NASA经理对2024年登月计划表示怀疑

A top NASA manager cast doubt Wednesday on the space agency’s ability to land astronauts on the moon by 2024.

美国宇航局一名高级管理人员周三对航天局在2024年前将宇航员送上月球的能力表示怀疑。

Kenneth Bowersox, acting associate administrator for human exploration and operations, told a Congressional subcommittee that NASA is doing its best to meet the White House-imposed deadline.

负责人类探索和行动的代理副署长肯尼斯·鲍尔索斯(Kenneth Bowersox)对国会一个小组委员会表示，NASA正在尽最大努力在白宫规定的最后期限前完成任务。

Bowersox — a former space shuttle and space station commander — said it’s good for NASA to have “that aggressive goal.” Many things need to come together, like funding and technical challenges, he said, for 2024 to stand a chance.

前航天飞机和空间站指挥官鲍尔索斯说，对NASA来说，有这样一个“积极的目标”是件好事。他说，要想在2024年获得成功，许多事情需要结合起来，比如资金和技术挑战。

NASA has named the program Artemis after Apollo’s twin sister in Greek mythology and promises the first moonwalking team will include a woman. The pair would land on the lunar south pole, where vast reserves of frozen water could be tapped for future explorers. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine — who’s pushing Artemis every chance he gets — stresses the goal is sustainability this time around, with the moon serving as a critical training ground for Mars expeditions, perhaps in the 2030s.

美国宇航局以阿波罗在希腊神话中的孪生姐妹阿耳忒弥斯的名字为该项目命名，并承诺第一个月球漫步团队将包括一名女性。他们将在月球南极着陆，那里有大量的冷冻水可供未来的探险者开采。美国宇航局局长吉姆·布里登斯汀(Jim Bridenstine)强调，这次的目标是可持续发展，月球可能在本世纪30年代成为火星探险的重要训练基地。

NASA’s replacement for the Apollo-era Saturn V rocket — the Space Launch System or SLS — is still in development. Its launch debut has slipped repeatedly and, according to Bowersox, will now occur no earlier than the end of next year. This initial test flight will send an Orion capsule around the moon with no one on board.

美国宇航局正在研制阿波罗时代土星五号火箭的替代品——太空发射系统或SLS。据鲍尔索克斯说，它的首次亮相一再推迟，现在来看不会早于明年年底。这次首次试飞将发射一个无人驾驶的猎户座太空舱绕月飞行。

The space agency still needs to come up with new lunar landers, rovers and spacesuits.

航天局仍然需要研制出新的月球着陆器、探测器和宇航服。