VOA慢速英語：X-37B空天飛機(jī)繞軌飛行兩年后著陸

Secret Space Plane Lands After Two Years in Orbit

X-37B空天飛機(jī)繞軌飛行兩年后著陸

This is What's Trending Today...

這里是今日熱點(diǎn)節(jié)目。

[listen to sound of plane landing]

[飛機(jī)降落聲]

That is the sound of the United States Air Force's unmanned spacecraft landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida over the weekend.

這就是美國空軍的無人駕駛空天飛機(jī)周末在佛羅里達(dá)州肯尼迪航天中心著陸的聲音。

The United States Department of Defense posted a video of the landing on YouTube.

美國國防部在YouTube網(wǎng)站上發(fā)布了著陸視頻。

The Air Force's X-37B spacecraft passed over the state of Florida early in the morning Sunday.

周日一大早，美國空軍的X-37B空天飛機(jī)從佛羅里達(dá)州上空掠過。

It made a different sound then. It created a "sonic boom." That is the noise caused by something traveling faster than the speed of sound – or 1,225 kilometers per hour.

那時(shí)它發(fā)出了一種不同的聲音，它導(dǎo)致了音爆。音爆是指物體速度超過聲速或1225公里每小時(shí)所造成的的噪音。

The sonic boom served as a surprising alarm clock for some Floridians. They took to Twitter to express their shock and describe the loud noise.

音爆成為了一些佛羅里達(dá)州人的意外鬧鈴。他們?cè)谕铺厣媳磉_(dá)了他們的震撼，并描述了這種巨大噪音。

One person said she thought someone had crashed into her garage.

有人說，她還以為是有人撞入了她的車庫。

The X-37B was first used in 2010. Each time it goes on a mission, it stays in space and orbits the Earth many times. In its first mission, it stayed in space for about six months. Its second mission was close to a year, and its third mission was close to two years.

X-37B空天飛機(jī)于2010年首次投入使用。每次執(zhí)行任務(wù)時(shí)它都會(huì)在太空停留并繞地球軌道運(yùn)行很多次。在第一次任務(wù)中，它在太空停留了大概6個(gè)月，第二次接近一年，第三次接近兩年。

On Sunday, the plane ended its fourth mission about two weeks short of two years.

周日，這架空天飛機(jī)結(jié)束了第四次任務(wù)，停留了大約差兩個(gè)星期到兩年。

So, what does the plane do when it is in space?

那么，這架空天飛機(jī)在太空時(shí)都干了什么呢?

No one really knows. It is classified. That means only certain military members are permitted to know about its mission.

沒人知道，因?yàn)檫@是機(jī)密。這意味著只有特定軍人才了解其任務(wù)。

The Air Force can only publicly say that the plane helps them see how new devices perform while in space for a long time.

美國空軍只能公開表示，這架空天飛機(jī)幫助他們弄清新設(shè)備在太空長期停留時(shí)如何運(yùn)作。

The website Space.com reported that the Air Force was happy with the mission. The long trip did not result in any problems.

Space.com網(wǎng)站報(bào)道稱，美國空軍對(duì)這次任務(wù)非常滿意。這次長途飛行沒有發(fā)生任何問題。

The Air Force is planning to continue launching and landing the space plane from Florida.

美國空軍計(jì)劃繼續(xù)從佛羅里達(dá)州發(fā)射和著陸這種空天飛機(jī)。

And that's what's Trending Today.

以上就是本期今日熱點(diǎn)的全部內(nèi)容。

I'm Dan Friedell.

丹·費(fèi)里德爾報(bào)道。