SpaceX and NASA Launch Is First Step to Renewed Human Spaceflight

The Crew Dragon capsule carried no crew, but it sets up a near future with astronauts traveling to orbit from the United States again.

The first American spacecraft capable of carrying astronauts since the retirement of the space shuttles launched early Saturday. A successful mission could put NASA and the United States on the cusp of a renewed era of human spaceflight.

There were no people on this demonstration flight, a SpaceX vehicle called Crew Dragon. As lightning sparked in distant skies, the spacecraft lifted off at the appointed time, 2:49 a.m. Eastern Time, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Flight Center in Florida. Within 10 minutes the capsule was in orbit, headed toward a Sunday morning rendezvous with the International Space Station.

“Tonight was a big night for the United States of America, a great night for NASA,” Jim Bridenstine, the NASA administrator, said during a news conference after the launch.

The launch was also an important step for the goals of Elon Musk, who founded SpaceX in 2002 and who says the objective of the company is to send people to space and eventually Mars. “It's been 17 years to get to this point,” said Mr. Musk.

词汇：

capsule       胶囊，太空舱[n.]; 压缩的，概要的[adj.]; 压缩，简述[vt.]

crew            全体成员[n.]; 使当成员[vt.] 

astronaut     宇航员，航天员[n.]

spacecraft/space shuttle       载人飞船，航天器[n.]

launch          发射[n./vt.]; 开始，起飞[vi.]

era                时代，年代，纪元[n.]

rendezvous        集结地[n.]; 汇合[vi.]; 在指定地点与...相会[vt.]

conference         会议[n.]

objective/goal    目标，目的[n.]

短语：

on the cusp of 在...顶尖的位置

be capable of doing sth = be able to do something 有能力做某事

the objective of ...的目的

句子：

A successful mission could put NASA and the United States on the cusp of a renewed era of human spaceflight.

这次发射任务的成功将会使NASA和美国处于载人航空全新时代的尖端

mission 任务，在这里指成功的发射

There were no people on this demonstration flight, a SpaceX vehicle called Crew Dragon.

在这次SpaceX公司下名为Crew Dragon的飞行器的试飞中没有搭载航天员

a SpaceX vehicle called Crew Dragon是对前句demonstration flight的补充解释

As lightning sparked in distant skies, the spacecraft lifted off at the appointed time, 2:49 a.m.

随着远处夜空中一团火光迅速燃起，航天飞船在指定时间凌晨2：49发射

这里lifted off 可以换做文中的launched(launch的过去式)

lightning 意为闪电，在这里可理解为飞船发射时迅速燃起的火团，spark作为动词使用，意为点燃，发动

at the appointed time 在指定时间，在预定好的时间，比如面试时可以说：Show up at the appointed time is important for a job interview.

知识拓展：

SpaceX

Space Exploration Technologies Corp.,doing business as SpaceX, is a private American aerospace manufacture and space transportantion services company headquartered in Hawthrone, Califonia. It was founded in 2002 byentrepreneur Elon Musk with the goal of reducing space transportation costs and enabling the colonization of Mars. SpaceX has since developed the Falcon launch vehicle family and the Dragon spacecraft family, which both currently deliver payloads into Earth orbit.

================================

SpaceX是美国一家私人航天制造商和太空运输公司，总部位于美国加尼福尼亚州霍桑。SpaceX由企业家伊隆·马斯克（Elon Musk）于2002年创办，目标是降低太空运输的成本，并进行火星移民。SpaceX现开发出猎鹰系列运载火箭及龙系列飞船，用于运送荷载至地心轨道。

欢迎关注微信公众号：青檀木屋阅读原文