第1374期:William Shatner Becomes Oldest Man to Fly in Space

Ninety-year-old actor William Shatner, flew into space Wednesday. The performer is known for playing Captain Kirk in the Star Trek television series and films. He is the oldest person to ever reach space.

90 岁的演员威廉·夏特纳 (William Shatner) 于周三飞入太空。这位表演者以在《星际迷航》电视剧和电影中饰演柯克船长而闻名。他是有史以来到达太空的最年长的人。

Shatner was a passenger on a spaceship built by Blue Origin, the company owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

夏特纳是亚马逊创始人杰夫贝索斯拥有的蓝色起源公司建造的宇宙飞船的乘客。

The Star Trek actor and three other passengers flew about 106 kilometers over the desert of western Texas to the edge of space. The ship operates without a pilot. It spent about three minutes at zero gravity then safely returned to Earth by parachute. The flight lasted just over 10 minutes.

星际迷航演员和其他三名乘客在德克萨斯州西部的沙漠上空飞行了大约 106 公里，到达太空边缘。这艘船在没有飞行员的情况下运行。它在零重力下度过了大约三分钟，然后通过降落伞安全返回地球。飞行持续了10多分钟。

“How about that, guys? That was unlike anything they described,” the actor said as the ship came back to Earth.

“那个怎么样，伙计们？这与他们所描述的完全不同，”这位演员在飞船返回地球时说道。

Shatner broke the record for the oldest person in space by eight years. Pilot Wally Funk set the earlier record in July, also on a Blue Origin rocket.

夏特纳打破了太空中最年长人的记录八岁。飞行员沃利·芬克 (Wally Funk) 在 7 月创造了较早的记录，同样是在蓝色起源火箭上。

Science fiction fans enjoyed the chance to see the man best known as Captain James T. Kirk of the starship Enterprise.

夏特纳打破了太空中最年长人的记录八岁。飞行员沃利·芬克 (Wally Funk) 在 7 月创造了较早的记录，同样是在蓝色起源火箭上。

“This is a pinch-me moment for all of us to see Captain James Tiberius Kirk go to space,” said Blue Origin launch commentator Jacki Cortese before liftoff. She said she, like many others, became interested in the space business because of shows like Star Trek.

“对于我们所有人来说，看到詹姆斯·提比略·柯克船长进入太空，这是一个让我紧张的时刻，”蓝色起源发射评论员杰基·科蒂斯在升空前说。她说，像许多其他人一样，因为《星际迷航》这样的节目，她对太空业务产生了兴趣。

Bezos is also a Star Trek fan. He once played an outer space creature in one of the later Star Trek movies. Shatner flew on the ship for free as his invited guest.

贝索斯也是《星际迷航》的粉丝。他曾在后来的一部星际迷航电影中扮演外太空生物。夏特纳作为他的受邀客人免费登上了这艘船。

The launch brings attention to Bezos’ space travel company.

此次发射引起了贝佐斯太空旅行公司的关注。

Bezos himself drove the four passengers to the launch area. He closed the ship’s door after they climbed into the 18-meter rocket. And he was there to welcome the crew after the ship returned.

贝佐斯亲自驾驶四名乘客前往发射区。在他们爬上 18 米火箭后，他关上了船的门。船返回后，他在那里欢迎船员。

“Hello, astronauts. Welcome to Earth!” Bezos said as he opened the door and was hugged by Shatner.

“你好，宇航员。欢迎来到地球！”贝佐斯一边说，一边打开门，被夏特纳抱住。

The space tourism industry is quickly growing. Many passengers without government spaceflight training have been able to fly into space recently.

太空旅游业正在迅速发展。许多没有接受过政府航天训练的乘客最近已经能够飞入太空。

Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson went into space in his own rocket in July, followed by Bezos nine days later on Blue Origin’s first flight with a crew. Elon Musk’s company SpaceX made its first private flight last month, but without Musk as a passenger. Last week, Russia launched an actor and a film director to the International Space Station to film a movie.

维珍银河的理查德布兰森在 7 月乘坐他自己的火箭进入太空，九天后贝佐斯与机组人员一起进行了蓝色起源的首次飞行。埃隆马斯克的公司SpaceX上个月进行了首次私人飞行，但没有马斯克作为乘客。上周，俄罗斯派遣一名演员和一名电影导演前往国际空间站拍摄电影。

Also on the flight was Audrey Powers, Blue Origin vice president. There were two other passengers who paid: Chris Boshuizen, a former NASA engineer, and software businessman Glen de Vries. Blue Origin would not release the cost of their flights.

飞行中还有蓝色起源副总裁奥黛丽·鲍尔斯。还有另外两名乘客支付了费用：前 NASA 工程师 Chris Boshuizen 和软件商人 Glen de Vries。Blue Origin 不会公布他们的航班费用。

After the flight, Shatner told Bezos that he gave him “the most profound experience I can imagine.”

飞行结束后，沙特纳告诉贝索斯，他给了他“我能想象到的最深刻的体验”。

Through tears, the actor said, “I’m so filled with emotion about what just happened. It’s extraordinary. I hope I never recover from this. I hope that I can maintain what I feel now. I don’t want to lose it.”

这位演员流着泪说：“我对刚刚发生的事情充满了情感。这是非凡的。我希望我永远不会从这件事中恢复过来。我希望我能保持现在的感觉。我不想失去它。”