美国宇航局（NASA）将向波音公司支付3.59亿美元，以帮助其“星际客机”（Starliner）航天器重新投入飞行。此外，NASA还将额外订购两次“星际客机”前往国际空间站的航班。NASA与波音公司在周一的新闻发布会上宣布了这一计划，并在一份声明中详细说明了具体内容。NASA的目标是让宇航员在2028年前再次乘坐“星际客机”执行太空任务。
NASA will pay Boeing $359m to help get its Starliner spacecraft flying again. It will also buy two more Starliner flights to the International Space Station. NASA and Boeing announced the plan at a news conference on Monday, and NASA set it out in a statement. It wants astronauts back on Starliner by 2028.
“众所周知，SpaceX正计划逐步淘汰像‘猎鹰’（Falcon）和‘龙’（Dragon）这样的旧型航天器，因为他们正专注于开发下一代航天器‘星际飞船’（Starship），”NASA局长贾里德·艾萨克曼（Jared Isaacman）表示。
“I do not think it’s a secret that SpaceX intends to sunset older platforms like Falcon and Dragon as they concentrate on their next-generation capability, Starship,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman.
自2020年以来，“龙”飞船一直负责将NASA的宇航员送往国际空间站。此次公告证实了埃里克·伯杰（Eric Berger）本月早些时候在Ars Technica网站上所报道的内容。
SpaceX’s Dragon has flown NASA astronauts to the station since 2020. The announcement confirms what Eric Berger reported for Ars Technica earlier this month.
这笔3.59亿美元的资金主要用于修复在飞行过程中出现过热问题的推进器，并用于认证联合发射联盟（United Launch Alliance）开发的“伏尔坎”（Vulcan）火箭，以便该火箭能够搭载宇航员执行任务。“伏尔坎”火箭将取代即将退役的“阿特拉斯V”（Atlas V）火箭。
$359m for thrusters and a new rocket The $359m covers a rebuild of the thrusters that overheated in flight, said Dana Weigel, who runs NASA’s low Earth orbit programme. It also pays to certify United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket for crews. Vulcan will replace the Atlas V, which is nearing its final flight.
除了这两次额外的航班外，NASA的“星际客机”任务总数将达到六次。根据Ars Technica的报道，NASA此前已根据商业载人合同向波音公司支付了51亿美元。据报道，“星际客机”项目的开发给波音公司带来了超过20亿美元的损失。据Ars Technica称，“星际客机-2”至“星际客机-6”这五次航班的合同价格约为每座位9000万美元。
The two extra flights, the fifth and sixth, bring NASA’s Starliner missions to six. NASA has already paid Boeing $5.1bn under its fixed-price commercial crew contract. Starliner has cost Boeing more than $2bn in losses, Ars Technica reported. The agreed price for Starliner-2 to Starliner-6 is about $90m a seat, according to Ars.
首次飞行将是无人驾驶的测试任务——“星际客机-1”将仅运送货物，不搭载宇航员。该任务可能于2027年12月或1月进行，目的是测试航天器的隔热系统并排查剩余的安全隐患。
An uncrewed test first The next flight, Starliner-1, will carry cargo but no crew. It could fly in December or in January 2027, to test the spacecraft’s thermal fixes and find any risks left.
“我们的计划是让宇航员在2028年前通过‘星际客机-2’重返太空，”艾萨克曼表示。
“Our current plan is to return astronauts on Starliner-2 by 2028,” Isaacman said.
NASA宇航员伍迪·霍伯格（Woody Hoburg）将担任“星际客机-2”任务的指挥官。在“星际客机-1”任务之后，NASA与波音公司将重新设计服务模块的推进器阀门，以解决密封问题。波音公司还将为载人模块安装新的推进器和电池。
NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg will command Starliner-2. After Starliner-1, NASA and Boeing will redesign the service module’s thruster valves to fix a seal problem. Boeing will also fit new crew module thrusters and batteries.
2024年6月，波音公司的“星际客机”（Starliner）执行了首次载人飞行任务，该任务将NASA的宇航员布奇·威尔莫尔（Butch Wilmore）和苏尼·威廉姆斯（Suni Williams）送到了国际空间站（ISS）。然而，在飞行过程中，“星际客机”的服务模块推进器超出了其设计允许的运行范围，导致飞船失控。最终，“星际客机”空载返回地球，两位宇航员不得不通过SpaceX的“Crew-9”任务在2025年3月才重返太空。
What went wrong in 2024 Starliner’s first crewed flight, in June 2024, carried NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to the station. Its service module thrusters ran outside their qualified limits, and the spacecraft lost control. Starliner came back empty, and the two returned on SpaceX’s Crew-9 in March 2025.
2月份，NASA发布的调查报告将此次飞行事故归类为“A级事故”（即最严重的事故等级），并提出了61项改进建议。
In February, NASA’s investigation report declared the flight a Type A mishap, its most serious category, and made 61 recommendations.
NASA一直在支持私营太空站的建设，这些私营太空站被NASA称为“商业近地轨道目的地”（Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destinations，简称CLDs），旨在成为国际空间站的补充。约翰·马尔霍兰德（John Mulholland）表示，NASA每六到九个月就需要为低地球轨道任务派遣两名宇航员。他负责波音公司的商业载人航天项目。马尔霍兰德进一步解释说：“由于‘Vulcan’火箭尚未获得相关认证，飞船本身也未完成认证手续，因此我们无法向私营太空站运营商提供详细的费用报价。”
A ride for private stations NASA is backing private space stations, which it calls commercial LEO destinations (CLDs), to follow the ISS. Isaacman said NASA will need two astronaut seats to low Earth orbit every six to nine months. Boeing has talked to all the private station companies about flying their crews, said John Mulholland. He runs Boeing’s commercial crew programme.
周一，SpaceX的“星际飞船”（Starship）首次成功进入轨道。不过，如果在未来的飞行中发生发动机故障，可能会影响NASA重返月球的计划。此外，希腊已经选定了两名宇航员，他们将参加2027年由私营公司组织的太空任务，前往国际空间站。
“We couldn’t provide detailed pricing to the CLD suppliers as the Vulcan rocket has not been certified, and the spacecraft has not been certified, and we don’t have detailed pricing on the Vulcan,” Mulholland said.
（注：翻译中保留了原文的正式用语和结构，同时使用了简洁明了的中文表达方式。）
SpaceX’s Starship reached orbit for the first time on Monday. An engine failure on the same flight could slow NASA’s plan to return to the Moon. Greece has picked an astronaut for a private 2027 Vast mission to the station.