的大多數其他公司，這使它有能力比其他公司或競爭對手更快地行動起來，因為後者可能不得不依賴位於不同州和不同時區的多個供應商來啟動同一個項目。

After completing this last test, Starliner can finally start fulfilling its NASA contract for six missions to the ISS.

完成最後一次測試後，"星際客機 "終於可以開始履行美國國家航空航天局（NASA）的合同，執行六次前往國際空間站的任務。

But beyond that, the project's future is uncertain, especially since NASA plans to retire the ISS around 2030.

但除此之外，該項目前途未卜，尤其是美國國家航空航天局計劃在 2030 年左右讓國際空間站退役。

Boeing is going to be done with those missions at the same time as the International Space Station retires.

在國際空間站退役的同時，波音公司也將結束這些任務。

So then it's a question of where is Starliner flying to?

那麼問題來了，"星際客機 "要飛往哪裡？

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為什麼波音公司花了十年時間才成功送太空人到國際太空站？ (Why It Took Boeing A Decade To Launch NASA Astronauts On Starliner)

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