2006年VOA标准英语-Shuttle Heads to Space Station in First Night L

By David McAlary
Washington
09 December 2006

After a two-day launch delay, the U.S. space shuttle Discovery is back in orbit, heading to a Monday rendezvous¹ with the International Space Station. The launch from Florida was the first to take place at night in four years. As VOA's David McAlary reports from Washington, the Discovery astronauts will rewire the growing research outpost for increased power and install a new component² on its backbone³.

Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off with a crew of seven at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida

The U.S. space agency NASA says this and future missions to finish building the space station are among the hardest ever.

"There are many activities and many aspects of this flight that probably make it one of the most complex assembly flights that we have done to date," said William Gerstenmaier, NASA's deputy chief for space operations. He said the mission's intricacy can be measured by the number of commands ground controllers will have to make after Discovery docks at the station. "During a typical space station flight, we send about 800 commands a day. On this flight we will send over four-thousand commands over three days."

This shuttle mission is unique because of the need to rewire the space station. Since it went into orbit in 1998, the outpost has been running on a temporary electrical system. But September's shuttle mission brought two new electricity-generating solar arrays to the outpost, so all the pieces are now in place to switch to the permanent system.

Deputy station manager Kirk Shireman said making all the necessary connections will require two astronauts on two spacewalks. "You're basically rewiring your house while you're living in it," he said.

But before any rewiring can be done, the shuttle crew must retract⁴ half of the solar array that has been providing the temporary power to make room for the new solar wings to rotate. That has never been tried before and could be difficult to retract after a long time in the harsh space environment. It may be like folding a map that has been left out in the weather for years.

Another factor complicating⁵ Discovery's mission is the requirement to activate⁶ space station pumps to cool the equipment that converts the solar energy into electricity. The air conditioning system uses ammonia as a coolant, and Shireman says it will be the first time it has operated since being installed four years ago. "We're going to flow ammonia through systems that have not had ammonia in them before. It would be like putting a car in your garage, you keep the battery charged, but, you know, you come back in four years and you turn the key and you hope it starts," he said.

A third spacewalk by Discovery astronauts will install a two-ton segment on the space station's girder-like backbone to serve as a bridge routing power, data, and coolant between other girder segments.

With Discovery's launch, the U.S. space agency has returned to night shuttle liftoffs for the first time since before the 2003 Columbia disaster. The last three missions since the accident have occurred in daylight to give engineers the clearest view of launch. The agency wanted to see whether safety modifications⁷ to the external fuel tank prevented hard insulating foam⁸ from breaking off during ascent⁹ and damaging the orbiter, as happened with Columbia.

NASA believes it has conquered this threat and says it can see almost all it has to now during the fiery¹⁰ brilliance¹¹ of engine burn. Shuttle program manager Wayne Hale says that because the shuttle must compete for launch pad time with other types of missions, night operations provide more opportunities to meet the tight schedule of 14 flights needed to complete the space station before the shuttle fleet is retired¹² in four years. "If you think about it, it's only light about half the time. It's pretty clear that we would never make the flight rate that's required to assemble the International Space Station," he said.

The seven Discovery crewmembers include Sweden's first astronaut, Christer Fuglesang, who will be one of the spacewalkers. Also aboard is Sunita Williams, an American woman of Indian ancestry¹³ who will exchange places with one of the three space station crewmen, Thomas Reiter of Germany. It will be the first crew transfer via the shuttle since Russian Soyuz rockets took over the job after the 2003 Columbia accident.

1 rendezvous   

n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇

参考例句：

• She made the rendezvous with only minutes to spare.她还差几分钟时才来赴约。
• I have a rendezvous with Peter at a restaurant on the harbour.我和彼得在海港的一个餐馆有个约会。

2 component   

n.组成部分，成分，元件；adj.组成的，合成的

参考例句：

• Each component is carefully checked before assembly.每个零件在装配前都经过仔细检查。
• Blade and handle are the component parts of a knife.刀身和刀柄是一把刀的组成部分。

3 backbone   

n.脊骨，脊柱，骨干；刚毅，骨气

参考例句：

• The Chinese people have backbone.中国人民有骨气。
• The backbone is an articulate structure.脊椎骨是一种关节相连的结构。

4 retract   

vt.缩回，撤回收回，取消

参考例句：

• The criminals should stop on the precipice, retract from the wrong path and not go any further.犯罪分子应当迷途知返，悬崖勒马，不要在错误的道路上继续走下去。
• I don't want to speak rashly now and later have to retract my statements.我不想现在说些轻率的话，然后又要收回自己说过的话。

5 complicating   

使复杂化( complicate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• High spiking fever with chills is suggestive of a complicating pylephlebitis. 伴有寒战的高热，暗示合并门静脉炎。
• In America these actions become executive puberty rites, complicating relationships that are already complicated enough. 在美国，这些行动成了行政青春期的惯例，使本来已经够复杂的关系变得更复杂了。

6 activate   

vt.使活动起来，使开始起作用

参考例句：

• We must activate the youth to study.我们要激励青年去学习。
• These push buttons can activate the elevator.这些按钮能启动电梯。

7 modifications   

n.缓和( modification的名词复数 )；限制；更改；改变

参考例句：

• The engine was pulled apart for modifications and then reassembled. 发动机被拆开改型，然后再组装起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The original plan had undergone fairly extensive modifications. 原计划已经作了相当大的修改。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 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。

9 ascent   

n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高

参考例句：

• His rapid ascent in the social scale was surprising.他的社会地位提高之迅速令人吃惊。
• Burke pushed the button and the elevator began its slow ascent.伯克按动电钮，电梯开始缓慢上升。

10 fiery   

adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的

参考例句：

• She has fiery red hair.她有一头火红的头发。
• His fiery speech agitated the crowd.他热情洋溢的讲话激动了群众。

11 brilliance   

n.光辉，辉煌，壮丽，（卓越的）才华，才智

参考例句：

• I was totally amazed by the brilliance of her paintings.她的绘画才能令我惊歎不已。
• The gorgeous costume added to the brilliance of the dance.华丽的服装使舞蹈更加光彩夺目。

12 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。

13 ancestry   

n.祖先，家世

参考例句：

• Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
• He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。