SpaceX的星舰在轨道上运行正常，预计于11月14日返回星际基地。这是该火箭系统的第15次试飞，旨在首次对飞船和助程进行“抓捕”。
SpaceX’s Starship was healthy in orbit and due to return to Starbase on Nov 14. It was the 15th test flight, aimed at a first “catch” of the ship and booster.
超重型助程因制导、导航和控制（GNC）问题中止了回收，并在墨西哥湾上空自毁。SpaceX将其称为“喜忧参半”，但星舰仍成功进入轨道并部署了26颗星链卫星。
The Super Heavy booster aborted its capture after a GNC issue and self-destructed over the Gulf of Mexico. SpaceX called it a “mixed bag”, but Starship still reached orbit and launched 26 Starlink satellites.
回收失败凸显了SpaceX可重复使用火箭计划的风险，美国国家航空航天局的阿尔忒弥斯任务也需要该计划。SpaceX表示，星舰必须通过多项检查，且轨道燃料输送问题尚未解决。
The failed catch shows the risk of SpaceX’s reusable rocket plan, which NASA also needs for Artemis. SpaceX says Starship must pass many checks, and fuel transfer in orbit is still unsolved.
AI generated 星际基地（德克萨斯州）——SpaceX的星舰飞船在绕地球轨道飞行时状态“良好”，并按计划于11月14日返回其位于得克萨斯州的发射场。埃隆·马斯克的公司正计划在那里首次“抓捕”该飞行器。
这是全球最大、最强力火箭系统的第15次试飞，原本计划首次实现对超重型助程和星舰的双重抓捕。
AI generated STARBASE, TEXAS - SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft was “healthy” as it orbited the Earth and on track to return on Nov 14 to its Texas launch site, where Elon Musk’s company was planning to “catch” the vehicle for the first time. It was the 15th test flight of the world’s biggest and most powerful rocket system, originally meant to feature a groundbreaking twin capture of both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship.
如果两级均成功回收，将成为太空行业历时数十年追求完全可重复使用火箭系统的一个里程碑。该系统能够大幅降低任务成本，并实现频繁发射。
Successful recoveries of both stages would have marked a milestone in the space industry’s decades-long pursuit of fully reusable rocket systems that can drastically reduce mission costs and make frequent launches possible.
但在11月13日下午，这座高124米的火箭从星际基地的发射台腾空而起几分钟后，这一目标便失之交臂。
But that achievement slipped out of reach minutes after the 124m rocket blasted off on the afternoon of Nov 13 from its launch pad at Starbase.
SpaceX发言人丹·胡奥特表示，在两级空中分离后，超重型助程最初计划在2号发射台被抓捕。
After the midair separation of the two stages, the Super Heavy booster was initially set for capture at Launch Pad 2, SpaceX spokesman Dan Huot said.
但他表示，在降落接近尾声时，“助程因检测到一个GNC（制导、导航和控制）问题而自行中止了回收”。它随即转向发射场附近的墨西哥湾，在落入水面前自动自毁。
But near the end of its descent, “the booster aborted itself for a GNC (guidance, navigation and control) issue that it detected”, he said. It diverted instead to the Gulf of Mexico just off the launch site, where it automatically self-destructed before hitting the water.
与此同时，赋予该火箭系统名字的星舰飞船正在绕地球轨道飞行，预计在11月14日返回前将环绕地球14圈。
Meanwhile, the Starship spacecraft that gives the rocket system its name was orbiting the Earth, which it was expected to do 14 times before returning on Nov 14.
任务开始大约七小时后，SpaceX表示：“星舰及其隔热罩状态良好。”
“Starship and its heat shield are healthy,” SpaceX said around seven hours after the mission started.
胡奥特说：“我们目前没有追踪到飞行器或返回测控范围的任何问题，因此一切看起来都很好。”
“We’re not tracking any issues right now with the vehicle or with the range for our return, so everything continuing to look good,” Huot said.
星舰于11月13日发射了26颗卫星，加入马斯克的星链卫星互联网星座。
Starship on Nov 13 launched 26 satellites to join others in Musk’s Starlink satellite internet constellation.
