SpaceX Dragon太空艙于4月7日返回地球
SpaceX Dragon太空艙于4月7日返回地球，標志著該飛船最后一次貨運任務的結束。
The Dragon spacecraft, unberthed from the station’s Harmony module earlier in the day by the station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm, was released by the arm at 9:06 a.m. Eastern. The spacecraft maneuvered away from the station and later performed a re-entry burn, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean about 500 kilometers southwest of Long Beach, California, at 2:50 p.m. Eastern.
當天早些時候，“龍”號宇宙飛船被空間站的Canadarm2機械臂從空間站的“和諧”艙中卸下，并于東部時間上午9點06分由該機械臂釋放。當天下午2點50分，這艘宇宙飛船離開了空間站，隨后進行了再入大氣層時的燃燒，濺落在加州長灘西南約500公里處的太平洋上。
The departure and return of the Dragon took place normally despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. NASA noted in its coverage of the Dragon’s departure that personnel at Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center are alternating shifts between two control rooms, so that while one is in use the other is cleaned. Some controllers at SpaceX’s own mission control center at its Hawthorne, California, headquarters were seen in NASA TV coverage wearing face masks.
盡管正在發(fā)生冠狀病毒大流行，但龍的離開和返回仍是正常的。美國國家航空航天局(NASA)在對“龍”號離開的報道中指出，約翰遜航天中心任務控制部的工作人員在兩個控制室之間輪換，以便在使用一個控制室時對另一個進行清潔。在NASA電視報道中，人們看到SpaceX公司位于加州霍桑的任務控制中心的一些控制員戴著口罩。
The Dragon launched to the station on the CRS-20 cargo mission March 6, arriving at the station early March 9. The spacecraft transported to the station 1,977 kilograms of cargo. It returned with more than 1,800 kilograms of cargo, including the results of experiments conducted on the station.
“龍”號于3月6日通過CRS-20貨運任務發(fā)射到空間站，于3月9日凌晨抵達空間站。宇宙飛船向空間站運送了1977公斤的貨物。它帶著1800多公斤的貨物返回，包括在空間站進行的實驗結果。
The mission is the last under SpaceX’s original Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract, which NASA awarded in 2008. The contract originally included 12 flights for $1.6 billion. NASA later added eight missions to the contract. The agency has not disclosed the total value of the extended contract, but a 2018 report by NASA’s Office of Inspector General stated SpaceX was due to receive $3.04 billion for those 20 missions, near the maximum allowed value of $3.1 billion for the CRS contract.
這是SpaceX公司2008年簽署的原商業(yè)再補給服務(CRS)合同的最后一項任務。該合同最初包括12次飛行，價值16億美元。NASA后來在合同中增加了8項任務。該機構沒有透露延長合同的總價值，但NASA監(jiān)察長辦公室2018年的一份報告稱，SpaceX將從這20次任務中獲得30.4億美元，接近CRS合同允許的31億美元的最高價值。
Future SpaceX cargo missions will use a version of the Crew Dragon spacecraft the company developed for NASA’s commercial crew program. That vehicle will have 20% more volume than the original cargo Dragon but lack the SuperDraco thrusters used in the Crew Dragon’s abort system. The spacecraft will also be able to dock directly with the station, rather than be berthed by the station’s robotic arm, and splash down in the Atlantic Ocean rather than the Pacific.
未來的SpaceX貨運任務將使用該公司為NASA商業(yè)載人計劃開發(fā)的Crew Dragon航天器的一個版本。該運載工具將有20%以上的體積比原來的貨運龍，但缺乏SuperDraco推進器用于船員龍的中止系統。航天器還將能夠直接與空間站對接，而不是由空間站的機械臂停泊，并濺落在大西洋而不是太平洋。
