在一个阴天的周六下午，在美国南部得克萨斯州，一对巨大的金属机械臂伸展开来，在半空中接住了一尊从天而降的“巨人”。
On a cloudy Saturday afternoon in the southern US state of Texas, a pair of large metallic arms stretched out and caught a giant in midair as it descended from the sky.
这尊“巨人”高124米（407英尺），是SpaceX的“星舰”，也是世界上最大、推力最强的火箭，旨在执行前往月球和火星的任务。然而，在其最新一次发射升空22小时后，它在返回地球时创造了历史：它平稳地滑入了得克萨斯州“星港”城市发射台2号上方的机械“筷子臂”之间。
At 124 metres (407ft) tall, SpaceX’s Starship is the world’s largest and most powerful rocket, intended for travel to the Moon and Mars. Yet 22 hours after its latest blast off into space, it made history on Earth while returning, as it slipped smoothly between mechanical “chopstick arms” above Launch Pad 2 at Starbase city in Texas.
全球航空航天工程师对这一航天器上级的首次空中捕获给予了高度赞誉，并欢迎这一成就，这标志着超大型火箭很快可能实现完全可复用。以下是这一历史性捕获意义重大的原因：
Aerospace engineers across the globe have lauded the first-ever capture of the upper stage of a spaceship and welcomed the achievement, which signals that mega rockets could soon be fully reusable. Here’s why the historic capture matters: How did it work?
它是如何运作的？周六，在绕地球飞行14圈、历时22.5小时后，SpaceX的“星舰”从其“星港”发射场上空的厚云层中显现出来，将自身翻转至垂直姿态，缓缓下降，没入“筷子拉”发射塔上的机械臂中。
On Saturday, after orbiting Earth 14 times for 22.5 hours, SpaceX’s Starship emerged from thick clouds over its Starbase launch site, flipped itself to a vertical position and slowly descended into the arms on the ‘Mechazilla’ launch tower.
宛如巨大的镊子，机械臂在飞船发动机仍在轰鸣时，于半空中夹住了航天器的上级。随后，飞船钩住了塔架的机械臂，并关闭了发动机。
Like massive tweezers, the arms caught the upper stage of the spacecraft in midair, while its engines were still roaring. The spacecraft then hooked onto the tower’s mechanical arms and shut off its engines.
轰鸣声瞬间被附近观看者的欢呼声取代——他们刚刚亲眼目睹了历史上首次超大型火箭的捕获。
The roaring sound was instantly replaced by loud cheers from watchers nearby – they had just seen for the first time in history the capture of a mega rocket.
“那是缺失的一环，是航天飞行的圣杯，”SpaceX任务解说员丹·休特说。“我们捕获了一艘‘星舰’，现在一切都变了。”“祝贺SpaceX不可思议的团队！！！”SpaceX创始人兼首席执行官埃隆·马斯克表示。
“That was the missing link, the holy grail of spaceflight,” said SpaceX mission commentator Dan Huot. “We caught a Starship and now everything changes.”“Congratulations to an incredible team at SpaceX!!!”SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said.
正支付数十亿美元资助“星舰”于本十年末将宇航员送上月球的美国国家航空航天局（NASA）也对这一成就表示欢迎。
NASA, which is paying billions of dollars for Starship to land astronauts on the Moon later this decade, also welcomed the achievement.
“这简直像魔法一样，”NASA局长贾里德·艾萨克曼在X平台上表示。“让更多人每天都成为信徒……离月球又近了一步，”他补充道。祝贺SpaceX不可思议的团队！！！2026年11月14日 为什么这次捕获很棘手？返回地球的航天器要与重力以及一系列大气因素抗衡，这些因素几乎不可能完美预测或精准应对。首颗进入太空的人造卫星“斯普特尼克1号”在返回地球时烧毁。多艘载人航天器在再入大气层时被毁，机上宇航员全部遇难。
“It was almost magic,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said on“Making more believers by the day…one step closer to [the moon],” he added. Congratulations to an incredible team at SpaceX!!! November 14, 2026 Why was the capture tricky? Spacecraft returning to Earth battle gravity and a range of atmospheric factors that are nearly impossible to perfectly predict or game. Sputnik 1, the first-ever artificial satellite sent into space, burned up while returning to Earth. Several manned spacecraft have been destroyed while re-entering the atmosphere, killing the astronauts on board.
1967年4月，苏联“联盟1号”航天器成功再入大气层，但降落伞未能正常打开。宇航员弗拉基米尔·科马罗夫在乌拉尔山脉附近的坠落事故中身亡。数十年后，美国国家航空航天局（NASA）的“哥伦比亚号”航天飞机在从轨道再入大气层时解体，机上7名宇航员全部遇难。
In April 1967, the Soviet Union’s Soyuz 1 spacecraft re-entered the atmosphere successfully, but its parachutes failed to deploy properly. Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov died in the crash-landing near the Ural mountains. Decades later, NASA’s space shuttle Columbia disintegrated during re-entry from orbit, killing all seven astronauts on board.
