两名美国宇航员可能无法返回。在关键时刻，NASA的货运飞船在半路上发生故障

NASA is really having a bad year. The Boeing was not up to the task, and the launch of the manned spacecraft encountered many problems. After finally reaching the space station, the two astronauts could not come back! People in the International Space Station also need to eat. You must know that the meals in the space station are calculated per person. Now that there are two more people for no reason, the food reserves of the International Space Station must be insufficient.

NASA今年真的不顺利。波音飞机未能胜任任务，载人飞船的发射遇到了许多问题，好不容易到达空间站后，两名宇航员却无法返回！国际空间站上的人也需要吃饭。要知道空间站的餐食是按人头计算的。现在无缘无故多了两个人，国际空间站的食物储备肯定不够。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

To make matters worse, the cargo spacecraft was about to deliver the goods ahead of schedule, but encountered an accident halfway through, and both ignitions ended in failure. Logically speaking, the cargo spacecraft of the International Space Station is still very reliable. Why did it fail this time? What exactly is the problem?

更糟糕的是，货运飞船本计划提前运送货物，但在途中遭遇事故，两次点火均以失败告终。按理说，国际空间站的货运航天器一直非常可靠。为什么这次会失败？究竟是什么问题？
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

"Falcon 9" is a reusable rocket. The reusable here refers to the first-stage booster. It is reported that this booster has been used ten times. Logically, there should be no problems.

“猎鹰9号”是一种可重复使用的火箭。这里的“可重复使用”指的是第一级助推器。据报道，这个助推器已经使用了十次。从逻辑上讲，应该没有问题。

The International Space Station is located in the Earth's low-Earth orbit. If the Falcon 9 wants to reach the space station, it must first undergo a trajectory change, that is, it must first reach an altitude of 414km x 422km.

国际空间站位于地球的低地球轨道。如果猎鹰9号想要到达空间站，必须首先进行轨道变化，也就是说，它必须首先达到414公里 x 422公里的高度。

This kind of trajectory change was originally not difficult at all, but no one expected that after two ignitions and two failures, the Falcon 9 missed the best time for docking.

这种轨迹变化本来一点都不难，但谁也没想到在经过两次点火和两次失败后，猎鹰9号错过了最佳对接时间。

There is now specific information on the Internet about the two failed orbit changes. The first one was a "man-made disaster" and the cargo spacecraft missed the docking time, so it can only wait until the next time.

现在互联网上有关于两次轨道变更失败的具体信息。第一次是“人为灾难”，货运飞船错过了对接时间，所以只能等到下一次。

The next time, the cargo spacecraft's thrusters failed to ignite due to insufficient pressure.

第二次，由于压力不足，货运飞船的推进器未能点燃。

Although the cargo spacecraft failed, it did not affect its continued delivery, it just arrived a little later than the scheduled time.

尽管货运飞船失败了，但这并没有影响其继续运送，只是比预定时间晚到了一些。

It is said that there has never been any problem with cargo spacecraft delivering goods in the past, so why did something go wrong this time?

话说货运飞船以往送货从来没有出过问题，那么这一次为什么会出问题呢？

In recent years, NASA's space missions have had some problems to a greater or lesser extent. One problem can be explained as bad luck, but several problems in a row indicate that there are problems within the space project!

近年来，NASA的太空任务或多或少都出现了一些问题。一个问题可以解释为运气不好，但连续出现几个问题则表明太空项目内部存在问题！

The occurrence of failures means that the pre-launch inspection work was not done carefully, resulting in frequent problems.

出现故障意味着发射前的检查工作没有认真进行，导致频繁出现问题。

For example, the problems that occurred with the cargo spacecraft this time could have been completely avoided.

例如，这次货运飞船出现的问题本可以完全避免。

Although it will eventually arrive at the International Space Station, the astronauts on the International Space Station cannot wait. After all, there are two more people on board and the food is no longer enough.

尽管它最终会到达国际空间站，但国际空间站上的宇航员已经等不及了。毕竟，船上还有两个人，食物已经不够了。

It has been a while since Boeing's "Starliner" had an accident. This was a big blow to Boeing and it was also a loss of face for NASA.

波音公司的“星际客机”发生事故已经有一段时间了。这对波音公司是一个沉重打击，对NASA来说也是一种丢脸。

After all, it was NASA that supported Boeing in developing manned spacecraft, and before the "Starliner" was built, Musk's "Dragon Spacecraft" was responsible for transportation.

毕竟当初是NASA支持波音发展载人飞船的，而在没有“星际客机”之前，一直都是马斯克的“龙飞船”负责运送。

After the "Starliner" malfunctioned, the two astronauts tried to find the problem and fix it. However, after so many days, the progress of the two was very slow, even to the point of being "starved to death."

“星际客机”出现故障以后，两位宇航员也曾试图找出问题，修复故障，然而这么多天过去了，两个人的进展十分缓慢，甚至已经慢到快被“饿死”的程度。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

As a last resort, Boeing built an identical scene on Earth in order to find out the problem as quickly as possible.

