VOA常速英语2007-NASA Shifts Mission Priorities at International

By Alex Villarreal
Washington
31 October 2007

NASA has delayed the fourth spacewalk of a complex two-week mission by U.S. space shuttle Discovery to boost the capability¹ of the International Space Station. The walk, originally set for Thursday, is now scheduled for Friday. It will focus on a tear in one of the station's solar wings. Officials say fixing that problem is the mission's top priority. VOA's Alex Villarreal reports from Washington.

NASA originally scheduled a spacewalk on Thursday to inspect a malfunctioning² rotary³ joint⁴ on the right side of the station. The joint is needed to keep the station's solar wings turned toward the sun for power.

But space station program manager Mike Suffredini said the tear in a solar wing on the other side of the station is a much more urgent problem.

"We believe we are in a condition where we could over time tear the blanket further, and if we tear the blanket, if we do enough damage to the blanket, we could potentially get in a configuration⁵ where we couldn't stabilize⁶ the array," said Mike Suffredini. "And if we can't stabilize the array, we'll have to figure out what to do about that, and we don't have a lot of options."

The problems with the wing and the rotating joint could delay future missions. The parts are needed to generate the power to support new equipment.

Suffredini said the first thing astronauts need to do is fix the wing.

Crews spotted⁷ the tear in the wing as they unfurled it on Tuesday. The tear forced NASA to halt the process before the wing was fully⁸ extended.

Crew members took photos of the damage and sent the images to engineers on the ground for analysis. NASA officials say they will not know how to fix the wing until they determine the cause of the tear.

Earlier Wednesday, Discovery Commander Pam Melroy said crew members remain confident despite the setbacks. She said they are ready to do whatever is needed.

"You never know what is going to happen every morning when you wake up," said Pam Melroy. "And I think what is holding us up together and keeping us all upbeat is that we are all doing something that we believe in so strongly and that we love and we are having a ton of fun together doing it. And so we feel confident that whatever comes, we are going to be able to handle it."

NASA officials say as of now, the torn solar wing is stable and seems to be delivering all its power. But in order to operate on the station long-term, it needs to be fixed⁹.

Astronauts will prepare for Friday's spacewalk on Thursday. The walk will be pushed back to Saturday if they are not ready.

During the walk, Discovery crew member Scott Parazynski will be raised on the end of a long pole grasped by the station's robotic arm. This configuration will allow him to reach the solar wing and investigate the problem.

Discovery's two-week mission aims to expand the size of the space station to make way for European and Japanese scientific laboratories to be installed later.

NASA extended the mission by one day to allow for further inspection¹⁰ of the rotating joint.

Discovery is set to undock from the station on Monday. The shuttle will return to Earth on November 7.

1 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

2 malfunctioning   

出故障

参考例句：

• But something was malfunctioning in the equipment due to human error. 但由于人为的错误，设备发生故障了。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• Choke coils are useful for prevention of malfunctioning electronic equipment. 扼流圈对于防止电器设备的故障很有帮助。 来自互联网

3 rotary   

adj.(运动等)旋转的；轮转的；转动的

参考例句：

• The central unit is a rotary drum.核心设备是一个旋转的滚筒。
• A rotary table helps to optimize the beam incidence angle.一张旋转的桌子有助于将光线影响之方式角最佳化。

4 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

5 configuration   

n.结构，布局，形态，(计算机)配置

参考例句：

• Geographers study the configuration of the mountains.地理学家研究山脉的地形轮廓。
• Prices range from $119 to $199,depending on the particular configuration.价格因具体配置而异，从119美元至199美元不等。

6 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

7 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

8 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

9 fixed   

adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的

参考例句：

• Have you two fixed on a date for the wedding yet?你们俩选定婚期了吗？
• Once the aim is fixed,we should not change it arbitrarily.目标一旦确定，我们就不应该随意改变。

10 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。