【精英翻譯】的部落格

精英翻譯轉自https://paper.udn.com/papers.php?pname=POH0054

Space travel used to be an impossible dream, reserved only for highly trained astronauts in expensive government programs. But that all changed on April 28, 2001. On that day, an American businessman named Dennis Tito became the first tourist to visit space. His trip marked the birth of a new era of space tourism.

太空旅行曾是遙不可及的夢想，只有在政府鉅額計畫中受過高度訓練的太空人才得以參與。不過，從2001 年4 月28 日起，這樣的印象從此顛覆。名為丹尼斯．提多的美國商人在這天成為了第一位造訪太空的遊客。他的太空之旅開創了太空觀光業的商機。

Six other tourists followed Dennis Tito into space over the next few years. They included South Africa's Mark Shuttleworth and Canada's Guy Laliberte. Like Tito, these tourists rode on a Russian Soyuz rocket and visited the International Space Station (ISS). Their tickets didn't come cheap, costing anywhere from US$20–40 million for a week or two among the stars. But it must have been worth it: one tourist named Charles Simonyi enjoyed it enough to go twice.

接下來數年，共有六名遊客陸續追隨丹尼斯．提多的腳步，前往太空。包括南非的馬克．沙特沃斯與加拿大的蓋．拉利伯特。這些遊客與提多一樣，搭乘俄羅斯的聯盟號火箭，參觀國際太空站。環繞在宇宙天體之間、為期一到兩週的太空之旅要價不斐，定價近2 千萬至4 千萬美元不等。但想必十分值得，因為名為查爾斯．西蒙尼的遊客還意猶未盡，參加了兩次太空之旅。

This early stage of space tourism didn't last very long. In 2009, Russia suspended the tourist flights due to a lack of available seats. Space on Russia's Soyuz rockets was needed for American astronauts after NASA stopped its own space shuttle flights.

不過早期的太空觀光熱潮並未延燒很久。2009年，俄羅斯以席位不足為由，暫停了觀光之旅。因為美國太空總署停止發射太空梭後，俄羅斯的聯盟號火箭必須為美國太空人保留座位。

The year 2009 wasn't the end of space tourism, though. Quite the contrary, it set the stage for bigger and better things. Several companies are now working on their own private spaceships. There's SpaceX, which isowned by Elon Musk. In 2018, the company's Falcon Heavy rocket launched a Tesla car into space during a test flight. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has also launched a space tourism company called Blue Origin. Its New Shepard ship intends to carry passengers to the edge of space and let them experience weightlessness.

但2009 年並非太空觀光業的終點，反而為各界醞釀更加浩大優質的太空之旅，開啟了新局。數家公司開始打造私人太空船，其中有伊隆．馬斯克自有的「SpaceX」太空探險公司。2018 年，該公司的一艘「重型獵鷹號」火箭，在試飛時將一輛特斯拉電動汽車送上太空。亞馬遜網站創辦人傑夫．貝佐斯亦創設名為「藍色起源」的太空觀光公司。該公司的「新牧羊犬號」太空船，計劃載送乘客至靠近太空邊界，體驗無重力的感覺。

The advance of private space tourism hasn't always gone smoothly. Virgin Galactic was leading the space tourism race until its SpaceShipTwo test vehicle crashed in 2014, killing the co-pilot. The SpaceShipTwo crash serves as a tragic reminder of the high stakes in space travel. But we humans will never get anywhere if we don't take risks. And with a little hard work and luck, we all might just reach the stars someday.

不過，私人太空觀光業的進展並非一帆風順。「維珍銀河」公司原為太空觀光業的佼佼者，直到「太空船二號」試航機於2014 年墜機導致副駕駛罹難後，聲勢重創。「太空船二號」墜機事件這場悲劇提醒了大家，太空之旅的風險極高。不過，人類如果不承擔風險，就不會進步。只要多下點苦功，加上運氣，也許有朝一日，人人都能登陸星球。