复杂的抓捕 战略与国际研究中心航天专家克莱顿·斯沃普将此次任务称为“迄今为止喜忧参半”，此前该公司未能抓捕超重型助程——SpaceX此前曾三次成功完成此项操作。他说：“至少星舰成功进入了轨道，就像上次试飞时一样。”
Complex catch Clayton Swope, an aerospace expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, called the mission a “mixed bag so far” after the failure to catch the Super Heavy, something SpaceX has done three times previously. “At least the Starship made it to orbit, like on the last test flight,” he said.
星舰飞船的一些版本旨在将互联网卫星和数据中心送入轨道，而其他迭代版本则用于将人类运送至月球和火星。
Some versions of the Starship spacecraft are designed to launch internet satellites and data centres into orbit, while other iterations will be made to ferry people to the Moon and Mars.
美国太空机构美国国家航空航天局指望星舰在其阿尔忒弥斯任务中充当月球着陆器，局长贾里德·艾萨克曼于11月13日祝贺SpaceX取得了“又一次壮观的发射”——但并未提及助程令人失望的表现。
US space agency NASA is counting on Starship to serve as a lunar lander on its Artemis mission, and administrator Jared Isaacman congratulated SpaceX on Nov 13 for “another spectacular launch” – without mentioning the booster disappointment.
SpaceX计划在飞行超过22小时后让星舰重返地球，并于11月14日当地时间下午3点20分左右（新加坡时间11月15日上午5点20分）将其回收。
SpaceX plans to return Starship to Earth after more than 22 hours of flight and recover it at around 3.20pm local time (Nov 15, 5.20am, Singapore time) on Nov 14.
“抓捕”异常复杂，因为飞船下落的速度比助程快得多，且高度也高得多。
The “catch” is extraordinarily complex because the spaceship will be falling much faster and from a much higher altitude than the booster.
与此前三次超重型助程的回收一样，星舰计划进行受控下降，并悬停在发射场的两个机械“筷子臂”之间。
Like the three previous Super Heavy recoveries, Starship is meant to carry out a controlled descent and nestle between two mechanical “chopstick arms” at the launch site.
SpaceX评论员凯特·泰斯说：“只有当飞船一路通过所有这些系统检查和决策关卡时，我们才会进行抓捕，而且关卡数量众多。”
“We’ll only go for it if the ship passes all of these system checks and decision gates along the way, and there are lots of them,” SpaceX commentator Kate Tice said.
由于存在失去星舰控制的风险，SpaceX已为各种情况制定了计划，必要时将缩短试飞时间并让飞船坠入太平洋。
Owing to the risks of losing control of Starship, SpaceX has planned for various scenarios where it will shorten the test flight and plunge the spaceship into the Pacific Ocean if necessary.
加注挑战 身为世界首富的马斯克已经凭借部分可重复使用的猎鹰火箭彻底改变了航天业，该火箭定期发射卫星并将宇航员送往国际空间站。
Refuelling challenge Musk, the world’s richest person, has already revolutionised the space sector with the partially reusable Falcon rockets, which regularly launch satellites and carry astronauts to the International Space Station.
但星舰项目一直受到长达数年延误的困扰，因为SpaceX正在应对新颖的工程挑战，包括在轨道上向飞船输送燃料这一尚未解决的问题——这是任何前往月球或火星任务的必要条件。
But the Starship project has been plagued by years-long delays as SpaceX grapples with novel engineering challenges, including the unsolved problem of transferring fuel to the spaceship while in orbit – a requirement for any journey to the Moon or Mars.
继SpaceX在6月备受瞩目的股票上市筹集了约857亿美元（约合1100亿新加坡元）资金后，该公司正在大力投资生产和发射能力。
Following SpaceX’s high-profile stock market debut in June that raised about US$85.7 billion (S$110 billion), the company is investing heavily in production and launch capabilities.
11月13日，在参观其位于星际基地占地9.3万平方米的工厂期间，SpaceX官员对记者表示，该公司目前具备每两周生产一艘飞船、每四周生产一枚助程的能力。
During a tour of its 93,000 sq m factory at Starbase on Nov 13, SpaceX officials told journalists that it now has the capability to produce a spaceship every two weeks and a booster every four weeks.