四名宇航员于周四发射升空，执行前往国际空间站的任务，预计将持续到明年春天，其中一人预计将在轨道上迎来新生儿。SpaceX在延迟三周修复飞船燃料泄漏后，为NASA发射了这支机组人员。预计任务将在约八小时后抵达空间站，这将成为埃隆·马斯克旗下公司迄今为止最快的载人飞行。
Four astronauts blasted off on Thursday on a mission to the International Space Station that is set to last until spring, with one of them expected to become a father while in orbit. SpaceX launched the crew for NASA after a three-week delay to fix a fuel leak in the capsule. The mission is expected to reach the space station in about eight hours, making it the fastest crew trip there yet for Elon Musk's company.
该团队由NASA宇航员杰西卡·沃特金斯率领，她成为首位指挥载人入轨任务的黑人女性。沃特金斯是一名地质学家，十年前曾参与NASA“好奇号”火星探测器的工作，这是她继2022年长期驻留空间站后的第二次飞行。机上其他三人均为首次飞行：NASA的卢克·德莱尼，退役海军陆战队员；加拿大的约书亚·库特里克，加拿大皇家空军上校；以及俄罗斯的谢尔盖·特捷里亚特尼科夫，前潜艇兵。他们将接替自2月以来一直驻留在轨道实验室的四名宇航员。
The team is led by NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins, who became the first Black woman to command a crew to orbit. Watkins, a geologist who worked with NASA's Curiosity Mars rover a decade ago, is making her second trip to the space station after a long stay there in 2022. The other three on board are first-time space travellers: NASA's Luke Delaney, a retired Marine; Canada's Joshua Kutryk, a colonel in the Royal Canadian Air Force; and Russia's Sergey Teteryatnikov, a former submariner. They are due to replace four astronauts who have been aboard the orbiting laboratory since February."
库特里克在发射前表示：“我们感觉自己是世界上最幸运的人之一。”
We feel like some of the luckiest people in the world," Kutryk said before the launch.
这是SpaceX为NASA执行的第13次载人发射，不包括2020年的试飞。机组人员欣然接受了“Crew-13”（13号机组）这一称号，他们的任务徽章向阿波罗13号致敬，后者是1970年的登月任务，在发生重大危机后宇航员安全返回。“我们真想致敬他们的遗产，致敬他们的韧性和毅力，并带上一点这种精神同行，”沃特金斯说。她和机组成员乘坐黑色特斯拉前往发射台，车牌写着“Lucky 13”（幸运13）。
This was SpaceX's 13th crew launch for NASA, not including the 2020 test flight. The crew has embraced the Crew-13 name, with their mission patch paying tribute to Apollo 13, the 1970 Moon mission that ended with the astronauts returning safely after a major crisis. "We really wanted to honour their legacy, honour their resilience and their grit, and bring a little bit of that with us," Watkins said. She and her crewmates travelled to the launch pad in black Teslas with number plates reading "Lucky 13".Kutryk is set to become the fourth man to become a father while orbiting Earth.
库特里克将成为第四位在环绕地球飞行期间当父亲的男性。他的妻子希瑟预计将于11月下旬生下他们的第三个孩子。加拿大航天局表示，宝宝出生时将给予家庭全力支持。
His wife, Heather, is due to give birth to their third child in late November. The Canadian Space Agency has said the family will be given full support when the baby arrives.
“在六个月的时间内，可能会发生许多改变人生的事情，”NASA负责人达娜·韦格尔在发射前夕表示，并补充说该机构会尽最大努力让库特里克与家人保持联系。NASA此前也曾经历过类似的时刻：2004年，它为国际空间站的宇航员迈克·芬克与他的妻子之间建立了无线电通讯联系，以便在他们的孩子出生时进行实时沟通；五年后，即将担任明年“阿尔忒弥斯三号”任务指挥官的兰迪·布雷斯尼克从轨道上给妻子打了电话；1991年，奥地利宇航员弗朗茨·维赫博克在前往苏联“和平号”空间站的当天被告知，他的女儿已经在几小时后出生了。
"A lot of life-changing things can happen over six months," NASA manager Dana Weigel said on the eve of the launch, adding that the agency would do its best to keep Kutryk connected with his family.NASA has dealt with similar moments before. In 2004, it arranged a radio link between space station astronaut Mike Fincke and his wife's delivery room during the birth of their daughter. Five years later, Randy Bresnik, who is set to command next year's Artemis III mission, called his wife's hospital from orbit. In 1991, Austrian astronaut Franz Viehbock was told a day after launch that his daughter had been born a few hours after he left for the Soviet Union's Mir space station.
这次任务不仅是一次具有历史意义的太空探索行动，还是一次前往国际空间站的短暂旅行，同时对于其中一名宇航员来说，这也是个人职业生涯中的一个重要里程碑——四名宇航员将开始在轨道上度过六个月的时光。（信息来源：PTI）
The mission brings together a historic command, a quick trip to the International Space Station and a personal milestone for one of the crew, as the four astronauts begin a six-month stay in orbit. With PTI Inputs- Ends