VOA标准英语2014--维珍宇宙飞船失事引发诸多问题

 

Virgin¹ Spaceship Crash Raises Questions 维珍宇宙飞船失事引发诸多问题

WASHINGTON— 

Plans to fly tourists to the edge of space could be delayed after Friday's crash of Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo during a manned test flight.  It is the second explosion of a U.S. commercial spacecraft this week. The two disasters raise questions about the future of commercial space flights in the United States.

Television footage taken from a helicopter shows the wreckage² of the spacecraft scattered³ in California's Mojave Desert.  Local authorities say the co-pilot was killed, while the pilot ejected and was hospitalized with serious injuries.

"This was a pure test.  This was not a public event.  So I will tell you from my eyes and my ears, I detected nothing that appeared abnormal.  I was briefed that the plume⁴ would look different this time than it had in the past.  And it did," said Stuart Witt, chief executive of the Mojave Air and Space Port.

Virgin Galactic said the vehicle's first manned test experienced "a serious anomaly."  The company's owner, British billionaire Richard Branson, was hoping to start space tourist travel within the next few months.

"I can say that Richard Branson is on his way.  He's flying now to Mojave.  And we expect he'll be here by tomorrow morning.  Space is hard, and today was a tough day," said George Whitesides, chief executive of Virgin Galactic.

SpaceShipTwo was launched by carrier aircraft WhiteKnightTwo Friday morning from a location in the desert.  Soon after it separated from the carrier, it crashed to the ground.  

Some 800 people have reserved seats to fly into sub-orbit.

Meanwhile, officials of Orbital Sciences Corporation are investigating what caused the failure of their cargo⁵ spacecraft on Tuesday on Wallops Island,Virginia.  Under a $1.9 billion contract with NASA, the company's Cygnus spacecraft, powered by an Antares rocket, was carrying more than two tons of water, food and equipment to the International Space Station.  All of it was lost in the crash.

Orbital's two earlier space flights for NASA were successful and the space flight industry refuses to let adversities stop its progress.

“It’s a setback⁶, 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 Eric Stallmer, president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation⁷.

It is clear, though, that Orbital Corporation will suffer financial losses.  In addition to losing a spacecraft, the company's only launch pad in Virginia has been damaged.

NASA has a contract with another private firm, California-based Space X Corporation, whose vehicle is scheduled to send cargo to the space station in December.

1 virgin   

n.处女，未婚女子；adj.未经使用的；未经开发的

参考例句：

• Have you ever been to a virgin forest?你去过原始森林吗？
• There are vast expanses of virgin land in the remote regions.在边远地区有大片大片未开垦的土地。

2 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

3 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

4 plume   

n.羽毛；v.整理羽毛，骚首弄姿，用羽毛装饰

参考例句：

• Her hat was adorned with a plume.她帽子上饰着羽毛。
• He does not plume himself on these achievements.他并不因这些成就而自夸。

5 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

6 setback   

n.退步，挫折，挫败

参考例句：

• Since that time there has never been any setback in his career.从那时起他在事业上一直没有遇到周折。
• She views every minor setback as a disaster.她把每个较小的挫折都看成重大灾难。

7 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。