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美国火箭爆炸，私营航天产业的挫折

Wednesday's successful launch of a Russian space vehicle taking supplies to the International Space Station was in sharp contrast to the explosion of a private U.S. cargo¹ space craft shortly after it's Tuesday launch on a similar mission. But U.S. space agency NASA, which contracted the private firm to supply the space station, says the program will move forward, with more launches to come.

星期三俄罗斯成功向国际空间站发射货运飞船。这与星期二行使类似任务的一架美国私营货运飞船发射后不久就爆炸形成鲜明对比。美国国家航空航天局（NASA）承包了一家私营公司以运载补给物资给空间站。但是航空航天局说,项目还会继续进行而且未来将有更多的飞行任务。

Under a $1.9 billion contract with NASA, Orbital Sciences Corporation, based in Virginia, has sent two cargo vehicles to the International Space Station without a hitch².

和美国国家航空航天局有价值19亿美元合同的轨道科学公司总部位于弗吉尼亚州。它已经成功向国际空间站发射过两架货运飞船。

This time, their Cygnus spacecraft, powered by an Antares rocket was carrying more than two tons of water and food and also some classified equipment.

这一次，运载“天鹅座”飞船的“安塔瑞斯”号火箭携带了超过两吨的饮用水和食品以及一些机密仪器。

But several seconds after the launch the rocket blew up, before the new second stage motor was able to ignite.

在发射数秒后，第二级助推器点燃之前火箭发生了爆炸。

The explosion completely destroyed the cargo and damaged the launch pad, but no injuries or loss of life were reported.

这次爆炸完全损毁了所有货物并且给发射台造成了损失，但是没有任何人员伤亡的报道。

At a press conference at Wallops Island launch facility Executive Vice³ President and General Manager at Orbital Sciences Corporation, Frank Culbertson, said the Antares program will be put on hold.

在瓦勒普斯岛发射基地举行的新闻发布会上，轨道科学公司的执行副总裁兼总经理弗兰克?卡波特森说“安塔瑞斯”火箭项目将会暂时搁置。

“We will not fly until we understand the root cause and the corrective action necessary to insure that this doesn’t happen again," said Culbertson.

卡波特森说：“在找到根源以及防止类似事件发生的改正措施之前，我们不会有飞行任务。”

President of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation⁴, Eric Stallmer, says the space flight industry is already looking ahead.

商业航天联盟主席埃瑞克?斯托尔莫说航天工业已经往前看了。

“It’s a setback⁵, a short-term setback, but Orbital, they have still four more launches to go to the International Space Station and we anticipate those to be a huge success," said Stallmer.

斯托尔莫说：“这是一个挫折，短暂的挫折。但是轨道科学公司，他们仍有四个国际空间站发射任务。我们期待它们会非常成功。”

However, Orbital Corporation’s revenue will suffer, according to John Logsdon of George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute.

然而，据乔治华盛顿大学太空政策研究所的约翰?洛格斯登，轨道科学公司收入将会受挫。

“Because not only was this a major source of revenue for the company, this commercial cargo contract, but we don’t know yet how much damage has been done to the launch pad and it’s the only pad from which the Antares vehicle could be launched," said Logsdon.

洛格斯登说：“不仅因为这是公司的主要收入来源之一，这项商业货物合同。还有就是我们还不清楚发射台损失到底有多大而且这是‘安塔瑞斯’火箭唯一的发射台。”

NASA has a similar contract with another private firm, Space X Corporation, based in California, and their cargo vehicle is scheduled to launch in December.

美国国家航空航天局还和另外一家私营公司即总部在加利福尼亚州的美国太空探索技术公司签了类似的合同，他们的货运飞船将于12月发射。

For now the U.S. is only sending unmanned flights into space.  but that will change.  Space X and Boeing have both signed contracts with NASA and manned space flights are planned as soon as 2017.

目前，美国只向太空发射无人飞船，但这将会改变。美国太空探索技术公司与波音公司都与美国国家航空航天局签署了合同。最早将于2017年投入载人航天飞船计划。