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2018年7月18日星期三

SpaceX和波音將宇航員送入太空剩下時間不多

SpaceX和波音將宇航員送入太空剩下時間不多
SpaceX And Boeing Are Running Out of Time to Fly Astronauts Into Space
JULY 17, 2018
波音和SpaceX兩家公司試圖證明美國仍然可以將人類送入太空的壓力正在上升, 預計兩者都將會錯過2019年11月生產足證安全運載宇航員的太空船的死線- 這意味著NASA羞辱地,最終明年可能要鎖起國際空間站。
Pressure is rising on Boeing and SpaceX, the two companies trying to prove the U.S. can still fly humans to space. Both are expected to miss a November 2019 deadline for producing spacecraft certified as safe enough to transport astronauts—which means NASA, humiliatingly, could end up locked out of the International Space Station next year.
NASA’s multi-billion dollar effort to partner with private companies to fly astronauts, known as the commercial crew program, is the most serious effort to make space travel business as usual. If it fails to deliver, dreams of venture investment leading to lunar mining and orbital hotels will be even more unlikely.
The Government Accountability Office projected last week that the two companies’ vehicles won’t be certified for operational use until virtually the beginning of 2020. That could leave a gap of one or more months between the last U.S. astronauts to fly and return on Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft, and the first flights of the private U.S. spacecraft.
The U.S. is currently dependent on Russia to reach the International Space Station. Since it takes years to arrange for a Soyuz flight, NASA has essentially no option to fill the gap, save delaying existing flights a month or two. Without U.S. astronauts on board to operate the space station, the ISS cannot function, according to the space agency, which is “brainstorming” new solutions.
“Spacecraft and rockets designed for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program must meet the agency’s safety and technical criteria before the companies will be certified to launch crews into space,” a NASA spokesperson told Quartz. “Successfully meeting those requirements has always taken precedence over schedule.”
What’s safe, exactly?
https://www.nextgov.com/emerging-tech/2018/07/spacex-and-boeing-are-running-out-time-fly-astronauts-space/149794/

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