Name: SpaceX 完成波音任務：美國國家航空航天局的備用計劃詳解 | WSJ (SpaceX Completing a Boeing Mission: NASA’s Backup Plan, Explained | WSJ)
Uploaded: 2024-08-26T11:24:58.000Z
Duration: 6 min 41 s

轉承詞

Two NASA astronauts, Sunita Williams and Barry Wilmore, who traveled to the International Space Station on an eight-day mission, could now end up staying there for over eight months because of problems with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft.

美國國家航空航天局的兩名太空人蘇尼塔-威廉姆斯（Sunita Williams）和巴里-威爾莫爾（Barry Wilmore）在國際空間站執行了為期八天的任務，由於波音公司的 "星際客機"（Starliner）飛船出現問題，他們現在可能要在那裡停留八個多月。

To add insult to injury, NASA announced that the crew will return to Earth on a spacecraft from Boeing's competitor, SpaceX, in February of 2025.

雪上加霜的是，美國國家航空航天局宣佈，機組人員將於 2025 年 2 月乘坐波音公司的競爭對手 SpaceX 公司的飛船返回地球。

程度副詞

There's just a lot of uncertainty about what happens to the Starliner program.

只是，"星際客機 "項目的前景還很不明朗。

You know, this might not look good right now, but we don't know the end of it yet.

你知道，現在看起來可能不太好，但我們還不知道事情的結局。

Here's a breakdown of Boeing's Starliner saga and what it could mean for the aerospace giant.

以下是波音公司 "星際客機 "事件的詳細情況，以及它對這家航空巨頭可能意味著什麼。

Boeing has faced a lot of technical challenges with developing this vehicle all the way back to, you know, 2019.

從 2019 年開始，波音公司在研發這款飛行器的過程中遇到了很多技術挑戰。

One ignition and liftoff of Starliner and Atlas V.

Starliner 和 Atlas V 一次點火和升空。

When Starliner did finally take off on June 5th, more technical problems disrupted the flight.

當 "星際班機 "最終於 6 月 5 日起飛時，更多的技術問題中斷了飛行。

There are two main kind of buckets of problems that came up during Starliner's flight to the International Space Station.

在星際客機飛往國際空間站的過程中，主要出現了兩類問題。

One relates to thrusters that are used to maneuver the spacecraft.

其中一個與用於操縱航天器的推進器有關。

A handful of them temporarily failed as the vehicle was docking, you know, with the space station.

在飛行器與空間站對接的過程中，有少數飛行器暫時出現了故障。

And then the second bucket of problems are helium leaks.

Helium is used to pressurize the propulsion system, and NASA and Boeing discovered several leaks on board that system, you know, during the flight.

氦氣是用來給推進系統加壓的，NASA和波音公司在飛行過程中發現該系統有多處洩漏。

The crew did manage to arrive at the International Space Station safely.

機組人員確實安全抵達了國際空間站。

And followed shortly behind by Commander of Starliner, Butch Wilmore.

緊隨其後的是 Starliner 的指揮官 Butch Wilmore。

But Starliner's problems raised concerns at NASA.

但 "星際客機 "的問題引起了美國國家航空航天局的關注。

The agency talked about returning Starliner as early as June 14th, but NASA delayed the return several times.

早在 6 月 14 日，美國國家航空航天局（NASA）就討論過讓 "星際客機 "返回美國的問題，但該計劃多次延後。

On August 7th, NASA said that the return date could be pushed to February 2025.

8 月 7 日，美國國家航空航天局表示，返回日期可能會延後到 2025 年 2 月。

美國國家航空航天局基本上一直在討論風險問題。

And how much risk does Starliner pose to the astronauts, Barry Wilmore, Sunita Williams?

那麼 "星際客機 "對太空人巴里-威爾莫爾和蘇尼塔-威廉姆斯有多大風險呢？

I'm not sure that NASA has had to make a call, make a decision, in the face of uncertainty about a human spaceflight program with humans on orbit and human lives potentially at stake in a really long time.

我不確定美國國家航空航天局（NASA）是否在很長一段時間內，不得不在載人航天計劃的不確定性面前做出決定，因為該計劃涉及人類在軌道上的飛行，並可能危及人的生命。

In early August, NASA said it was considering tapping SpaceX to ferry the astronauts back home.

8 月初，美國國家航空航天局（NASA）表示，正在考慮讓 SpaceX 公司運送太空人回家。

SpaceX didn't respond to a request for comment.

Boeing has said, just sort of simply put, that Starliner is ready to go.

波音公司表示，簡單地說，"星際客機 "已經準備就緒。

And the data supports using Starliner to take the two astronauts back to Earth.

這些數據支持使用 "星際班機 "將兩名太空人送回地球。

NASA has been in this kind of intense, one leader there recently called it vigorous debate about the risks that Starliner may pose to the two astronauts if it is used to ferry them back to Earth.

美國國家航空航天局（NASA）一直在就 "星際客機"（Starliner）如果被用來運送兩名太空人返回地球可能對他們造成的風險進行激烈的辯論，該局的一位領導人最近稱之為 "激烈的辯論"。

Long before this current Starliner mission, the spacecraft's development was dogged by problems.

早在這次 "星際客機 "任務之前，該航天器的研發工作就問題重重。

Boeing has been working on Starliner for more than a decade, and the program has been beset with delays.

波音公司開發 "星際客機 "已經有十多年的歷史，但該項目一直受到延誤的困擾。

Starliner was born at the end of NASA's space shuttle program in 2011.

