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NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir just made history as participants in the first-ever all-female spacewalk.
近日，美国国家航空航天局(NASA)宇航员克里斯蒂娜·科赫和杰西卡·梅尔以史上首次全女性太空行走任务执行者的身份创造了历史。
And it’s been a long time coming.
盼望着，盼望着，这一天终于来了。
Now you may recall that this historic event was originally scheduled for earlier this year,
大家可能还记得，这一历史盛事原本今年早些时候就要举行的，
with NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Christina Koch.
原计划的人员其实是安妮·麦克莱恩和克里斯蒂娜·科赫。
Yet plans got derailed when a last minute size adjustment required a suit change.
然而，就在最后关头宇航员们调整尺寸发现需要更换服装，计划被迫中止。
The spacesuits—otherwise known as Extravehicular Mobility Units—are actually made of component parts:
原来，航天服——又名“舱外机动套装”——实际上是由多个组件组合而成的：
three hard upper torso sizes, four leg sizes, seven lower arm sizes, two waist sizes, and two boot sizes.
3个硬质上身躯干尺码，4个四肢尺码，7个小臂尺码，两个腰部尺码，2个靴子尺码，
With the variety of customizations, they can take up to 12 hours to assemble.
由于定制的多样性，有时，组装一套航天服需要长达12小时的时间。
Of the six hard upper torsos on the ISS, one medium and one large were ready for the March 29 spacewalk.
国际空间站6个可选硬质上身躯干尺码中，有一个中号，一个大号可供3月29日的太空行走任务使用。
However, it was decided that a medium upper torso actually fit McClain better,
然而，宇航员们发现，麦克莱恩穿中号的上身躯干组件更合适，
after she’d used one during a previous spacewalk.
鉴于她之前已经穿过一次执行太空行走任务了。
And since spacewalking is one of the most dangerous tasks that an astronaut has to complete,
再加上，太空行走是宇航员必须完成的最为危险的任务之一，
having a suit that fits is critical.
穿合身的宇航服极其重要。
That’s because spacesuits are like mini spacecraft,
这是因为宇航服就好比一个小型宇宙飞船，
providing life support, battery power, communications systems, and radiation protection.
既要保障宇航员的生命活动，还要保障宇航员的用电，通讯以及为宇航员提供辐射防护。
So with only one medium suit prepped for the walk,
所以，在为此次行走只准备一套中号宇航服的情况下，
NASA was forced to switch McClain with fellow astronaut Nick Hague,
NASA不得不让同行的宇航员尼克·海牙跟麦克莱恩互换，
who more comfortably fit the large suit.
因为尼克穿那个大号的宇航服更合身。
The decision caused an uproar, as many believed that NASA didn’t have enough sizes available for their female astronauts,
这一决定掀起了轩然大波，许多人都以为NASA是没有为女宇航员准备足够型号的宇航服，
but the reality is there was another medium suit on board.
然而，事实是，当时还有一套中号的宇航服。
Assembling it, however, would have meant missing their mission window.
只不过，组装那套衣服将意味着他们要错过执行任务的窗口期。
But this time, the two medium suits were prepped and ready to go, so Koch and Meir were able to make history.
好在，这一次，他们准备了两套中号宇航服，科赫和梅尔才有了创造历史的机会。
And this spacewalk couldn’t have come at a better time.
而且，这次太空行走的时机也是再好不过了。
NASA is in the process of replacing its original 48 nickel-hydrogen batteries
NASA准备将空间站原来的48节镍氢电池
with 24 lithium-ion power packs, which will better serve the power supply onboard the ISS.
换成24节锂离子电池，后者能够更好地为空间站续航。
Most critically, following the spacewalk on October 11th, 2019,
最重要的是，在2019年10月11日的太空行走之后，
a battery power system known as the Battery Charge/Discharge Unit had failed to connect to the newly installed lithium batteries.
一个名为“电池充/放电单元”（BCDU）的电池供电系统跟新安装的锂电池失去了连接。
The BCDU’s regulate the amount of charge put into the batteries connected to the station’s solar arrays,
该BCDU单元规定了与空间站太阳能电池板阵列相连的电池的充电量，
providing an additional power source when the station is in Earth’s shadow.
能够在空间站处于地球阴影内时充当空间站的一个额外电源。
While this activation failure didn’t endanger the welfare of the ISS crew,
尽管这次激活失败并没有危及空间站宇航员的健康幸福，
experiments or day-to-day operations, the station was still experiencing a loss of additional power.
危及他们的实验或日常操作，空间站还是失去了一个额外的电源。
So Koch and Meir’s mission was to replace the defective unit with one of the three spares onboard the ISS.
所以，科赫和梅尔的任务就是用空间站三个备件中的一个换掉那个已经有缺陷的部件。
This was Koch’s fourth walk and Meir’s first,
这次行走是科赫的第四次，梅尔的首次太空行走，
and in the 54 years since the first spacewalk took place, only a small amount of participants have been women.
在人类开创太空行走历史以来的54年里，在执行这一任务的宇航员中，只有一小部分是女性。
But those numbers may soon go up.
不过，这一数字或许很快就会开始上升。
Both Koch and Meir’s 2013 astronaut class was 50% female,
科赫和梅尔参加的2013届宇航员班有一半学员都是女性，
and 12 out of 38 of NASA’s active astronauts are women.
此外，宇航局38名现役宇航员中有12名都是女性。
And that’s not the only historic aspect here, either.
这次行走之所以是一大历史盛事也不止这一个原因。
When Koch returns to Earth next February, she will have spent 328 days in space,
明年2月科赫返回地球时，就意味着她完成了328天的太空之旅，
breaking the record for longest spaceflight for a female astronaut of any nationality.
意味着她打破了所有国家女宇航员创下的最长太空飞行记录。
"What we’re doing now shows all of the work that went in for the decades prior,
“我们这次任务凝聚了过去几十年我们投入的所有心血，
all of the women that worked to get us where we are today."
也凝聚了帮助我们走到今天的所有女性的心血。”
For more space videos, check out our Countdown to Launch playlist
想了解更多有关太空探索的视频，请查看我们的“发射倒计时”播放列表
where we cover rockets, their payloads, and more, like the Psyche mission, where NASA is sending an orbiter to explore a metal asteroid.
我们在那个系列的视频里科普了有关火箭，火箭的有效载荷等内容，比如NASA发射人造卫星探测金属小行星的Psyche任务。
Make sure to subscribe to Seeker and thanks for watching.
记得订阅噢，感谢大家的收看。
