美国国家航空航天局（NASA）“远征-12”（Crew-12）任务的三名宇航员和一名俄罗斯宇航员在国际空间站度过了近八个月的太空之旅后，已安全返回地球。
Three astronauts and a cosmonaut of NASA's Crew-12 mission have safely returned to Earth after an almost eight-month trip to the International Space Station.
该乘组搭乘美国太空探索技术公司（SpaceX）的“龙”飞船，于周四在加利福尼亚州洛杉矶海岸外的太平洋上溅落。任务指令长为NASA的杰西卡·梅尔（Jessica Meir），驾驶员为杰克·海瑟薇（Jack Hathaway），任务专家包括欧洲航天局的索菲·阿德诺（Sophie Adenot）以及俄罗斯国家航天集团（Roscosmos）的安德烈·费迪亚耶夫（Andrey Fedyaev）。
The crew, commanded by NASA's Jessica Meir and pilot Jack Hathaway with mission specialists Sophie Adenot of the European Space Agency and Andrey Fedyaev of Russia's Roscosmos, splashed down into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Los Angeles, Calif., on Thursday, aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule.
他们回家之旅在大约45分钟前开始，当时的轨道飞行速度为每小时17,500英里。
Their trip home started about 45 minutes before, at an orbital speed of 17,500 mph.
飞船点燃了推进器以脱离轨道，促使飞船坠入大气层。在其经历烈焰重返大气层期间，其烧蚀隔热罩抵御了极端温度（高达华氏3,500度）。在大约半小时的时间里，飞船的速度减至每小时数百英里，随后四个橙白相间的降落伞打开，将飞船的速度在清凉蔚蓝的海面上空降至每小时仅16英里，并平稳地落入水中。
The spacecraft lit its thrusters to nudge it out of orbit, causing the capsule to plunge into the atmosphere, its ablative heat shield battling extreme temperatures (up to 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit) during the fiery reentry. Over the course of about half an hour, the capsule slowed to a few hundred miles per hour, and then four orange-and-white parachutes took over, easing the spacecraft to just 16 mph above the cool, blue ocean and a gentle plop into the water.
“远征-12”任务是SpaceX第20次将人类送入轨道。该任务于2月从佛罗里达州卡纳维拉尔角搭乘“猎鹰9号”火箭升空，并于次日与空间站对接。NASA表示，在太空的八个月期间，该乘组完成了数十项科学实验和研究，包括对干细胞、晶体在太空中如何生长以及微重力下骨质流失的研究。
The Crew-12 mission was the 20th time SpaceX had sent humans into orbit, lifting off in February on a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida. It docked with the space station the next day. During the eight months in space, NASA said the crew completed dozens of science experiments and research, including studies of stem cells, how crystals grow in space and bone loss in microgravity.
并非所有的工作都在空间站内部进行。梅尔进行了四次太空行走，总计超过27小时，以执行维护和升级这一老化轨道前哨站的任务。阿德诺执行了三次太空行走。
Not all of their work happened inside the space station. Meir conducted four spacewalks totaling just over 27 hours to perform maintenance and upgrade the aging orbital outpost. Adenot performed three spacewalks.
在启程返回之前，“远征-12”任务的成员与“远征-13”的三名宇航员和一名俄罗斯宇航员完成了交接。后者于上周抵达空间站，开始为期六个月的轮换。
Before departing, members of the Crew-12 mission were relieved by the three astronauts and cosmonaut of Crew-13, who arrived at the space station last week to start a six-month rotation.
在上个月空间站举行的一次行前新闻发布会上，梅尔表示，她迫不及待地想与她3岁半的女儿团聚。
During a pre-departure news conference on the station last month, Meir said she couldn't wait to be reunited with her 3 1/2-year-old daughter.
但经过这么长时间在轨道上生活，她发现还有另外一些东西让她感到怀念。“所以，我非常期待再次看到大自然，感受微风拂过脸庞，感受风儿在树叶间沙沙作响。体验那些我们在太空中无法拥有的事物，”她说。
But there was something else she missed after all this time in orbit. "So looking forward to seeing nature again, feeling the breeze on my face, the wind rustling through the leaves. Experiencing all those things that we don't have up here," she said.
这位两次进入太空的资深宇航员表示，她最怀念太空中的两样东西：失重感以及地球那壮丽的景色。
The two-time space veteran said there were two things she'd miss about space: weightlessness and the wonderful views of Earth.