SpaceX的“星舰”火箭首次抵达地球轨道，尽管过程并非一帆风顺。
SpaceX’s Starship rocket reached Earth orbit for the first time, though not without some drama along the way.
这枚超级重型火箭于周一清晨从德克萨斯州南部发射升空，起飞阶段完美达成了成功发射的所有早期指标。但在飞船上级与助推器分离后不久，其六台“猛禽”发动机中的一台失效。
The company’s mega-rocket launched into space from South Texas early Monday morning and the take off ticked all the early checkboxes for a successful launch. But shortly after the upper stage of the spacecraft separated, it lost one of its six Raptor engines.
尽管“星舰”在少一台发动机的情况下仍能入轨，SpaceX一度决定取消入轨尝试，但仅几分钟后又决定继续推进。火箭最终成功入轨，并部署了26颗新的“星链”卫星。飞行约1.5小时后，SpaceX决定让上级提前返回地球，而非按原计划在轨飞行约九小时。
While Starship could still reach orbit without one engine, the company initially called off the attempt, only to decide to keep pushing just a few minutes later. The rocket ultimately reached orbit and successfully deployed 26 new Starlink satellites. Roughly 1.5 hours into the flight, SpaceX decided to bring the upper stage back to Earth early, instead of letting it orbit for around nine hours as planned.
公司在X平台上写道：“飞行团队将在入轨3小时后，安全引导‘星舰’对地面预先划定的太平洋区域进行离轨。” 入轨是一个关键里程碑，这可能让SpaceX开始利用“星舰”执行常规商业任务，并朝着实现这枚超级火箭完全可复用的目标迈出关键一步。SpaceX首席执行官埃隆·马斯克正将整个公司的重心转向“星舰”，后者已成为公司为NASA执行登月任务、以及将数据中心卫星送入轨道等宏大构想的核心。
“Flight teams will deorbit Starship safely to our pre-cleared area of the Pacific Ocean after 3 hours in orbit,” the company wrote on Reaching orbit is a critical milestone that could let SpaceX start using Starship for regular commercial missions, and, importantly, inch closer to its goal of making the mega-rocket fully reusable. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is orienting the entire company around Starship, which has become central to the company’s plans to operate moon missions for NASA, and far-out ideas like putting data center satellites in orbit.
发射前，SpaceX原计划让“星舰”上级在九小时内绕地球飞行六圈，同时将26颗第三代“星链”卫星部署入该卫星互联网星座。在周一的飞行中，“飞船”级成功释放了所有V3“星链”卫星，并与这26颗卫星均建立了联系。预计它们将在未来几周内开始为“星链”用户提供服务。
Prior to the launch, SpaceX had planned to have the Starship upper stage orbit the Earth six times over nine hours while deploying 26 third-generation Starlinks into the satellite company’s constellation of internet satellites. The Ship stage dispensed all of those V3 Starlink satellites during the Monday flight and was able to connect to all 26. They are supposed to start servicing Starlink customers in the next few weeks.
这些升级版星链卫星比SpaceX用于构建其1万颗卫星星座的早期版本更强大。该公司表示，一次满载V3卫星的星舰发射，能为星链网络增加的容量，相当于20次搭载V2 mini版本的猎鹰9号火箭发射所增加的容量。
These upgraded Starlink satellites are more powerful than the prior versions SpaceX has used to build its 10,000-strong constellation. The company has said that one full Starship launch of V3 satellites can add the same amount of capacity to the Starlink network as 20 flights of the V2 mini versions, which SpaceX flies on the Falcon 9 rocket.
该公司在将超重型助推器级返回发射台方面也取得了进展。在飞行几分钟后与星舰上级分离后，助推器返回墨西哥湾沿岸，并在水面上执行了模拟着陆。这是SpaceX自5月开始测试星舰V3版本以来，执行得最完美的一次模拟着陆。
The company was also able to make progress on returning the Super Heavy booster stage of the rocket back to its launchpad. After separating from the upper stage of Starship a few minutes into the flight, the booster returned to the Gulf coast and performed a simulated landing over the water. It was the cleanest simulated landing SpaceX has performed with the V3 version of Starship, which it started testing in May.
这是星舰V3的第三次测试，每次测试间隔约两个月。这也是SpaceX进行史上最大规模IPO上市以来的第二次星舰发射。该公司股价在周一早盘交易中一度上涨逾1%，但在SpaceX决定提前结束首次轨道任务后转跌。
This was the third test of Starship V3, each happening around two months apart. It was also the second Starship launch since SpaceX went public in the largest IPO ever. The company’s stock jumped more than 1% in early trading Monday, but fell into the red after SpaceX decided to end the first orbital mission early.
马斯克表示，他希望有史以来最强大的火箭——星舰，最终能实现每年飞行数千次。为达成此目标，他最近与路易斯安那州签署协议，建设一个远超德克萨斯州现有基地规模的新星港发射综合体。公司表示计划在该新设施投资1000亿美元，建设工作明年启动。
Musk has said he wants Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, to eventually fly thousands of times per year. To pull this off, he recently inked a deal with Louisiana to build a new Starbase launch complex that dwarfs the existing one in Texas. The company has said it plans to invest $100 billion in that new facility, with construction starting next year.