SpaceX launches Crew-4 astronauts to space station on a Dragon named Freedom
美国太空探索技术公司通过“自由”号龙飞船将四名宇航员送入空间站
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — SpaceX successfully launched its fourth astronaut mission to the International Space Station for NASA before dawn Wednesday, bringing the company's total crewed flight tally to seven.
佛罗里达州卡纳维拉尔角——美国太空探索技术公司在周三黎明前成功地进行了其第四次宇航员发射任务，将美国国家航空航天局的宇航员送至国际空间站，使该公司的载人飞行总数达到7次。
The new SpaceX Dragon capsule Freedom carrying the Crew-4 astronauts lifted off from historic Launch Pad 39A here at NASA's Kennedy Space Center atop a two-stage Falcon 9 rocket today (April 27) at 3:52 a.m. EDT (0752 GMT). The Dragon and its four passengers — NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren, Robert Hines and Jessica Watkins and the European Space Agency's Samantha Cristoforetti — are scheduled to dock with the ISS around 8:15 p.m. EDT tonight (0015 GMT on April 28).
今天（4月27日）美国东部夏令时凌晨3:52（格林威治标准时间0752），美国太空探索技术公司通过两级猎鹰9号火箭，将乘坐在其顶端的新型龙飞船太空舱”自由“号內的四名宇航员从历史悠久的39A发射台升空。龙飞船及其四名乘客——美国国家航空航天局宇航员基尔·林格伦（Kjell Lindgren）、罗伯特·海恩斯（Robert Hines）和杰西卡·沃特金斯（Jessica Watkins）以及欧洲航天局的萨曼莎·克里斯托弗雷蒂（Samantha Cristoforetti）——计划于美国东部时间今晚8:15左右（格林威治标准时间4月28日零时15分）与国际空间站对接。
"It is a privilege to get to fly this new vehicle, the Crew Dragon Freedom, to orbit," Lindgren said from space after the launch. "We're feeling great and we're looking forward to the view."
发射后，林德格伦在太空中说：“能够驾驶这架名为载人龙飞船“自由”号的新型载具进入轨道是一种荣幸，我们感觉很好，我们期待着这一景观。”
About 9.5 minutes after launch, the Falcon 9's first stage, designated B1067, successfully landed on the SpaceX droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas (ASOG) in the Atlantic Ocean, completing the booster's fourth flight. It previously launched the CRS-22 cargo mission and Crew-3 flight for NASA, as well as the Türksat 5B satellite, in June, November and December of last year, respectively. B1067 is expected to return to Port Canaveral aboard ASOG in the coming days.
发射后约9.5分钟，“猎鹰9号”的一级助推火箭B1067成功地在大西洋的美国太空探索技术公司无人火箭着陆船A Shortfall of Gravitas（ASOG）上着陆，完成了该火箭的第四次飞行。此前，该公司分别于去年6月、11月和12月为美国国家航空航天局发射了CRS-22货运任务和Crew-3飞行任务，以及Türksat 5B卫星。B1067预计将在未来几天乘坐ASOG返回卡纳维拉尔港。
Live updates: SpaceX's Crew-4 astronaut mission for NASA
实时更新：美国太空探索技术公司为美国国家航空航天局执行的Crew-4宇航员任务
In pictures: Amazing launch photos of SpaceX's Crew-4 launch
图片中：美国太空探索技术公司Crew-4的绝妙发射照片
The Crew-4 launch comes on the heels of another astronaut mission flown by SpaceX, Axiom 1 (Ax-1), which launched to the ISS on April 8 and splashed down off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida, on Monday afternoon (April 25). Crew-4's liftoff marks a new and historic cadence for SpaceX, which has now launched two crews from the same pad less than three weeks apart.
Crew-4发射是在美国太空探索技术公司执行另一项宇航员任务Axiom 1(Ax-1)之后进行的，该任务于4月8日发射到国际空间站，并于周一下午（4月25日）在佛罗里达州杰克逊维尔海岸溅落。Crew-4的升空标志着美国太空技术探索公司的一个新的历史性进程，该公司现在已经在不到三周的时间里从同一个发射台发射了两次宇航员。
Originally scheduled to lift off a week earlier, Crew-4's launch date was pushed back due to Ax-1's delayed departure from the ISS. In addition to the fact that both missions' Dragon capsules were slated to occupy the same docking port on the space station, NASA and SpaceX support personnel wanted up to two days between Ax-1's return and Crew-4's launch to "complete data reviews & stage recovery assets," Kathy Lueders, NASA's human spaceflight chief, wrote in a tweet recently. In the face of continued delays, Lueders assured, "39 hours between operations gives us enough time to finish up the work."
原计划提前一周发射的Crew-4由于Ax-1推迟离开国际空间站而推迟了发射日期。 除了两个任务的龙飞船太空舱都计划占用空间站的同一个对接端口之外，美国国家航空航天局和美国太空探索技术公司的支持人员还希望在 Ax-1 的返回和 Crew-4 的发射之间最多有两天的时间来“完成数据审查和阶段恢复资产，”美国宇航局载人航天负责人凯西·卢德斯（Kathy Lueders）最近在一条推文中写道。 面对持续的延误，鲁德斯（Lueders）保证，“39 小时的操作间隔让我们有足够的时间完成工作。”
NASA Certification Manager for the Commercial Crew Program Carla Koch spoke with Space.com about the checks undergone by Ax-1, highlighting the attention given to the Dragon's parachute deployment systems.
