[ti:60 Years After First Satellite, Russian Space Program Faces Struggles]
[by:www.21voa.com]
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[00:00.01]Russia's space program faces hard questions
[00:03.83]as it marks the 60th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik,
[00:09.14]the first man-made satellite.
[00:12.30]Some experts are wondering how Russia's aging rocket designs
[00:18.25]will compete with new, less costly rockets.
[00:24.18]Sixty years ago, the area known as the Soviet Union
[00:29.41]was in a fierce competition with the United States to reach beyond Earth's atmosphere.
[00:37.32]Tensions between the world's biggest nuclear powers,
[00:41.87]the United States and the U.S.S.R., were high.
[00:47.02]The Cold War between the two competing sides,
[00:51.09]which began after the end of World War II, was intensifying.
[00:57.70]Then, on October 4, 1957, news broke
[01:04.73]that the Soviets had placed the first artificial satellite into orbit.
[01:11.54]Called Sputnik, the satellite was a small sphere,
[01:17.32]58 centimeters wide and about 84 kilograms in weight.
[01:24.24]It contained two radio transmitters that sent out a beep
[01:30.20]that could be received by radio operators on Earth.
[01:35.08]The satellite was tiny.
[01:37.90]Yet, it started the extremely costly competition known as the Space Race.
[01:46.18]The race would end with the Americans' Apollo Moon landings in 1969.
[01:54.46]In October of 1957, however, many people in the West were shocked.
[02:02.17]The Soviets had put an object in Earth's orbit,
[02:07.13]and they had done it before the West.
[02:10.03]Soviet media said it was because the socialist political system of the U.S.S.R. was better.
[02:19.96]In the U.S., lawmakers placed an urgent importance
[02:25.13]on science education in an effort to "catch up" with the Soviets.
[02:32.55]The project to launch the first satellite into space
[02:36.94]was a product of the Soviet's development of their first long-distance missile, the R-7.
[02:45.30]It was designed as an intercontinental ballistic missile
[02:50.50]meant to strike the U.S. with a nuclear warhead.
[02:55.43]Sergei Korolyov led a team that was building the rocket.
[03:02.15]He had the idea to place a simple satellite on the rocket.
[03:08.49]The Soviets were already planning a satellite that would carry scientific instruments.
[03:16.23]But Korolyov pushed for a basic satellite design
[03:21.63]that could be put into space quickly -- before the U.S. could attempt a launch.
[03:29.55]The designers considered a cone shape for Sputnik,
[03:35.01]but Korolyov insisted on a sphere.
[03:39.48]He is quoted as saying, "The Earth is a sphere,
[03:44.26]and its first satellite also must have a spherical shape."
[03:50.13]A main part of Russia's Soyuz space capsules that are still in use today also is spherical.
[04:00.63]Although the Soviet Union came apart in 1991,
[04:06.46]the Russian Federation remains very important in the space industry.
[04:12.83]But, observers point out that the Soyuz rocket boosters Russia uses to carry people
[04:20.28]and supplies to the International Space Station are very old.
[04:26.10]The Soyuz rockets are modified versions of the S-7 that carried Sputnik into space.
[04:36.27]Another rocket used by Russia, the Proton, was designed in the 1960s.
[04:44.96]These rockets have earned a reputation for reliability over many years of service.
[04:52.91]But recent launch problems have raised questions
[04:57.74]about the quality of parts manufactured for the vehicles.
[05:03.49]Officials found problems with the Soyuz and Proton rockets in 2016
[05:11.30]at a factory in the city of Voronezh in western Russia,
[05:16.70]where the engines for both rockets are built.
[05:20.26]Russia's space agency sent 70 rocket engines back to the production lines
[05:27.41]to replace problem parts, the Associated News agency said.
[05:33.58]These issues led to a one-year suspension of Proton launches.
[05:40.95]That suspension caused Russia to fall behind both the U.S. and China
[05:48.13]for commercial satellite launches in 2016.
[05:53.22]Russia had led the world for more than 10 years before that.
[05:59.31]Russia's space agency Roscosmos also decided on cost cutting measures.
[06:07.04]It cut Russian International Space Station crews.
[06:12.00]The AP reports that two cosmonauts instead of three are to be used.
[06:19.87]Cosmonaut is the Russian term for astronaut.
[06:25.41]Many people in Russia have criticized the cuts.
[06:31.31]However, Russia has spent huge amounts of money on a second space launch center
[06:38.75]in the far east of the country near Vostochny.
