A towering new rocket has taken flight, carrying what could be the first commercial lander to touch down on the moon — and the first lunar landing mission to launch from the United States since 1972.

一枚高聳的新型火箭已經升空，搭載的可能是第一個登陸月球的商業登陸器，也是自 1972 年以來美國發射的首次登月任務。

The Vulcan Centaur rocket, a never-before-flown model developed by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture by Boeing and Lockheed Martin, roared to life at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 2:18 a.m. ET Monday. The launch vehicle is blaring toward space, expending its fuel as it attempts to rip away from Earth’s gravity and send the lunar lander, called Peregrine, tucked inside on its way to the moon.

火神半人馬座火箭是由波音公司和洛克希德馬丁公司的合資企業聯合發射聯盟開發的前所未有的型號，於美國東部時間週一凌晨2 點18 分在佛羅裡達州卡納維拉爾角太空部隊站轟隆升空。運載火箭向太空呼嘯而過，在試圖擺脫地球引力並將名為「遊隼」的月球登陸器送向月球的過程中消耗了燃料。

At around 3 a.m. ET, the Peregrine spacecraft is expected to separate from the rocket and begin its slow journey to the lunar surface. If all goes according to plan, the lander could touch down on the moon on February 23.

美國東部時間凌晨 3 點左右，遊隼號太空船預計將與火箭分離，並開始緩慢前往月球表面的旅程。如果一切按計劃進行，著陸器可能會在 2 月 23 日登陸月球。

What’s on board

Pittsburgh-based company Astrobotic Technology developed the Peregrine lander — named after the falcon that is the fastest-flying bird in the world — under a contract with NASA.

總部位於匹茲堡的 Astrobotic Technology 公司根據與 NASA 的合約開發了 Peregrine 登陸器，該登陸器以世界上飛行速度最快的鳥類獵鷹命名。

The space agency paid Astrobotic $108 million to develop Peregrine and fly NASA’s science experiments to the lunar surface.

航太局向 Astrobotic 支付了 1.08 億美元來開發 Peregrine，並將 NASA 的科學實驗飛行到月球表面。

But the space agency is just one customer among many for this mission.

但航太局只是這次任務的眾多客戶之一。

Of the 20 payloads that Peregrine will carry to the moon, five are NASA science instruments. The other 15 come from a range of customers.

Peregrine 將攜帶到月球的 20 個有效載荷中，有 5 個是 NASA 科學儀器。另外 15 個來自不同的客戶。

Some are additional science payloads from nations such as Mexico, while others include a robotics experiment from a private UK-based company and trinkets or mementos that the German shipping company DHL put together.

其中一些是來自墨西哥等國家的額外科學有效載荷，另一些則包括英國一家私人公司的機器人實驗以及德國航運公司 DHL 整理的小飾品或紀念品。

Peregrine is also carrying human remains on behalf of two commercial space burial companies — Elysium Space and Celestis — a move that’s sparked opposition from Navajo Nation, the largest group of Native Americans in the United States. The group contends that allowing the remains to touch down on the lunar surface would be an affront to many Indigenous cultures, which regard the moon as sacred. Celestis offers to carry ashes to the moon for prices starting at more than $10,000, according to the company’s website.

Peregrine 也代表 Elysium Space 和 Celestis 兩家商業太空埋葬公司運送人類遺骸，此舉引發了美國最大的美洲原住民群體納瓦霍族的反對。該組織認為，允許遺骸降落在月球表面將是對許多將月球視為神聖的土著文化的侮辱。據該公司網站稱，Celestis 提供將骨灰運送到月球的服務，起價超過 10,000 美元。

The five NASA-sponsored experiments include two instruments to monitor the radiation environment, “helping us better prepare to send crewed missions back to the moon,” said Paul Niles, NASA’s project scientist for the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, the arm of NASA that provided funding for Peregrine, during a Thursday news briefing. Other instruments will analyze the makeup of the lunar soil, looking for water and hydroxyl molecules. NASA will also study the moon’s super-thin atmosphere.

美國宇航局資助的五項實驗包括兩台監測輻射環境的儀器，“幫助我們更好地準備將載人任務送回月球”，美國宇航局商業月球有效載荷服務項目的項目科學家保羅·奈爾斯說，該項目是美國宇航局的下屬機構。在周四的新聞發布會上，為 Peregrine 提供了資金。其他儀器將分析月球土壤的組成，尋找水和羥基分子。美國太空總署也將研究月球的超稀薄大氣層。

Once on the moon’s surface, Peregrine is expected to operate for up to 10 days before its landing site is plunged into darkness — making it too cold to go on.

一旦到達月球表面，「遊隼號」預計將運行長達 10 天，然後其著陸點就會陷入黑暗，因為天氣太冷而無法繼續飛行。

Also on board the Vulcan Centaur rocket, packed separately from the Peregrine lander, is another payload from the space burial company Celestis.

與遊隼登陸器分開包裝的火神半人馬火箭上還有另一個來自太空埋葬公司 Celestis 的有效載荷。

The object, on a mission dubbed the Enterprise Flight, contains 265 capsules with human remains as well as DNA samples from former US presidents John F. Kennedy, George Washington and Dwight Eisenhower.

