美国宇航局欢迎新一期宇航员

 

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The United States named 12 new astronauts this week.

The astronauts will work for NASA, the American space agency.

The astronaut class of 2017 includes doctors, scientists, engineers, pilots and military officers. Seven are men and five are women. The youngest is 29 years old. The oldest is 42.

Vice¹ President Mike Pence officially welcomed the group during a ceremony Wednesday at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

Pence offered congratulations from President Donald Trump². He said the president is “firmly committed to NASA’s noble mission, leading America in space.”

More than 18,300 people applied³ to become astronauts. NASA says they contacted the space agency during a short application period that began in late 2015. That is more than double the record number of 8,000. The earlier record was set in 1978, when the agency was preparing for the first launch in its space shuttle program.

The 12 new astronauts will join 44 astronauts already with NASA. The last time the space agency launched astronauts from American soil was 2011, when the space shuttles were retired⁴. Since then, NASA has depended on the Russian space program to get Americans to the International Space Station.

However, that could change next year.

After two years of training, the new astronauts could travel to the space station or fly beyond the moon in NASA’s Orion spacecraft. But the space agency would depend on private businesses for rockets and other equipment.

SpaceX and Boeing are building capsules to carry astronauts to the space station and back. Those vehicles could be ready for use as soon as next year.

A launch engineer and top official with SpaceX, Robb Kulin, is among the 12 new astronauts. “Hopefully, one day, I will actually fly on a vehicle that ... I got to design,” he said.

Kulin and his classmates may be in for a long wait, however. Some members of the class of 2009 have yet to launch.

This is NASA’s 22nd group of astronauts. The first group, the Mercury 7 astronauts, was chosen in 1959.

Three hundred fifty Americans have been chosen to become astronauts. Requirements include U.S. citizenship⁵; college degrees in science, technology, engineering or mathematics; and at least three years of experience or 1,000 hours of piloting jets.

Words in This Story

committed - adj. willing to give your time, energy, etc., to something

noble - adj. having, showing, or coming from personal qualities that people admire (such as honesty, generosity⁶, courage, etc.)

mission - n. a task or job that someone is given to do

apply - n. to ask formally for something (such as a job, admission to a school, a loan, etc.) usually in writing

1 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

4 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

5 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

6 generosity   

n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为

参考例句：

• We should match their generosity with our own.我们应该像他们一样慷慨大方。
• We adore them for their generosity.我们钦佩他们的慷慨。