迫不得已之下，波音在地球上构建了一个一模一样的场景，为的就是尽快找出问题所在。

There were seven people on the International Space Station before, and the food on board was enough for seven people to eat for three months. Now there are two more people, so the food is only enough for two months and ten days.

国际空间站之前有七个人，上面的食物供七个人吃三个月，而现在又多了两个人，那么这些食物只够吃两个月零十天。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

It is precisely because of this that the cargo spacecraft was launched in a hurry. Otherwise, in the next few days, not only would the two astronauts have no food, but the remaining seven astronauts would also starve.

也正是因为如此，货运飞船才会着急忙慌的发射，要不然再晚上几天，不仅两位宇航员没有吃的，就连剩下的七位宇航员也要饿肚子了。

In the past decade, the space industry in Europe and the United States has developed slowly, and it can be said that there has been almost no progress.

近十年来，欧美航天事业发展速度缓慢，几乎可以说没有任何的进步。

ESA has always been dependent on the United States. In recent years, they have also been vigorously developing their own rockets. Not long ago, the "Ariane VI" rocket was partially successfully launched, which made ESA proud.

欧空局本就依赖美国，这几年，他们也在大力发展自己的火箭，就在不久之前，“阿丽亚娜六型”火箭部分成功发射，这让欧空局自豪了一下。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

But at this stage, Europe is not capable of exploring the moon and Mars on its own, so it will need to cooperate with the United States. But the United States is also in trouble. NASA's space program is complex and expensive. On the one hand, their technical strength is insufficient and they cannot complete such a complex task. On the other hand, the United States is short of money and Congress does not have that much money to invest in NASA.

但是现阶段总体而言，欧洲还没有能力独自实在探月，探火，所以接下来他还需要跟美国合作。但是美国方面也是陷入麻烦，NASA的航天计划是既复杂又费钱，一方面他们的技术实力不足，根本无法完成如此复杂的人物，另一方面美国缺钱，国会根本就没有那么多钱投给NASA。

In general, SpaceX's technology is stronger than Boeing's, but judging from the fact that NASA insisted on using Boeing, it is obvious that they do not want Musk to dominate the market. I guess there are unknown political reasons behind this!

总体而言，SpaceX的技术比波音更强，但从NASA非要用波音这件事来看，显然他们也不想让马斯克主导市场，或许这背后还有不为人知的政治原因！
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

At the beginning of this year, two US lunar exploration satellites encountered problems one after another, and the "Artemis" program also encountered twists and turns.

今年年初，两颗美国月球探测卫星相继遇到问题，“阿尔忒弥斯”计划也遇到了波折。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

Boeing's "Starliner" and Orbital Sciences Corporation's "Cygnus Cargo Spacecraft" have both experienced malfunctions. In fact, they have one thing in common, that is, commercial aerospace companies are involved.

波音的“星际客机”，美国轨道科学公司的“天鹅座货运飞船”都出现了故障，实际上，它们都有一个共同点，那都是有商业航天企业参与其中。

Boeing's "Starliner" was not powerful enough, so Musk's "Dragon Spacecraft" had to take action. However, because things happened too suddenly, it took time for the "Dragon Spacecraft" to be launched.

波音公司的“星际客机”不够好，所以马斯克的“龙飞船”不得不采取行动。然而，由于事情发生得太突然，“龙飞船”的发射需要时间。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

What's more, NASA has also put forward new requirements for the internal structure of the spacecraft. The original "Dragon spacecraft" had seven seats, and NASA required it to be changed to four seats.

此外，NASA还对飞船的内部结构提出了新要求，原来“龙飞船”是七座，NASA要求必须改成四座的。

The reason given was that the sitting posture for seven people was incorrect and landing would damage the astronauts' spine. Logically speaking, if there was no problem for seven people to come back on the Dragon spacecraft, there should be no problem for two people as well.

给出的理由是七座的坐姿不对，降落会损伤宇航员的脊椎。从逻辑上来说，如果七个人坐“龙飞船”回来没有问题，那么两个人也应该没有问题。

It doesn't make sense that it's okay with more people but not with fewer people. I have to say that NASA's request is a bit strange. The most important thing is that it takes time to transform the spacecraft. The two astronauts on the International Space Station are probably not in danger of their lives for the time being, so NASA is not in a hurry.

没有道理人多没问题，人少反而就不行了，不得不说，NASA这个要求有些奇怪，最关键的是，飞船改造也是需要时间的，可能国际空间站上的两位宇航员，暂时没有生命之危，所以NASA也就不着急了。

Americans are inefficient and expensive at work. Not only are labor costs high, but prices are also particularly high. A moon landing project costs tens of billions of dollars.

美国人工作效率又低，价格又贵，不仅人力成本贵，就连物价也特别贵，一个登月项目要花好几百亿美元。

It has to be said that the U.S. space industry is really expensive. In fact, the U.S. not only spends a lot on aerospace, but also spends a lot on all walks of life. With such an atmosphere and such prices, it is no wonder that the U.S. industry has become hollowed out.

不得不说，美国的航天工业确实非常昂贵。事实上，美国不仅在航空航天领域花费巨大，在各行各业也投入了大量资金。在这样的氛围和这样的价格下，美国工业空心化也就不足为奇了。