周四前往国际空间站的一艘俄罗斯飞船在火箭发动机点火失败的情况下不得不紧急着陆。
It was the latest in a recent series of failures for the Russian space program, which is also used by the U.S. to carry its astronauts to the station.
这是俄罗斯太空计划最近发生的一系列失败中的最新一次。美国也利用俄罗斯太空计划将宇航员运往国际空间站。
United States astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin landed safely about 20 kilometers from Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan. The city is about 450 kilometers from the Russia's Baikonur space center, which Russia operates through an agreement with the Republic of Kazakhstan.
美国宇航员尼克·黑格（Nick Hague）和俄罗斯宇航员阿列克谢·奥夫奇宁（Alexei Ovchinin）安全着陆在哈萨克斯坦的杰兹卡兹甘。该市距离俄罗斯同哈萨克斯坦共和国签订协议运营的拜科努尔航天中心约450公里。
Both the U.S. space agency NASA and Russia's Roscosmos reported that the two were quickly recovered from the landing area by rescue crews.
美国宇航局和俄罗斯联邦航天局都报告称，两人很快被救援人员从着陆区救了出来。
A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said, "Thank God the crew is alive" after they had landed safely.
俄罗斯总统普京的一位发言人在他们安全着陆后表示：“感谢上帝，人没事。”
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, who watched the launch at Baikonur tweeted that Hague and Ovchinin are in good condition. He added that a "thorough investigation into the cause of the incident will be conducted."
在拜科努尔航天中心观看这次发射的美国宇航局局长吉姆·布莱登斯坦（Jim Bridenstine）发推表示，黑格和奥夫奇宁健康状况良好。他补充说，“将会对事故原因进行彻底调查。”
What happened?
发生了什么？
About two minutes after launching, the three-stage Soyuz booster rocket suffered an unspecified failure of its second stage.
在发射两分钟后，三级型的联盟号助推火箭在第二阶段遭遇了原因不明的失败。
Russia's TASS news agency said the capsule carrying the two men separated from the troubled rocket safely. This caused the capsule to drop very sharply into the Earth's atmosphere. Parachutes helped slow the returning capsule. Search and rescue teams were sent to recover the crew.
俄罗斯塔斯社称，携带这两位宇航员的太空舱同故障火箭安全分离。这导致该太空舱急剧落入地球大气层中。降落伞帮助返回地球的太空舱减速。救援队被派去救回宇航员。
Russia's RIA news agency reported that Russia has immediately suspended all manned space launches after the failure.
俄罗斯俄新社报道称，俄罗斯在这次失败后立即暂停了所有载人航天发射。
Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin said he had ordered a state commission to carry out an investigation into what went wrong. He said Russia will share all relevant information with the U.S.
俄罗斯联邦航天局局长德米特里·罗戈津（Dmitry Rogozin）已经下令一家国家委员会对出现的问题进行调查。他说俄罗斯将与美国共享所有相关信息。
The Russian space program has suffered several failures in recent years.
俄罗斯太空计划最近几年遭遇了数次失败。
In August, the crew found a hole in a Russian Soyuz capsule docked to the orbiting space station. The hole caused a brief loss of air pressure before being fixed. The Russian space agency also sent 70 rocket engines back to production lines in 2016 to replace broken parts.
今年8月，宇航员在对接国际空间站的俄罗斯联盟号飞船上发现了一个洞。在这个洞被堵住之前，曾导致舱内气压短暂泄露。俄罗斯联邦航天局还在2016年将70台火箭发动机送回生产线以更换损坏的部件。
However, Thursday's incident was the first manned launch failure since 1983 when a Soyuz rocket exploded in the launch area. The cosmonauts safely escaped in that accident as well.
然而，周四的事故是1983年联盟号火箭在发射区爆炸以来，发生的第一次载入发射失败。在那次事故中，宇航员也安全逃脱。
International Space Station not threatened
国际空间站没有受到威胁
The two astronauts were to arrive at the International Space Station (ISS) six hours after the launch to join an American, a Russian and a German currently aboard the station.
两名宇航员原本将在发射6小时后抵达国际空间站，加入国际空间站现有的一位美国人、一位俄罗斯人和一位德国人的行列。
The TASS news agency said that the ISS crew has enough supplies and that the failed launch will not affect operations.
俄罗斯塔斯社表示，国际空间站上的宇航员拥有足够的供应，发射失败不会影响到国际空间站运作。
Relations between the U.S. and Russia have been very tense in recent years. Russian activities in Ukraine, charges of interfering in the U.S. presidential election of 2016 and the conflict in Syria are some of the main issues. However, the two sides have continued their cooperation in space.
近年来美俄之间的关系非常紧张。俄罗斯在乌克兰的活动、干涉2016年美国大选的指控和叙利亚冲突是其中一些主要问题。但是双方延续了他们的太空合作。
The U.S. and other nations have depended on Russia to carry astronauts to the ISS since the retirement of the Space Shuttle program in 2011.
自2011年航天飞机计划退出以来，美国和其它国家都依赖俄罗斯将宇航员送往国际空间站。
In coming years, American aerospace companies SpaceX, with its Dragon 2, and Boeing, with its Starliner, are expected to return to space.
未来几年，美国SpaceX航天公司的Dragon 2和波音公司的Starliner有望重返太空。
I'm Mario Ritter.
我是马里奥·里特。(51VOA.COM原创翻译，禁止转载，违者必究！)