NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams returned to Earth in one of Elon Musk's SpaceX capsules on Tuesday, splashing down off Florida nine months after what originally was to be a weeklong stay on the International Space Station.
美国国家航空航天局（NASA）宇航员布奇・威尔莫尔（Butch Wilmore）和苏尼・威廉姆斯（Suni Williams）于周二乘坐埃隆・马斯克（Elon Musk）旗下太空探索技术公司（SpaceX）的一个太空舱返回地球。他们原本计划在国际空间站停留一周，可实际上在太空待了九个月后，在佛罗里达州附近海域溅落。

The re-entry began when Wilmore and Williams strapped inside their Crew Dragon spacecraft along with two other astronauts and undocked from the ISS at 1.05 am ET Tuesday to embark on a 17-hour trip to Earth, bidding farewell to the station's seven other astronauts.
美国东部时间周二凌晨 1 点 05 分，威尔莫尔、威廉姆斯与另外两名宇航员一起系好安全带，进入 “龙” 飞船（Crew Dragon），并与国际空间站脱离对接，开启了为期 17 小时的返回地球之旅，同时向空间站的其他七名宇航员告别，由此开始了重返地球的行程。

The four-person crew, formally part of NASA's Crew-9 astronaut-rotation mission, re-entered Earth's atmosphere around 5:45 pm. ET. Using Earth's atmosphere and two sets of parachutes, the craft slowed its orbital speed of roughly 17,000 mph to 17 mph at splashdown off Tallahassee in the Gulf of America.
这四名宇航员是美国国家航空航天局（NASA）第 9 批宇航员轮换任务的正式成员，他们于美国东部时间下午 5 点 45 分左右重返地球大气层。利用地球大气层和两组降落伞，飞船在佛罗里达州塔拉哈西附近的美国海湾溅落时，将大约每小时 17000 英里的轨道速度降至每小时 17 英里。

Dolphins circled the capsule as divers readied it for hoisting onto the recovery ship, which delighted many on social media."DOLPHINS are hanging around the astronauts splashdown!" wrote Matt Pieper on X."
当潜水员准备将太空舱吊起运上回收船时，海豚在太空舱周围游动，这一景象让许多社交媒体用户感到欣喜。马特・派珀（Matt Pieper）在 X 平台（原推特）上写道：“海豚在宇航员溅落的地方游来游去！”

The Dolphins arrive right on schedule," posted Western Lensman.Within an hour, the astronauts were out of their capsule, waving and smiling at the cameras while being taken away in stretchers for routine medical checks.
“西部摄影师”（Western Lensman）发文称：“海豚准时抵达。” 不到一个小时，宇航员们就从太空舱中出来了，他们躺在担架上被抬走进行常规身体检查，同时对着镜头挥手微笑。

The two veteran NASA astronauts, who are both retired US Navy test pilots, had launched into space as Boeing Starliner's first crew in June for what was expected to be an eight-day test mission.
这两名美国国家航空航天局的资深宇航员都是退役的美国海军试飞员，他们于 6 月作为波音 “星际客机”（Starliner）的首批机组人员进入太空，原计划执行一项为期 8 天的测试任务。

But issues with Starliner's propulsion system led to continuous delays for their return home when NASA decided to have them take a SpaceX craft back this year as part of the agency's crew-rotation schedule.
但由于 “星际客机” 推进系统出现问题，他们的归期不断推迟，于是美国国家航空航天局决定让他们今年乘坐太空探索技术公司（SpaceX）的飞船返回，这也是该机构宇航员轮换计划的一部分。

The replacement crew's brand-new SpaceX capsule still wasn't ready to fly, so SpaceX replaced it with a used one, moving things along by at least a few weeks.
接替他们的机组人员所使用的全新 SpaceX 太空舱当时仍未准备好飞行，所以太空探索技术公司用一个用过的太空舱替代，这至少让任务进程提前了几周。

The mission took an unexpected turn in late January when President Donald Trump asked SpaceX founder Elon Musk to speed up the astronauts' return and blamed the delay on the Biden administration."
今年 1 月下旬，任务出现了意想不到的转折，唐纳德・特朗普总统要求太空探索技术公司创始人埃隆・马斯克加快宇航员的返回速度，并将延迟归咎于拜登政府。