[06:43.72]The new spaceport is meant to offer an alternative
[06:48.13]to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan,
[06:52.94]where Russia launches almost all its rockets.
[06:57.22]Despite the money put into the new center,
[07:00.85]work in Vostochny has been slowed by workers' protests over pay
[07:07.23]and the arrest of construction officials accused of corruption.
[07:12.56]And people with ties to the space program
[07:17.02]have criticized the spending on Vostochny at the expense of other priorities.
[07:24.47]For example, Maksim Surayev was a cosmonaut who is now a lawmaker.
[07:31.91]He criticized the low pay of workers at the cosmonaut training center
[07:37.82]near Moscow known as Star City.
[07:41.89]"It's wrong when, instead of fulfilling their task to prepare for space flight,
[07:49.00]they have to find side jobs and a place to live," Surayev told Parliament.
[07:55.89]In addition to budget and manufacturing problems,
[08:00.60]the Russian space program has seen some projects postponed.
[08:06.42]For instance, space agency officials had hoped
[08:11.33]to launch the Russian module for the I.S.S. in 2007.
[08:16.82]But the module has been delayed for many years.
[08:21.57]The launch is now planned for next year,
[08:25.78]but some reports say another delay is possible.
[08:31.32]Yet, Russia's space presence with its 60-year history continues
[08:38.08]-- dating back to that first launch that shocked the West.
[08:43.44]On October 4 this year, AP said that Sergei Ryanzanskiy
[08:50.28]posted on Twitter a picture of himself holding a small model of the Sputnik satellite.
[08:58.61]Ryanzanskiy is currently a cosmonaut on the International Space Station.
[09:06.42]He was marking the 60th anniversary of the historic launch.
[09:12.09]Ryanzanskiy had a special reason to note the event.
[09:17.47]His grandfather was the chief designer of radio guidance systems
[09:23.85]for space vehicles during the Soviet era.
[09:27.61]And he was involved in the Sputnik launch.
[09:31.84]In August, Ryazanskiy helped release five very small satellites
[09:39.52]that were manufactured by a 3-D printer.
[09:43.60]One of the hand-held satellites honored Sputnik's 60th anniversary.
[09:51.41]I'm Mario Ritter. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
END OF TRACK. "END OF TRACK." The two men bowed. "Whoever was that person you were talking to?" she enquired, as soon as they stood together. The took of triumph faded from her eyes, she had grown worn and weary. The roses were wilting on the walls, the lights were mostly down now. Hetty, looking in to see if anything was wanted, found herself driven away almost fiercely. I only saw Master Jervie once when he called at tea time, The year 1747 was opened by measures of restriction. The House of Lords, offended at the publication of the proceedings of the trial of Lord Lovat, summoned the parties to their bar, committed them to prison, and refused to liberate them till they had pledged themselves not to repeat the offence, and had paid very heavy fees. The consequence of this was that the transactions of the Peers were almost entirely suppressed for nearly thirty years from this time, and we draw our knowledge of them chiefly from notes taken by Horace Walpole and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. What is still more remarkable, the reports of the House of Commons, being taken by stealth, and on the merest sufferance, are of the most meagre kind, sometimes altogether wanting, and the speeches are given uniformly under fictitious names; for to have attributed to Pitt or Pelham their[112] speeches by name would have brought down on the printers the summary vengeance of the House. Many of the members complained bitterly of this breach of the privileges of Parliament, and of "being put into print by low fellows"; but Pelham had the sense to tolerate them, saying, "Let them alone; they make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves." Altogether, the House of Commons exhibited the most deplorable aspect that can be conceived. The Ministry had pursued Walpole's system of buying up opponents by place, or pension, or secret service money, till there was no life left in the House. Ministers passed their measures without troubling themselves to say much in their behalf; and the opposition dwindled to Sir John Hinde Cotton, now dismissed from office, and a feeble remnant of Jacobites raised but miserable resistance. In vain the Prince of Wales and the secret instigations of Bolingbroke and Doddington stimulated the spirit of discontent; both Houses had degenerated into most silent and insignificant arenas of very commonplace business. "It certainly will be. Miss Widgeon," answered Maria, with strictly "company manners." "One who has never had a brother exposed to the constant dangers of army life can hardly understand how glad we all feel to have Si snatched from the very jaws of death and brung back to us." "Just plug at 'em as you would at a crow, and then go on your way whistlin'?" persisted Harry. "Hurroo!" echoed Hennessey; "that's the ticket." "Come forward, keeper," continued the baron, "and state how these arrows came into your hands!" "Yes." HoMEJULIA京香2018下载
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