Private Lander Carrying NASA Experiments Lands on the Moon

A private spacecraft carrying several science experiments has successfully landed on the moon.

一艘携带多项科学实验的私人航天器已成功登陆月球。

The lander, called Blue Ghost, was built by the American company Firefly Aerospace. The spacecraft touched down March 2 on the part of the moon’s near side called Mare Crisium. The near side of the moon is the side facing Earth.

该着陆器名为“蓝色幽灵”，由美国萤火虫航空航天公司制造。 该航天器于 3 月 2 日在月球近侧的危机海区域着陆。 月球的近侧是面向地球的一侧。

Officials at Firefly’s Mission Control center near Austin, Texas, confirmed the successful landing. The chief engineer for the Blue Ghost mission, Will Coogan, announced to excited workers: “We’re on the moon.” The officials said the spacecraft landed in the right position and was operating normally.

位于德克萨斯州奥斯汀附近的萤火虫任务控制中心的官员证实了其成功着陆。 蓝幽灵任务的总工程师威尔·库根向兴奋的工作人员宣布：“我们在月球上。” 官员们表示，飞船着陆在正确位置，运行正常。

The successful touchdown makes Firefly the first private company to land a spacecraft on the moon without crashing or having a major problem. Only five countries can claim successful moon landings: Russia, the United States, China, India and Japan.

这次成功着陆使萤火虫成为第一家将航天器降落在月球上且没有坠毁或出现重大问题的私营公司。 只有五个国家可以声称成功登月：俄罗斯、美国、中国、印度和日本。

Blue Ghost is named after a rare kind of firefly found in the U.S.

Blue Ghost 是以美国发现的一种罕见萤火虫命名的。

The four-legged lander is two meters tall and 3.5 meters wide. It launched in mid-January from Florida, carrying 10 experiments for the American space agency NASA. In a statement, NASA said the 10 experiments are designed to operate on the surface of the moon for one lunar day, which is about 14 Earth days.

四足着陆器高2米，宽3.5米。 它于一月中旬从佛罗里达州发射升空，为美国航天局 NASA 进行了 10 项实验。 NASA 在一份声明中表示，这 10 个实验的目的是在月球表面进行一个农历日，相当于 14 个地球日。

The Associated Press reported that NASA paid $101 million for the spacecraft and $44 million for the equipment it carried. It was the third mission under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.

美联社报道称，NASA 为这艘飞船支付了 1.01 亿美元，为其携带的设备支付了 4400 万美元。 这是美国宇航局商业月球有效载荷服务（CLPS）计划下的第三次任务。

The program aims to turn over the country’s major space missions to private companies to reduce costs. Several other companies are part of the program. Another lander, called Athena, is set to attempt a moon landing on March 6.

该计划旨在将国家的主要太空任务移交给私营公司以降低成本。 其他几家公司也参与了该计划。 另一个名为“雅典娜”的着陆器将于 3 月 6 日尝试登月。

That four-meter-tall spacecraft was built and operated by Houston-based Intuitive Machines. It will land on another part of the moon, about 160 kilometers from the lunar south pole. A third lander from private Japanese company ispace will attempt a moon landing in about three months.

这艘四米高的航天器是由位于休斯敦的直觉机器公司建造和运营的。 它将降落在月球的另一部分，距月球南极约160公里。 日本私营公司 ispace 的第三个着陆器将在大约三个月内尝试登月。

The lander, called Resilience, shared its rocket ride with Blue Ghost. But it took a longer path to the moon. The company is also attempting to land on the moon for the second time. Its first lander crashed in 2023. NASA has said it aims to have two private landers launch to the moon each year, realizing some missions will fail.

这个名为“弹性”的着陆器与“蓝色幽灵”共享火箭之旅。 但通往月球的道路却更长。 该公司还尝试第二次登陆月球。 它的第一个着陆器于 2023 年坠毁。 美国宇航局表示，它的目标是每年向月球发射两架私人着陆器，但意识到有些任务会失败。

The space agency’s top science officer is Nicky Fox. She told the AP the latest launches “open up a whole new way for us to get more science to space and to the moon." In the past, NASA’s successful moon landings involving astronauts cost billions of dollars.

该航天局的最高科学官员是尼基·福克斯。 她告诉美联社，最新的发射“为我们将更多科学知识带入太空和月球开辟了一条全新的途径”。 过去，美国宇航局宇航员成功登月花费了数十亿美元。

But Firefly chief Jason Kim said the private companies now building and launching spacecraft have a limited budget and the spacecraft operate robotically. Kim said everything went just as planned with Blue Ghost’s landing.

但萤火虫公司负责人贾森·金表示，目前建造和发射航天器的私营公司预算有限，而且航天器是机器人运行的。 金说，随着“蓝幽灵”号的着陆，一切都按计划进行。

“We got some moon dust on our boots," he added. The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and NASA reported on this story.

“我们的靴子上沾上了一些月尘，”他补充道。 美联社、法新社和美国宇航局对此进行了报道。

Bryan Lynn adapted the reports for VOA Learning English. ___________________________________________________ mission – n. (space exploration) the flight of a spacecraft to its target along with tasks expected to be carried out boot – v. a strong shoe that covers the foot and part of the leg

布莱恩·林恩 (Bryan Lynn) 改编了美国之音学习英语的报道。 ___________________________________________________ 使命 – n. （太空探索）航天器飞向目标以及预期执行的任务 boot – v. 覆盖脚部和部分腿部的坚固鞋子