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太空探索进入公私合作时代

Forty-five years ago this month, the first humans walked on the moon. It was during an era¹ of the space race between the United States and the Soviet² Union. World politics have changed since then and so has the nature of space exploration.

45年前的这个月，人类首次登上月球。那是美苏展开太空竞赛的时代。自那以来，全球政治和太空探险的本质发生了改变。

More than four decades ago, American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz³ Aldrin became the first humans to step onto the moon. With the planting of an American flag on the lunar surface, the United States claimed the lead in space exploration. No longer, said Aldrin.

45年前，美国宇航员阿姆斯特朗和奥尔德林首次踏上月球，奠定了美国在太空竞赛中的领先地位。但奥尔德林说， 已经发生了许多变化。

“We’re in not very good shape. We can’t even take our people to our space station that cost the United States $100 billion,” he said.

前美国宇航员奥尔德林说：“我们现在的情况不太妙，我们甚至不能送自己人去美国花了1千亿美元打造的太空站。”

Aldrin said lunar exploration needs to continue in order to take the next giant step to Mars⁴... adding, that will take cooperation with other countries that have joined the space-faring community.

现在许多国家也都有太空计划，奥尔德林说，美国需要太空计划，现在探月工作正在继续，为的是实现下一步壮举，登陆火星。

“We need to lead at the moon. The only way we can lead at the moon is to cooperate⁵ with the Chinese and not compete with anybody, but help them as best we can. Every way we help will be a stepping stone for us to get to Mars,” said Aldrin.

奥尔德林说：“我们必须在探月领域保持领先，唯一的方式是和中国合作，不与任何人竞争，而是尽我们最大的努力协助他们，任何一种协助他人的方式都将成为我们登陆火星的垫脚石。”

Mars is goal

Mars is the goal for the U.S. space agency⁶, but in a Skype interview, NASA’s Ellen Stofan said getting there will take time.

美国航天局首席科学家斯托芬通过视讯接受访问时说，登陆火星是航天局的目标，但是实现这个目标需要时间。

“Getting to Mars is really hard and it’s not just because it’s really far away, it takes about eight months to get there. It’s because we don’t have the technology right now to allow us to do it,” said Stofan.

美国国家航空航天局首席科学家斯托芬说：“不只是因为火星的距离非常遥远，大约需要8个月的时间才能到达那里，而而且还因为我们现在没有登陆火星的技术。”

She said in order to get to Mars, the U.S. has to work with other countries

斯托芬说，没有其他国家的帮助，美国不能登陆火星。

“Most missions⁷ we do, whether they are planetary or astrophysics, we do it with international partners. It’s really the way we do business now," she said.

美国国家航空航天局首席科学家斯托芬说：“我们大部分的任务，不论是行星科学还是天体物理，我们都和国际伙伴合作，这就是我们现在实际做事的方式。”

And those partners are not just foreign governments. They include private companies that will be taking astronauts to the space station from U.S. soil in 2017. Companies, including Virgin⁸ Galactic, are also catering⁹ to scientists as well as space tourists. Virgin's William Pomerantz said they aim to send their first customers into space sometime this year.

这些伙伴不只是外国政府，也包括将在2017年送美国宇航员前往国际太空站的私人公司。包括维珍银河公司在内的公司正在为科学家和太空旅行者提供服务，维珍银河公司副总裁威廉?珀默兰兹说，他们的目标是在今年送第一批客人上太空。

“Our ability is to take you up into outer space itself give you the view out the window and give your experiments several minutes of really high quality micro gravity. So you’re now seeing this new generation of entrepreneurs¹⁰, many of whom grew up watching those Apollo missions, who are now taking those technologies first developed by NASA and they’re further developing them."

维珍银河公司副总裁威廉?珀默兰兹说：“我们的能力是送你上太空，透过景观窗欣赏外太空的风景，并体验数分钟高质量的微重力。新一代企业家中有许多人是看着阿波罗太空任务长大的，现在他们利用由美国航空航天局研发的技术做起了太空旅游的生意，并且进一步发展相关技术。”

Space tourism

Space engineer John Spencer, the founder¹¹ of the Space Tourism Society, expects space tourism to become a big industry.

太空建筑师约翰?斯宾塞是太空旅游协会的创始人。 他期待太空旅行成为一桩热门生意。

“The next decade will really be the breakthrough decade with hundreds of companies involved in space experiences, tourism return to the moon for tourism experiences. Exploration for Mars is starting,” said Spencer.

斯宾塞说：“下一个10年将成为太空旅游业重大突破的时期，数百家公司投入体验太空这个行业，除了到月球旅行，火星探险也正在起步。”

Space exploration also seems to still have the ability to inspire young people, including teens Reese Hartwig and Ella Wahlestedt, who had a chance to meet Aldrin.

太空探险似乎仍然能够激发年轻一代。有幸和美国宇航员奥尔德林见面的太空探险迷哈特维希和瓦勒斯泰特说：

“I think that would be cool to see Mars and cool to go,” said Hartwig.

“ 太空探险迷哈特维希说：“我认为能够看到火星和翱游太空很酷。”

“The Universe is so vast, so big, there’s got to be something more out there,” said Wahlestedt.

瓦勒斯泰特说：“浩瀚宇宙，无边无际，一定有什么东西在那里等我们去发现。”

NASA also is asking - and hoping to answer - that question: Are we alone in the universe?

美国航空航天局也在问，并希望能够回答：人类是宇宙中的唯一生命吗？