Congratulations to the @SpaceX and @NASA teams for another safe astronaut return! Thank you to @POTUS for prioritizing this mission!"Musk wrote on X on Tuesday evening."PROMISE MADE, PROMISE KEPT: President Trump pledged to rescue the astronauts stranded in space for nine months.
“祝贺 @太空探索技术公司（SpaceX）和 @美国国家航空航天局（NASA）团队又一次安全地将宇航员送回地球！感谢 @美国总统重视这项任务！” 马斯克周二晚上在 X 平台上写道。“言出必行：特朗普总统曾承诺营救被困太空长达九个月的宇航员。

Today, they safely splashed down in the Gulf of America, thanks to @ElonMusk, @SpaceX, and @NASA,"the White House X account posted.Veteran reporter Geraldo Rivera wrote on X:"Musk brought the astronauts back.
今天，多亏了 @埃隆・马斯克（Elon Musk）、@太空探索技术公司（SpaceX）和 @美国国家航空航天局（NASA），他们安全地在美国海湾溅落。” 白宫的 X 账号发文称。资深记者杰拉尔多・里维拉（Geraldo Rivera）在 X 平台上写道：“马斯克把宇航员带回来了。

Boeing couldn't. NASA didn't. SpaceX rocks."
波音公司做不到。美国国家航空航天局也没做到。太空探索技术公司太厉害了。”

Wilmore, 62, and Williams, 59, ended up spending 286 days in space — 278 days longer than anticipated when they launched. They circled Earth 4,576 times and traveled 121 million miles (195 million kilometers) by the time of splashdown."On behalf of SpaceX, welcome home," radioed SpaceX Mission Control in California."
62 岁的威尔莫尔和 59 岁的威廉姆斯最终在太空度过了 286 天 —— 比他们发射时预计的时间长了 278 天。到溅落时，他们绕地球飞行了 4576 圈，飞行了 1.21 亿英里（1.95 亿公里）。“代表太空探索技术公司，欢迎回家。” 加利福尼亚的太空探索技术公司任务控制中心通过无线电说道。

"What a ride," replied Hague, the capsule's commander. "I see a capsule full of grins ear to ear."
“这一趟旅程可真不简单啊。” 太空舱指挥官黑格（Hague）回应道。“我看到太空舱里的人都笑得合不拢嘴。”

NASA hired SpaceX and Boeing after the shuttle program ended, in order to have two competing US companies for transporting astronauts to and from the space station until it's abandoned in 2030.
航天飞机项目结束后，美国国家航空航天局聘请了太空探索技术公司（SpaceX）和波音公司，目的是让这两家美国公司相互竞争，负责将宇航员往返运送到空间站，直到 2030 年空间站被废弃。

By then, the station will have been up there more than three decades; the plan is to replace it with privately run stations so NASA can focus on moon and Mars expeditions.
到那时，空间站将已经在太空中运行了三十多年；计划是用私人运营的空间站取代它，这样美国国家航空航天局就可以专注于月球和火星的探索任务。

The ISS, about 254 miles (409 km) in altitude, is a football field-sized research lab that has been housed continuously by international crews of astronauts for nearly 25 years, a key platform of science diplomacy managed primarily by the US and Russia.
国际空间站（ISS）海拔约 254 英里（409 公里），是一个足球场大小的研究实验室，近 25 年来一直有国际宇航员团队持续驻留，它是由美国和俄罗斯主要管理的科学外交关键平台。

Wilmore and Williams said that they didn't mind spending more time in space, but acknowledged it was tough on their families.
威尔莫尔和威廉姆斯表示，他们不介意在太空多待些时间，但也承认这对他们的家人来说很不容易。

Wilmore said he missed most of his younger daughter's senior year of high school; his older daughter is in college.
威尔莫尔说，他错过了小女儿高中最后一年的大部分时光；他的大女儿在上大学。

Williams had to settle for internet calls from space to her husband, mother and other relatives."
威廉姆斯只能通过从太空打网络电话与她的丈夫、母亲和其他亲属联系。

We have not been worried about her because she has been in good spirits,"said Falguni Pandya, who is married to Williams' cousin."She was definitely ready to come home."
“我们并不担心她，因为她精神状态一直很好。” 法尔古尼・潘迪亚（Falguni Pandya）说道，他是威廉姆斯表妹的丈夫。“她肯定已经迫不及待想回家了。”

重点词汇：

astronaut：[ˈæstrənɔːt] ，宇航员，航天员

spacecraft：[ˈspeɪskrɑːft] ，宇宙飞船，航天器

propulsion：[prəˈpʌlʃn] ，推进，推进力

expedition：[ˌekspəˈdɪʃn] ，探险，远征，考察