星際客機誕生於 2011 年美國國家航空航天局航天飛機項目結束之時。

Shortly after that, the agency hired Boeing and SpaceX to each independently develop spacecrafts to ferry astronauts to and from the space station.

此後不久，該機構聘請波音公司和 SpaceX 公司各自獨立開發航天器，用於運送太空人往返空間站。

NASA wanted to have two different American companies to basically back each other up.

美國國家航空航天局希望有兩家不同的美國公司相互支持。

If something happens with one company, the other could be right there to continue the flights, continue the missions, continue the science.

如果其中一家公司出了問題，另一家公司就可以繼續飛行、繼續執行任務、繼續進行科學研究。

That's what we found with the space shuttle way back when, when we had the first accident.

這就是我們在航天飛機上發現的情況，當時我們發生了第一起事故。

So having a second option is really important.

是以，有第二種選擇真的很重要。

And we're seeing it now, because even though we're having some issues and delays with the Starliner, we're still able to at least carry on the operations of the space station by using the Crew Dragon.

我們現在就看到了這一點，因為即使我們的 "星際客機 "出現了一些問題和延誤，我們仍然能夠通過使用 "乘員龍 "至少繼續空間站的運行。

Boeing's struggles with Starliner contrast sharply with the development of SpaceX's Crew Dragon.

波音在 "星際客機 "上的掙扎與 SpaceX 的 "乘員龍 "的發展形成了鮮明對比。

SpaceX has now flown nine different missions for NASA.

目前，SpaceX 已經為 NASA 飛行了九次不同的任務。

That includes their test flight, you know, a few years ago.

Boeing has flown, you know, call it half of one.

波音公司已經試飛過，你知道，可以說是半個。

I mean, they've taken astronauts up to the space station, no easy feat, but have not, you know, brought them back yet.

我的意思是，他們已經把太空人送上了空間站，這可不是一件容易的事，但還沒有，你知道，把他們帶回來。

I think right now it's a tough time for Boeing, there's no doubt about it.

我認為現在對波音公司來說是一個艱難的時期，這是毋庸置疑的。

Maybe it makes it a little harder, at least the optics of it, because the perception now is that, you know, SpaceX is running things splendidly, you know, they're having a lot of success.

也許這讓它變得更難了，至少從光學角度來看是這樣，因為現在的看法是，你知道，SpaceX公司經營得很好，你知道，他們取得了很大的成功。

And I think it's, the game's not over yet.

When NASA selected Boeing and SpaceX to develop the Starliner and Crew Dragon spacecrafts, the agency signed fixed price agreements with each contractor.

美國國家航空航天局選擇波音公司和 SpaceX 公司開發 "星際客機 "和 "乘員龍 "飛船時，分別與兩家承包商簽訂了固定價格協議。

The company and NASA agree to a number, and then it's up to the company to come up with a way to stay under that number.

公司和 NASA 商定一個數字，然後由公司想辦法保持在這個數字之下。

The idea is you're incentivizing your contractor to, you know, perform well so they can make some money.

這樣做的目的是激勵你的承包商，讓他們表現出色，這樣他們就能賺到錢。

Boeing has struggled financially with Starliner.

波音公司的 "星際客機 "在財務上一直舉步維艱。

They've disclosed more than $1.4 billion in charges or losses related to the program.

他們已經披露了與該計劃有關的超過 14 億美元的費用或損失。

And there's some real questions about whether the company is going to ever, you know, see any return from years and years of investment.

公司是否能從多年的投資中獲得回報，這確實是個問題。

That NASA has now turned to SpaceX to complete the mission is a tough outcome for Boeing, which has deep ties to NASA that date to the Apollo moon landings.

美國國家航空航天局（NASA）現在轉向 SpaceX 來完成這項任務，這對波音公司來說是一個艱難的結果，因為波音公司與 NASA 的深厚淵源可以追溯到阿波羅登月計劃。

If you look back at executive commentary from Boeing, you know, years ago, folks there thought that they would be first, that Boeing would beat SpaceX to transport NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

如果你回顧一下波音公司的高管評論，你就會知道，幾年前，那裡的人們認為他們會成為第一，波音公司會擊敗 SpaceX 公司，將美國國家航空航天局（NASA）的太空人運送到國際空間站。

And it obviously has not worked out the way they, many executives and leaders at Boeing thought it would.

顯然，波音公司的許多高管和上司並沒有像他們想象的那樣成功。

It kind of signals a changing of the guard in the space industry.

這似乎預示著太空行業的新老交替。

You know, it's not all roses, you know, you have ups and downs, that's the way life is.

你知道，並不都是玫瑰，你知道，你會有起伏，生活就是這樣。

And I think from the experience I've had as an astronaut, I think it's really the mark of a good team to be able to recover from that.

根據我作為太空人的經驗，我認為能夠從中恢復過來是一個優秀團隊的標誌。

And how do you recover from that adversity?

你又是如何從逆境中恢復過來的呢？

So I think it's an opportunity for Boeing.

是以，我認為這對波音公司來說是一個機會。

They'd much rather have brought them home in eight days, okay, next, you know, and move on.

他們更希望能在八天內把他們帶回家，好吧，接下來，你知道的，然後繼續前進。

We'll be happy to go back home when it's our time to go back home.

到了該回家的時候，我們會很高興回家的。

 But you can't do this on Earth, so this is, this makes it special.

但你在地球上無法做到這一點，所以這就是，這就是它的特別之處。