美国国家航空航天局商业宇航员项目认证经理卡拉·科赫(Carla Koch)接受Space.com采访时谈到了Ax-1所经历的检查，强调了人们对龙飞船降落伞部署系统的关注。
A lag in parachute deployment was observed during the return to Earth of several previous SpaceX missions — namely Crew-2 and the private Inspiration4 flight, as well as one of the company's robotic Dragon cargo missions to the ISS. All ultimately deployed safely, and NASA and SpaceX investigations determined the lagged deployment to be a nominal occurrence for SpaceX's parachute systems. Koch stated that, while there was some "concern" with the chutes leading up to Crew-3, "[teams would] do the same [safety checks] after Axiom-1, before we launch Crew-4."
在美国太空探索技术公司之前的几次任务——即Crew-2和私人的Inspiration 4飞行，以及该公司向国际空间站的一次机器人龙货运任务——返回地球期间，降落伞部署出现了滞后。所有这些最终都安全部署了，美国国家航空航天和美国太空探索技术公司的调查发现，美国太空探索技术公司的降落伞系统的滞后部署只是象征性的。科赫说，虽然对Crew-3之前的滑道有些“担忧”，但“在axium -1之后，在我们发射Crew-4之前，团队会做同样的安全检查。”
The Crew-3 astronauts are still aboard the ISS, by the way; they're expected to come home shortly after Crew-4 arrives at the orbiting lab.
顺便说一下，Crew-3的宇航员还在国际空间站上;预计他们将在Crew-4抵达轨道实验室后不久回家。
The brand-new Dragon ferrying this round of astronauts to the ISS was named Freedom by its crew members, according to a March 23 tweet by mission commander Lindgren. The name, Lindgren wrote, celebrates "a fundamental human right, and the industry and innovation that emanate from the unencumbered human spirit."
根据任务指挥官林德格伦（Lindgren）3月23日的推特消息，乘坐这次全新龙飞船飞往国际空间站的宇航员们将飞船命名为“自由”号。林德格伦写道，这个名字庆祝了“一项基本人权，以及从无拘无束的人类精神中迸发出来的勤奋和创新”。
In a call with press on March 31, Lindgren emphasized the importance of NASA's ability to resume crewed launches after the 2011 retirement of the space shuttle and spoke of the benefits of the agency's partnership with SpaceX.
在3月31日与媒体的通话中，林德格伦强调了美国国家航空航天局在2011年航天飞机退役后恢复载人发射能力的重要性，并谈到了该机构与美国太空探索技术公司合作的好处。
Related: NASA's space shuttle program in pictures: A tribute
相关图片:美国宇航局的航天飞机计划:致敬
Another source of inspiration was found in Freedom 7, the first-ever American human spaceflight, which launched NASA astronaut Alan Shepard on a brief suborbital trip on May 5, 1961. In an homage to that long-ago flight, Lindgren explained the crew's desire for their vessel to represent "a reflection of how far we've come."
灵感的另一个来源是“自由7号”，这是美国有史以来第一次载人航天飞行。1961年5月5日，“自由7号”搭载美国国家航空航天局宇航员艾伦·谢泼德(Alan Shepard)进行了短暂的亚轨道飞行。为了向那次很久以前的飞行致敬，林德格伦解释说，机组人员希望他们的飞船能“反映出我们已经取得的进展”。
Describing the sight of the Mercury-Redstone rocket used for that mission now on display at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Lindgren stated, "to see that first launch [vehicle] of Freedom 7 and to see where we are today is really a remarkable thing. And so we wanted to celebrate freedom for a new generation of space players."
林德格伦在描述用于这次任务的水星-雷石东火箭现在在休斯顿的美国国家航空航天局约翰逊航天中心展出时表示:“看到自由7号的首次发射，看到我们今天的位置，真的是一件了不起的事情。所以我们想为新一代太空玩家庆祝自由。”
A reflection of how far we've come, indeed. This "new generation" includes mission specialist Jessica Watkins. In stark contrast to what was possible in the America of 1961, Watkins will become the first Black woman to complete a long-term stay aboard the ISS.
这反映了我们已经取得了多大的进步。这个“新一代”包括任务专家杰西卡·沃特金斯。与1961年的美国形成鲜明对比的是，沃特金斯将成为首位在国际空间站完成长期停留的黑人女性。
The Crew-4 astronauts will spend about six months living on the ISS, a stint during which they will occupy their time with more than 200 science experiments, at least two NASA astronaut spacewalks and a possibility for mission specialist Cristoforetti to aid in a spacewalk with Russian crew members.
宇航员4号将在国际空间站生活约6个月，在此期间，他们将进行200多项科学实验，至少两次NASA宇航员太空行走，任务专家克里斯托弗雷蒂可能会协助俄罗斯宇航员进行太空行走。
Sometime in September, following the launch of Crew-5, Freedom is scheduled to return to Earth with a splashdown in one of over a half-dozen qualified landing sites off the coast of Florida in the Gulf of Mexico or Atlantic Ocean.
在9月的某个时候，在5号宇航员发射之后，“自由”号按计划返回地球，在佛罗里达海岸、墨西哥湾或大西洋的六个合格着陆点之一溅落。
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