本文摘要：SpaceX announced a successful satellite launch on Sunday — but failed an attempted sea-landing of a rocket booster, missing a goal that has repeatedly eluded the grasp of the Los Angeles-based rocket company.总部坐落于旧金山的火箭公司SpaceX上周日宣告顺利升空一颗卫

SpaceX announced a successful satellite launch on Sunday — but failed an attempted sea-landing of a rocket booster, missing a goal that has repeatedly eluded the grasp of the Los Angeles-based rocket company.总部坐落于旧金山的火箭公司SpaceX上周日宣告顺利升空一颗卫星，但没能在海上顺利重复使用火箭推进器，没已完成该公司多次没能已完成的目标。Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been focused on mastering the art of returning booster rockets on Earth after a launch, in the hope this will enable the company to lower costs by re-using these rockets.艾伦氠斯科(Elon Musk)旗下的SpaceX仍然注目于在火箭升空后在地球上重复使用火箭推进器的技术，期望需要通过火箭再行利用令其该公司降低成本。Sunday’s launch from Vandenberg Air Force base in California put a climate-change monitoring satellite, the Jason-3, in orbit around the North and South Poles. The satellite, sponsored by US and European agencies, will be used to monitor sea levels.上周日该公司从加州凡登堡空军基地升空火箭，顺利将一枚监测气候变化的卫星“Jason-3”送到南北极附近的轨道上。

这枚卫星由欧美机构赞助商，将用作监测海平面。However the return of the booster was less successful. Images showed the rocket lying on its side on the sea dock after apparently falling over during landing. The rocket tipped over after one of its four landing legs failed to lock, said founder Elon Musk in a Tweet.然而，火箭推进器的回到却不那么顺利。图像表明，火箭在降落过程中显著灌入，一侧撞到在海上重复使用平台上。艾伦氠斯科在Tweet上发文称之为，火箭是在4个着陆架中的其中一个没能瞄准后灌入的。

Although SpaceX had its first successful landing of a reusable booster on land just last month, sea landings have proven to be more challenging. Sunday’s mishap follows two failed sea landings last year.就在上月，SpaceX曾首次顺利将一枚火箭推进器在地面降落，但事实证明，海上降落极具挑战性。在上周日火箭降落告终前，该公司去年曾两次海上降落告终。Mastering the sea landings is important because it would give a company such as SpaceX greater flexibility in terms of where to land its rockets.掌控海上降落的技术很最重要，因为这将令SpaceX等公司在将火箭在何处降落方面取得更加多灵活性。

The company has suffered bigger setbacks before this, such as when a rocket exploded in mid-air last June.SpaceX此前曾遭到更加相当严重挫折，例如，去年6月一枚火箭在空中爆炸。SpaceX recently won a six-year cargo contract worth as much as $14bn from Nasa, along with Sierra Nevada and Orbital. SpaceX has also won a contract to help Nasa deliver astronauts to the International Space Station, along with Boeing.SpaceX与波音(Boeing)夺得一项合约，将协助美国国家航空航天局(NASA)将宇航员送到国际空间站(International Space Station)。

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