SpaceX launches a crew of astronauts like no other on an adventure to orbit
SpaceX 发射史无前例的宇航员机组上天，开启环绕地球之旅
A SpaceX rocket lifted off Wednesday night from a launchpad here, carrying four Americans on an adventure to orbit the Earth for three days that will be like no other.
周三（9 月 15 日）晚，一枚 SpaceX 火箭从当地的发射台发射升空，搭载着四名美国人开启了为期三天、史无前例的环绕地球之旅。
None of the crew works for NASA. The mission, known as Inspiration4, is the first orbital trip where not one of the people aboard is a professional astronaut and where government is, by and large, a bystander and observer.
机组中无一人为美国宇航局工作。这次名为“灵感 4 号”的任务是首次没有专业宇航员作为机组人员的轨道任务，而政府基本只扮演旁观者和观察者的角色。
Jared Isaacman, a 38-year-old billionaire and founder of Shift4, a payments-processing service, financed the trip. Isaacman's public profile is far less prominent than that of Richard Branson or Jeff Bezos, two billionaires who flew to the edge of space in July in vehicles operated by companies they own. Those trips lasted just minutes before returning to the ground.
38 岁的亿万富翁、支付处理服务公司 Shift4 的创始人贾里德·伊萨克曼资助了本次旅行。伊萨克曼的公众关注度远没有理查德·布兰森或杰夫·贝索斯那么高——这两位亿万富翁曾于 7 月乘坐自家公司运营的航天器飞抵太空边缘，仅仅持续了数分钟就返回了地面。
But Isaacman's three-day adventure is perhaps more noteworthy, a step toward a future where space travel might be like airline travel today — accessible by almost everyone.
而伊萨克曼三天的冒险之旅或许更加引人注目。这是迈向未来的一步。在未来，太空旅行可能像今天的航空旅行一样，几乎人人都触手可及。
The mission carries a crew that is more representative of wider society — Hayley Arceneaux, a 29-year-old physician assistant; Sian Proctor, a 51-year-old community college professor who would be the first Black woman to pilot a spacecraft; and Christopher Sembroski, a 42-year-old data engineer.
这次任务搭载了几位更能代表广泛社会的机组成员——29 岁的医生助理海莉·阿塞诺；51 岁的社区大学教授西恩·普罗克托，她会成为第一名担任飞船飞行员的黑人女性；还有 42 岁的数据工程师克里斯托弗·森布罗斯基。
The Inspiration4 crew members will spend a fair amount of their time in orbit helping to advance medical research on how the human body reacts to being in space.
“灵感 4 号”机组成员将在进入轨道后花费相当多的时间，帮助推进关于人体在太空中如何反应的医学研究。
Other activities will be more fun. Proctor, for instance, will be making some artwork. "I'm excited to bring paint and do some art in space, and thinking about just the fluids and the dynamics of watercolors,"*** she said Tuesday.
其他活动将会更加有趣。例如，普罗克托会创作一些画作。她于周二表示：“能带上颜料，在太空进行一些艺术创作，思考水彩颜料的流动性与动态性，这些都让我感到激动。”
主编：Jojo、阿翀
品控：Jojo、夏天
审核：Raven
Photo Credit: AFP / Chandan Khanna
重点词汇
launch
/lɑːntʃ/
v. 发射；启动，推出
搭配短语：to launch a rocket / a spacecraft（发射火箭 / 飞船）
搭配短语：to launch a new product / a publication（推出新产品 / 出版物）
crew
/kruː/
n. 全体船员，全体机组人员
例句：The aircraft has a crew of four.（这架飞机有 4 名机组人员。）
用法补充：crew 表示的是一个集体，不能单指一个船员或者一个机组人员。也就是说，一条船只有一个 crew，两条船才有两个 crews。
orbit
/ˈɔːr.bɪt/
v. 绕轨道运行
词性拓展：orbit（n. 轨道）
例句：The earth takes a year to orbit the sun.
lift off
升空，发射
相关词汇：lift（v. 向上移动）
相关词汇：off（adv. 离开）
例句：The rocket is due to lift off at noon on Friday.（火箭定于星期五中午发射。）
by and large
大体上，总的来说
近义短语：on the whole
例句：There are a few small things that I don't like about my job, but by and large it's very enjoyable.
bystander
/ˈbaɪˌstæn.dɚ/
n. 旁观者
相关短语：stand by（袖手旁观；随时待命，准备行动）
例句：I'm not going to stand by and see her hurt.（我不会看着她受伤害而袖手旁观。）
例句：They had been asked to stand by in case their help was needed.（他们被吩咐要随时待命，以免需要他们帮忙。）
例句：The police asked bystanders about the accident.
finance
/ˈfaɪ.næns/
v. 向……提供资金
词性拓展：finance（n. 金融）
例句：They are still seeking someone to finance the project.
profile
/ˈproʊ.faɪl/
n. 公众关注度
搭配短语：to keep / adopt / maintain a high profile（保持高调，引人注目）
搭配短语：to keep / adopt / maintain a low profile（保持低调，不引人注目）
prominent
/ˈprɑː.mə.nənt/
adj. 著名的，重要的
英文释义：very well known and important
相关词汇：prominence（n. 著名，重要）
例句：She rose to prominence at a young age.（她年少成名。）
noteworthy
/ˈnoʊtˌwɝː.ði/
adj. 值得注意的，令人关注的
相关词汇：note（n. 注意）
搭配短语：take note of sth.（注意到某事）
相关词汇：worthy（adj. 值得的）
搭配短语：a noteworthy achievement
pilot
/ˈpaɪ.lət/
v. 驾驶（飞机）；指引，带领
词性拓展：pilot（n. 飞行员）
搭配短语：to pilot a plane（驾驶飞机）
英文释义：to help someone to go to a place
例句：He piloted the old lady to her seat.（他把那位老太太引到了她的座位。）
fair
/fer/
adj. 相当大的，相当多的；公正的
搭配短语：a fair size / amount / number etc（很大 / 很多等）
例句：We've still got a fair amount of work left to do.
例句：Their house is a fair size.
fluid
/ˈfluː.ɪd/
n. 液体
搭配短语：body fluids（体液）
例句：He is not allowed solid food yet, only fluids.（他还不能吃固体食物，只能进食流食。）
相关词汇：solid（n. 固体）
相关词汇：gas（n. 气体）
dynamic
/daɪˈnæm.ɪk/
n. 动态；动力学（复数）
词性拓展：dynamic（adj. 有活力的，生气勃勃的；动态的，不断变化的）
例句：The situation is dynamic and may change at any time.
搭配短语：the dynamics of political change（政治变化动态）
