名词解释:神舟八号飞船,是一艘无人飞船,是中国“神舟”系列飞船的第八艘飞船,飞船为三舱结构,由轨道舱、返回舱和推进舱组成。本次飞行无人驾驶。神舟八号为改进型飞船,全长9米,最大直径2.8米,起飞质量8082公斤。神舟八号飞船进行了较大的技术改进,它发射升空后,与天宫一号对接,成为一座小型空间站。你知道怎么用英语表达吗?
China will invite foreign officials and experts to observe the launch of the Shenzhou-8 spacecraft at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the northwest Gobi desert, a spokeswoman for China's manned space program said Sunday.
Shenzhou-8 is expected to perform China's first-ever space rendezvous and docking when it joins up with Tiangong-1, or Heavenly Palace-1, a space lab module sent into space in late September.
The docking technologies are believed to be crucial for China's ambition to build a permanent manned space station around 2020.
周日,我国载人航空工程发言人称,我国将邀请外国官员和专家到位于西北戈壁的酒泉卫星发射中心观看神8飞船的发射。神州8号有望执行我国首次空间交会对接任务,与九月下旬送入太空的空间实验模块——天宫一号联结。对接技术对我国在2020年左右建立永久载人空间站计划至关重要。
【讲解】文中的Shenzhou-8 spacecraft 即指神州八号飞船,spacecraft指宇宙飞船,神州八号飞船为无人飞船(unmanned spacecraft)。文中的rendezvous and docking是指交会对接,rendezvous是指交会,汇合,docking是指对接,动词形式为dock。此次将发射的神州八号飞船是要与之前发射的空间实验模块space lab module——天宫一号(Tiangong-1, or Heavenly Palace-1)交会对接。