2006年VOA标准英语-Space Shuttle 'Discovery' Lands Safely in Flori

By David McAlary
Washington
17 July 2006

The U.S. space shuttle Discovery has landed in Florida, ending a resupply and maintenance mission to the International Space Station. Its successful flight means the space agency NASA can finally resume construction of the station.

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Bystanders watch Space Shuttle Discovery approach runway at Kennedy Space Center in Cape¹ Canaveral, Fla.  
  
Discovery's safe landing is an obvious relief to NASA, which was forced to halt assembly of the half-built space station more than three years ago when the shuttle Columbia disintegrated² upon re-entry into the atmosphere.

Discovery, sounding like any other airplane, glided³ smoothly⁴ onto a runway at Kennedy Space Center.

Flight controllers greeted its six astronauts.

"Welcome back Discovery, and congratulations on a great mission," said the flight controller.

The landing concluded the first shuttle flight in one year, and only the second since Columbia's demise⁵.

Columbia burned up when searing gases, caused by friction⁶ with the atmosphere, entered a hole in its wing. The hole was caused by hard foam⁷ insulation⁸ that broke away from the external fuel tank and hit the shuttle during launch.

NASA described Discovery's flight as a test of its three-year effort to make sure this never happened again.

It minimized the amount of debris⁹ that flies away from the fuel tanks, installed an array of ground cameras to monitor launches, and put new cameras and sensors¹⁰ on the orbiters to detect possible launch debris strikes or hits by micrometeoroids while in orbit. Discovery's crew found no damage during several scans of its fragile heat shield, giving NASA confidence it could bring the shuttle home safely.

The chief of the International Space Station program, Mike Suffredini, says the mission was nearly flawless.

"I cannot think of a better mission in recent history. Every objective that we went in with was completed, and, in fact, a couple of extra things got done for us that we thought, perhaps, we wouldn't have time for," he said.

The objectives included bringing a third crew member to the space station, which had only two since Columbia's accident. Discovery also hauled up new supplies and equipment to the outpost, and the astronauts took spacewalks to repair station equipment critical to resuming its construction.

"So with this flight, in our minds, we are ready to get on with assembly, and we will do just that," he said.

Space station assembly restarts late next month, when the shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to deliver a pair of solar energy panels, new batteries and a truss segment on which to mount other components¹¹.

1 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

2 disintegrated   

v.（使）破裂[分裂，粉碎]，（使）崩溃( disintegrate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The plane disintegrated as it fell into the sea. 飞机坠入大海时解体了。
• The box was so old;it just disintegrated when I picked it up. 那箱子太破旧了，我刚一提就散了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 glided   

v.滑动( glide的过去式和过去分词 )；掠过；（鸟或飞机 ） 滑翔

参考例句：

• The President's motorcade glided by. 总统的车队一溜烟开了过去。
• They glided along the wall until they were out of sight. 他们沿着墙壁溜得无影无踪。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

5 demise   

n.死亡；v.让渡，遗赠，转让

参考例句：

• He praised the union's aims but predicted its early demise.他赞扬协会的目标，但预期这一协会很快会消亡。
• The war brought about the industry's sudden demise.战争道致这个行业就这么突然垮了。

6 friction   

n.摩擦，摩擦力

参考例句：

• When Joan returned to work,the friction between them increased.琼回来工作后，他们之间的摩擦加剧了。
• Friction acts on moving bodies and brings them to a stop.摩擦力作用于运动着的物体，并使其停止。

7 foam   

v./n.泡沫，起泡沫

参考例句：

• The glass of beer was mostly foam.这杯啤酒大部分是泡沫。
• The surface of the water is full of foam.水面都是泡沫。

8 insulation   

n.隔离；绝缘；隔热

参考例句：

• Please examine the insulation of the electric wires in my house.请检查一下我屋子里电线的绝缘情况。
• It is always difficult to assure good insulation between the electric leads.要保证两个电触头之间有良好的绝缘总是很困难的。

9 debris   

n.瓦砾堆，废墟，碎片

参考例句：

• After the bombing there was a lot of debris everywhere.轰炸之后到处瓦砾成堆。
• Bacteria sticks to food debris in the teeth,causing decay.细菌附着在牙缝中的食物残渣上，导致蛀牙。

10 sensors   

n.传感器，灵敏元件( sensor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were more than 2000 sensors here. 这里装有两千多个灵敏元件。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Significant changes have been noted where sensors were exposed to trichloride. 当传感器暴露在三氯化物中时，有很大变化。 来自辞典例句

11 components   

（机器、设备等的）构成要素，零件，成分； 成分( component的名词复数 )； [物理化学]组分； [数学]分量； （混合物的）组成部分

参考例句：

• the components of a machine 机器部件
• Our chemistry teacher often reduces a compound to its components in lab. 在实验室中化学老师常把化合物分解为各种成分。