SpaceX周五发射星际飞船，进行迄今最为大胆的一次试飞：一次为期22小时的飞行，旨在捕获整枚火箭，以期加速月球和火星旅行。
SpaceX launched Starship towards orbit on Friday in its boldest test yet: a 22-hour flight that aimed to capture the entire rocket in a move meant to accelerate moon and Mars travel.
但埃隆·马斯克的公司不得不降低预期，因为双重捕获的第一部分失败了。
But Elon Musk’s company had to lower its expectations when the first part of the double catch flopped.
第一级助推器出现故障，没有在起飞几分钟后返回得克萨斯州发射台，而是在自动中止后坠入墨西哥湾。
The first-stage booster malfunctioned and instead of returning to its Texas pad several minutes after lift-off, it ended up in the Gulf of Mexico after an automatic abort.
尽管遭遇挫折，呈子弹形状的飞船仍继续飞向轨道。除非出现进一步故障，它将于周六朝发射台方向飞行，进行类似的捕获。
Despite the setback, the bullet-shaped spacecraft continued towards orbit. It will steer towards the pad on Saturday for a similar grab, barring further trouble.
这是飞船首次尝试从轨道返回发射台，由固定在发射塔上的机械臂在空中将其抓获。
It is the first time that the spacecraft will try to return to the pad from orbit, to be plucked in mid-air by mechanical arms secured to the launch tower.
最初的目标是回收火箭的每一块部件，以便未来循环使用，而这在世界上任何地方都尚未实现。马斯克认为，这将带来建造月球基地和将人类送往火星所需的那种快速且稳定的发射频率。
The original goal was to retrieve every single piece of the rocket for the purpose of future recycling, something yet to be achieved anywhere in the world. Musk sees this leading to the kind of fast and consistent launch rates necessary for building moon bases and sending people to Mars.
一旦进入轨道，星际飞船将部署26颗该公司最先进的星链卫星。计划是星际飞船在海拔约170英里（275公里）的高度绕地球飞行15圈，然后返回发射场，进行周六的压轴表演。
Once in orbit, Starship will deliver 26 of the company’s most advanced Starlink satellites. The plan is for Starship to complete 15 laps around the world at an altitude of around 170 miles (275km) before heading back to the launch site for Saturday’s grand finale.
SpaceX此前已在其位于美国-墨西哥边境附近的广阔星基地完成了三次助推器捕获。
SpaceX had already made three booster grabs at the company’s sprawling Starbase near the US-Mexico border.
这是首次尝试捕获升级版的火箭，该火箭长236英尺（72米），是月球和火星探险的量产型号。
This was the first attempt to capture the upgraded version that stretches 236 feet (72 metres) – the production model for moon and Mars expeditions.
这也将是该公司首次尝试捕获飞船，飞船长171英尺（52米）。两者合起来，构成了世界上最大、最强大的火箭，高达惊人的407英尺（124米）。
It will also be the first time the company attempts to catch the spacecraft, which spans 171 feet (52 metres). Together, they form the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket – an astounding 407 feet (124 metres) in height.
此前14艘星际飞船的飞船部分最终都落入海中，要么是飞行结束时按设计落海，要么是在一片燃烧的残骸中意外坠毁。2023年首次全规模试飞时，多台发动机未能点火，翻滚的火箭自毁系统被启动。
The spacecraft portion of the 14 previous Starships ended up in the ocean, either by design at flight’s end or by accident in a stream of flaming wreckage. During the first full-scale test flight in 2023, multiple engines failed to ignite and the tumbling rocket’s self-destruct system was activated.
去年9月的最后一次试飞是首次进入轨道，但SpaceX没有尝试回收任何火箭级。
The last test, in September, was the first to reach orbit, but SpaceX did not try to recover any of the rocket stages.
SpaceX计划在几个月内开始从佛罗里达州发射星际飞船，并在几年内从路易斯安那州发射。
SpaceX plans to start launching Starships from Florida within a few months and from Louisiana in a few years.
SpaceX发射副总裁基科·唐切夫上周在佛罗里达州肯尼迪航天中心的NASA技术峰会上表示，规模化基础设施加上火箭完全可重复使用，“就是如何从零次发射到10次、100次、1000次、1万次、10万次”。
Scaled-up infrastructure, combined with full rocket reusability, is “how you go from zero launches to 10 to 100 to 1,000 to 10,000 to 100,000,” SpaceX’s Kiko Dontchev, vice-president of launch, said at a Nasa tech summit last week at Florida’s Kennedy Space Centre.
SpaceX较小的猎鹰火箭将继续从卡纳维拉尔角发射，为NASA运送宇航员前往国际空间站，并从加利福尼亚州发射星链卫星。目前卫星也将继续搭乘猎鹰火箭。马斯克希望星际飞船最终取代猎鹰火箭。
SpaceX’s smaller Falcon rockets will continue to fly from Cape Canaveral, carrying astronauts to the International Space Station for Nasa and from California carrying Starlinks. Satellites also will keep hitching Falcon rides for now. Musk wants Starships to eventually replace Falcons.
唐切夫说：“猎鹰火箭‘仍然不是完全可重复使用的。我们每次飞行都要把第二级扔掉。星际飞船，我们将同时回收第一级和第二级。’”NASA正支付SpaceX数十亿美元，让星际飞船将阿尔忒弥斯宇航员送上月球。杰夫·贝佐斯的蓝色起源是另一大主要参与者。
Falcon rockets “are still not fully reusable. We still throw that second stage away every single flight. Starship, we’re going to catch both the first stage and second stage,” Dontchev said. Nasa is paying SpaceX billions of dollars to land Artemis astronauts on the moon with Starships. Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is the other major player.
NASA预计将在阿尔忒弥斯IV号登月——这是半个多世纪以来首次由宇航员进行的登月——前一年决定，是让月球行走者乘坐马斯克的星际飞船还是贝佐斯的蓝月登月器抵达月面。
Nasa expects to decide a year before the Artemis IV lunar landing – the first by astronauts in more than half a century – whether to get the moonwalkers to the surface with Musk’s Starship or Bezos’ Blue Moon.
在明年夏天的阿尔忒弥斯III号任务中，宇航员将练习将他们的飞船与蓝月和星际飞船在地球轨道上对接。这将为最早在2028年实现阿尔忒弥斯登月奠定基础。
During next summer’s Artemis III mission, astronauts will practice docking their capsule with a Blue Moon and then a Starship in orbit around Earth. That will set the stage for an Artemis moon touchdown as early as 2028.