該物體執行一項名為「企業飛行」的任務，其中包含 265 個太空艙，裡面裝有人類遺骸以及美國前總統約翰·F·甘迺迪、喬治·華盛頓和德懷特·艾森豪威爾的 DNA 樣本。

The remains also include “the creator and several cast members of the original Star Trek television series, as well as an Apollo-era astronaut, together with people from all walks of life, interests, and vocations,” according to the company’s website.

據該公司網站稱，遺骸中還包括「原版《星際爭霸戰》電視劇的創作者和幾位演員，以及一名阿波羅時代的宇航員，以及來自各行各業、興趣和職業的人們」。

The Apollo astronaut whose remains are aboard the Enterprise Flight is Philip Chapman, who was selected for the astronaut corps in 1967 but never flew to space. He died in 2021.

遺體安置在企業號航班上的阿波羅太空人是菲利普·查普曼 (Philip Chapman)，他於 1967 年被選入太空人隊伍，但從未飛向太空。他於 2021 年去世。

A new rocket

The excitement of an impending lunar landing attempt aside, the launch of ULA’s Vulcan Centaur rocket was an event in its own right.

新型火箭 除了即將到來的登月嘗試帶來的興奮之外，ULA 的 Vulcan Centaur 火箭的發射本身就是一件大事。

The rocket is one of the most highly anticipated new vehicles to take flight in years. If the rocket’s mission is successful, it could be a game-changer for ULA and the broader launch industry.

這款火箭是多年來最受期待的新型飛行器之一。如果火箭的任務成功，它可能會改變 ULA 和更廣泛的發射行業的遊戲規則。

ULA was formed in 2006 in response to the US military’s need to keep both Boeing’s Delta and Lockheed Martin’s Atlas rockets operational. But the launch industry looks far different today than it did nearly two decades ago, and in the meantime SpaceX has emerged as a dominant force that undercuts ULA on price.

ULA 成立於 2006 年，是為了滿足美國軍方保持波音 Delta 火箭和洛克希德馬丁公司 Atlas 火箭運作的需求。但今天的發射產業與近二十年前相比有很大不同，與此同時，SpaceX 已成為在價格上削弱 ULA 的主導力量。

ULA and its CEO, Tory Bruno, envision Vulcan Centaur will replace its Atlas and Delta rockets. Vulcan Centaur already has about 70 missions lined up, according to Bruno.

ULA 及其執行長 Tory Bruno 預計 Vulcan Centaur 將取代其 Atlas 和 Delta 火箭。據布魯諾稱，Vulcan Centaur 已經安排了大約 70 項任務。

ULA has a pristine launch record with practically no failed missions. Vulcan Centaur builds on the success of ULA’s Atlas rockets by using essentially the same upper stage — the portion of the rocket that powers a spacecraft to orbital speeds after the initial liftoff.

ULA 擁有原始的發射記錄，幾乎沒有失敗的任務。 Vulcan Centaur 建立在 ULA Atlas 火箭成功的基礎上，使用了基本上相同的上級——火箭的一部分，為太空船在初始升空後達到軌道速度提供動力。

But a major change was made to the rocket’s first stage, the bottom portion that gives it the initial burst of power off the launchpad.

但火箭的第一級發生了重大變化，即底部部分，為它提供了發射台上最初的爆發力。

Vulcan Centaur was propelled by two side boosters as well as two US-made rocket engines — which the Jeff Bezos-funded company Blue Origin developed — at the base of its first-stage booster, replacing Russian-made engines that powered the Atlas rockets. ULA’s reliance on Russian engines became politically unpopular as tensions between the United States and Russia have grown in recent years.

火神半人馬座由兩個側面助推器以及兩個美國製造的火箭發動機（由傑夫·貝佐斯資助的藍色起源公司開發）在其第一級助推器的底部驅動，取代了為阿特拉斯火箭提供動力的俄羅斯製造的引擎。近年來，隨著美國和俄羅斯之間的緊張關係加劇，ULA 對俄羅斯引擎的依賴在政治上變得不受歡迎。

Vulcan Centaur’s debut was already years overdue, though it’s common in the aerospace industry for companies to blow past deadlines.

Vulcan Centaur 的首次亮相已經晚了好幾年了，儘管在航空航天行業，公司逾期的情況很常見。

ULA encountered lengthy delays awaiting Blue Origin’s new engines. And a Vulcan Centaur upper stage was inadvertently destroyed on a test stand last year.

ULA 在等待藍色起源的新引擎時遇到了長時間的延誤。去年，火神半人馬座上級在試驗台上被無意摧毀。

Despite those setbacks, Bruno said in November that development of Vulcan Centaur has been one of the “more orderly and well-executed development programs that I’ve worked on in my very long career in the aerospace industry.”

儘管遇到了這些挫折，布魯諾在 11 月表示，火神半人馬座的開發一直是「我在航空航太業漫長的職業生涯中所從事的更有序、執行得更好的開發項目之一」。

In the moments after liftoff, the rocket appeared to be operating as intended.

在升空後的那一刻，火箭似乎正在如預期運作。