| 1. | The delta-winged columbia, before reaching the orbit, jettisoned its dual booster rockets two minutes into flight .
三角翼的哥伦比亚号航天飞机在进入轨道前，起飞两分钟就抛下其两个助推火箭。 |
| 2. | Scheduled for july , the launch is only the second mission since the explosion of the shuttle columbia
定于七月的这次发射将是自哥伦比亚号航天飞机爆炸之后的第二次发射任务。 |
| 3. | The space agency is still trying to recover from a three year delay in shuttle flights following the 2003 columbia disaster
自从哥伦比亚号航天飞机在2004年坠毁之后，宇航局的航天计划推迟了3年，目前还在设法恢复元气。 |
| 4. | A planned servicing mission was cancelled in january 2004 after the space shuttle columbia was lost along with its crew of seven astronauts in 2003
2003年载有7名宇航员的哥伦比亚号航天飞机失事后，一项计划中的保养维修任务在2004年1月被取消。 |
| 5. | And as the shuttle challenger in 1986 and columbia in 2003 painfully illustrate , launch and landing glitches can turn deadly in an instant
1986年挑战者号和2003年哥伦比亚号航天飞机的悲剧说明发射和着陆时发生的很小的毛病可能在瞬间导致致命的后果。 |
| 6. | Russia ' s soyuz crew capsules and unmanned progress cargo ships have been the international space station ' s lifeline since the u . s . space shuttle columbia disaster in 2003
报道说，自从美国哥伦比亚号航天飞机2003年发生事故以来，俄罗斯的“联盟”号载人飞船和“进步”号货运飞船就一直是国际空间站的生命线。 |
| 7. | For two weeks , the shuttle had been looping the globe to the complete obliviousness of the vast majority of the world ' s population , which was preoccupied for the most part with the fate of iraq
两周以来，哥伦比亚号航天飞机一直在环绕地球运行，但多数世人对此却一无所知，当时人们主要关心的是伊拉克的命运。 |
| 8. | A similar wing hit during the launch of the columbia in february 2003 caused the disaster when it burned up upon reentry into the earth ' s atmosphere , killing all seven astronauts
哥伦比亚号航天飞机2003年2月发射时也发生了机翼被击中的类似事件，结果哥伦比亚号在回程中进入地球大气层的时候燃烧起火，机上7名宇航员全部遇难。 |
| 9. | One of the ironies to emerge from the midair disintegration of the columbia on february 1st is that cnn ' s breaking news of the tragedy was , for many people , their first clue that a shuttle mission was under way
哥伦比亚号航天飞机于2月1日在半空中解体，具有讽刺意味的是，美国有线新闻网络对于此次灾难令人震惊的报道，对于许多人来说，居然是他们第一次得知有这么一项航天任务正在进行当中。 |
| 10. | Meanwhile , champions of increased automation , notably the former shuttle engineer don nelson and the new york times columnist paul krugman , say that columbia ' s destruction should encourage nasa to retire its aging shuttle fleet once and for all
同时，支持更多的使用自动化的人们，诸如前航天飞行器设计师唐?尼尔森以及《纽约时报》专栏作家保罗?克鲁曼说道，哥伦比亚号航天飞机的坠毁应该促使美国国家航空和宇宙航行局永远让那些日渐老化的航天飞机退役。 |