近几十年来，航天机构和私营企业在安全方面取得重大进展。但许多航天器在溅落海面或着陆陆地后已无法复用。
In recent decades, space agencies and private firms have made major advances in safety. But many spacecraft are impossible to reuse after splashing down in the sea or on land.
自2024年10月以来，SpaceX已三次成功捕获推动航天飞机的助推器，这些助推器在燃料耗尽、与主火箭分离后被捕获。但直到现在，主航天器从未在半空中被成功捕获。
Since October 2024, SpaceX has on three occasions successfully caught the boosters that propel shuttles, once they have run out of fuel and separated from the main rocket. But until now, the main spacecraft has never been successfully caught in midair.
返回后不久，马斯克及其工程师检查了飞船，并表示一切似乎运行良好，包括至关重要的隔热罩。
Soon after its return, Musk and his engineers inspected the spaceship and said that everything appeared to have worked well, including its vital heat shield.
“42号飞船看起来很棒！”马斯克在X平台发文，并附上了发射塔拍摄的照片和视频。
“Ship 42 looks great!”Musk wrote on X, posting photos and videos from the launch tower.
尽管捕获过程棘手，航空航天工程师表示，上面级捕获是SpaceX的一大成功。
While the capture was tricky, aerospace engineers said the upper stage catch is a big success for SpaceX.
美国太空基础设施公司Loft Orbital的技术项目经理尼哈里卡·帕特尔告诉半岛电视台，看着捕获过程发生“简直神奇”。“让火箭返回地球着陆难度极大，本身就可视为工程奇迹。现在再加上‘星舰’巨大的体型和重量，”她说，并指出这也是上面级助推器首次被成功捕获。
Niharika Patel, Technical Programme Manager at Loft Orbital, a US-based space infrastructure company, told Al Jazeera that watching the catch happen was “magical.”“Landing a rocket back on Earth is incredibly difficult and can itself be considered an engineering marvel. Now add the sheer size and weight of Starship to that equation,” she said, noting that this is also the first time the upper stage booster has been successfully caught.
“这需要极高的精度，以确保飞行器精准抵达预定位置、承受大气层再入时的极端高温，并在极短的时间窗口内执行高度受控的机动。而所有这些都在没有飞行员的情况下完成——完全是自主的，”她补充道。为什么这对航天技术进步至关重要？
“It requires incredible precision to ensure the vehicle reaches exactly the right position, withstands the extreme heat of atmospheric re-entry and executes highly controlled manoeuvres within a very tight window. And all of this happens without a pilot — it’s completely autonomous,” she added. Why does it matter for space technology advances?
SpaceX 之所以在航空航天行业占据主导地位，主要是因为该公司一直致力于通过发射可复用火箭技术和快速、迭代式工程来大幅降低太空旅行成本。
SpaceX has become dominant in the aerospace industry primarily because the company has been trying to slash the cost of space travel by launching reusable rocket technology and rapid, repeat engineering.
截至目前，其“猎鹰9号”火箭自 2010 年以来已发射 700 次，其中一级可复用，二级则弃置入海。
So far, its Falcon 9 rocket has launched 700 times since 2010, with its first stage being reusable and its second stage discarded into the sea.
马斯克表示，对于“星舰”，他希望实现完全可复用的飞行，并能以最少的翻新工作将人类送入太空。
With Starship, Musk has said he wants to create fully reusable flights that can also transport humans into space with minimum refurbishment.
帕特尔说：“‘猎鹰9号’的可复用性已让 SpaceX 大幅降低了入轨成本。发射卫星进入近地轨道变得非常廉价且便捷。‘星舰’更进一步，它是一艘大得多的飞行器，旨在实现助推器和上面级的完全可复用。”
“SpaceX has already significantly reduced the cost of getting to orbit through Falcon 9’s reusability. It’s super cheap and convenient to send satellites to low Earth orbit. Starship takes this a step further by being a much bigger craft and aiming for full reusability of both the booster and the upper stage,” Patel said.
她解释说，完全可复用的飞行器可以快速翻新并再次飞行，从而大幅提高发射频率并降低成本。帕特尔表示，如果“星舰”达到这一里程碑，将使太空进入更加负担得起且可扩展，就像商业航空通过实现飞机可复用和快速周转改变了旅行方式一样。
She explained that a fully reusable vehicle can be rapidly refurbished and flown again, dramatically increasing frequency and reducing cost. So if Starship reaches this milestone, Patel said it would make access to space even more affordable and scalable, just as commercial aviation transformed travel by making aircraft reusable with quick turnaround times between flights.
帕特尔补充道：“这对于下一个太空探索时代至关重要，从部署大型卫星星座、建设太空基础设施，到实现对月球和火星的持续人类探索。”
“This is essential for the next era of space exploration, from deploying large satellite constellations and building space infrastructure to enabling sustained human exploration of the Moon and Mars,” Patel added.