VOA慢速英语--空间站标志着人类在轨道上生活了20年

The International Space Station was just three small rooms when the first crew moved in. The crew members soon discovered there was hardly any space for them to move around. The air was warm and humid, making them feel sticky.

Twenty years and 241 visitors later, the space station has a lookout¹ tower, enough space for six people to sleep and 12 rooms, depending on how you count.

Monday marked 20 years since people first began living on the space station. Astronauts from 19 countries have spent time there. That includes repeat visitors who arrived on spacecraft for short-term repair or building projects, and several tourists who paid their own way.

The first crew

The first crew — American Bill Shepherd and Russians Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko — left Earth on October 31, 2000. Two days later, they opened the doors to the space station, holding hands in a sign of unity².

Bill Shepherd was the space station's first commander. He likened his time living there to living on a ship at sea.

The three-man crew spent most of their time trying to get the equipment to work; heat from some of the devices made the living space too warm. Adding machinery³ and making repairs took hours, compared to minutes on the ground, Krikalev remembered.

"Each day seemed to have its own set of challenges," Shepherd said during a recent panel discussion with his former crewmates. Their reunion was organized by NASA, the U.S. space agency.

Today the space station is almost as large as a football field and has three modern laboratories. The station has enough solar power equipment to fill almost four-tenths of a hectare, and enough electrical wiring to stretch 13 kilometers.

Shepherd is long retired⁴ from NASA and lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Krikalev and Gidzenko continue to work for the Russian space agency. The two were involved in the launch of the space station's 64th crew last month.

The first thing the first crew did upon arriving at the darkened space station on November 2, 2000, was turn on the lights, which Krikalev recalled as "very memorable⁵." Then they heated water for hot drinks and activated⁶ the lone⁷ toilet.

"Now we can live," Gidzenko remembers Shepherd saying. "We have lights, we have hot water, and we have (a) toilet."

Twenty years later

The space station did not come close to hitting any space objects during their nearly five months up there, Shepherd said, and the station has held up relatively⁸ well.

Today NASA's top concern is the growing threat from space junk. This year, the space station has had to move around objects three times.

As for life on the space station, astronauts now have near-continuous communication with flight controllers and even an internet phone for personal use. The first crew had periodic radio contact with the ground; communication problems could last hours.

Astronauts spend most of their six-month stints⁹ these days keeping the space station running and performing science experiments. A few have even spent close to a year up there on a single flight.

It takes only 90 minutes for the station to circle the world, giving crew members a chance to enjoy 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets each day.

While more men have served on the space station than women, more crews today are likely to include women. Two U.S. women have served as the space station's commander. Commanders usually are American or Russian, but have also come from Belgium, Germany, Italy, Canada and Japan.

Monday was a major anniversary for the International Space Station. But the space station has, in fact, spent 22 years in Earth's orbit, and its first piece was launched into space in 1998.

NASA and its partners say the space station easily has several years of usefulness left. Russia's Mir station operated for 15 years in the late 1980s and 1990s. America's 1970s Skylab spent much less time in space, as did China's much more recent orbital missions.

Shephard said that the past 20 years of international experience and cooperation can help massive projects, like possibly sending humans to the planet Mars.

"If you look at the space station program today, it's a blueprint¹⁰ on how to do it," Shepherd said. "All those questions about how this should be organized and what it's going to look like, the big questions are already behind us."

Words in This Story

humid – adj. containing enough water or water particles to make one feel sticky

tower – n. a tall, narrow structure

tourist – n. a traveler

solar – adj. involving or related to the sun

challenge – n. an invitation to take part in a competition; a test

toilet – n. a large container connected to a system for removing waste products or liquids

mission – n. an important project or trip

blueprint – n. a design plan

1 lookout   

n.注意，前途，瞭望台

参考例句：

• You can see everything around from the lookout.从了望台上你可以看清周围的一切。
• It's a bad lookout for the company if interest rates don't come down.如果利率降不下来，公司的前景可就不妙了。

2 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

3 machinery   

n.(总称)机械，机器；机构

参考例句：

• Has the machinery been put up ready for the broadcast?广播器材安装完毕了吗？
• Machinery ought to be well maintained all the time.机器应该随时注意维护。

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 memorable   

adj.值得回忆的，难忘的，特别的，显著的

参考例句：

• This was indeed the most memorable day of my life.这的确是我一生中最值得怀念的日子。
• The veteran soldier has fought many memorable battles.这个老兵参加过许多难忘的战斗。

6 activated   

adj. 激活的 动词activate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The canister is filled with activated charcoal.蒸气回收罐中充满了活性炭。

7 lone   

adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的

参考例句：

• A lone sea gull flew across the sky.一只孤独的海鸥在空中飞过。
• She could see a lone figure on the deserted beach.她在空旷的海滩上能看到一个孤独的身影。

8 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

9 stints   

n.定额工作( stint的名词复数 )；定量；限额；慷慨地做某事

参考例句：

• He stints himself in [of] sleep. 他节制睡眠。 来自辞典例句
• She never stints herself of money to buy books for her children. 她从不吝惜掏钱让子女们买书。 来自互联网

10 blueprint   

n.蓝图，设计图，计划；vt.制成蓝图，计划

参考例句：

• All the machine parts on a blueprint must answer each other.设计图上所有的机器部件都应互相配合。
• The documents contain a blueprint for a nuclear device.文件内附有一张核装置的设计蓝图。