化為六月息

-----【譯文初稿】-----

【主播】星期六(11月24日)，太空人在太空中耗費了七個小時的時間，為國際太空站(International Space Station)的另一個增建空間 ─ 歐洲首座永久太空實驗室，完成了相關的準備工作。



【配音】由於美國太空梭即將於2010年除役，為了如期完成美國太空總署(NASA)建構太空工作站的計畫，國際太空站指揮官佩吉‧懷生(Peggy Whitson)與機體工程師丹‧塔尼(Dan Tani)讓太空前哨基地的建造，依照計畫進行。

星期六的太空漫遊是本星期以來的第二次，在距離地球346公里遠的太空中進行，目地是為了連結架設於國際太空站上的協和號船艙(Harmony)的電力、冷卻與資料系統。就在懷生與塔尼完成連結作業後的一個小時，地面控制人員表示機體冷卻劑已順利流入協和號船艙裡。

此外，兩人也藉此針對長達73公尺的]太陽能翼板的轉動連軸，進行檢查，以確保太陽能翼板達到最佳效能。



※ 正式新聞稿與影像：「新唐人電視台」






※ The original article was taken from Reuters Website.  ( 原文取自路透社網站 )




-----【原文對照】-----

INTRO: Astronauts take spacewalk to finish preparations for space laboratory.Columbus space laboratory remains on schedule after astronauts take walk in space to prepare International Space Station.


STORY: Astronauts spent seven hours in space on Saturday (November 24) to finish preparing the International Space Station for its next addition -- Europe's first permanent space laboratory. 

Station commander Peggy Whitson and flight engineer Dan Tani kept the orbital outpost on schedule to meet NASA's ambitious goal of completing construction by 2010, when the U.S. space shuttle fleet is due to retire.

The Columbus laboratory sits in the cargo bay of space shuttle Atlantis, which is on a Florida launch pad and set to lift off on Dec. 6.  Tethered to the station, Whitson and Tani spent much of their time passing the second of two 300-pound (136-kg), 18.5-foot (5.6-metre) pallets "like a high-tech baton in a relay race" to its new position, a spokesman for the U.S. space agency said.

The pallet routes coolant lines to the station's Harmony module to which the Columbus lab will be connected in December. Japan's Kibo Experiments Module is set to be attached to Harmony in February. 

Saturday's excursion 215 miles (346 km) above Earth was the second spacewalk this week to connect Harmony to electrical, cooling and data systems aboard the station. Whitson and Tani relayed the first pallet into position on Tuesday. Ground controllers told Whitson and Tani coolant was flowing into Harmony about an hour after they completed the connections.

Tani and Whitson also carried out an inspection of a balky rotating joint that turns one of the 240-foot (73-metre) solar power wings on the station for best alignment with the sun.