China launched its second space laboratory, the Tiangong II, on Thursday night, which space officials said will become the country's largest scientific platform in space.
星期四晚，中国发射了第二个空间实验室——天宫二号。航天官员表示这将成为我国最大的太空科学实验室。
The space lab, the nation's first spacecraft with a modular design, was lifted off atop a Long March 2F carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China's Gobi Desert at 10:04 pm. The lab will undergo preparations in space for about one month before the Shenzhou XI manned spacecraft, in a flight scheduled for mid-October, will take two astronauts to the lab to enter it. The astronauts will stay inside the lab for 30 days. The lab will be monitored and controlled mainly by the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center.
北京时间22：04，在位于中国西北戈壁滩的酒泉卫星发射中心，该空间实验室由长征二号FT2火箭发射，它也是我国第一个采用模块化设计的宇宙飞船。此外，神舟十一号载人宇宙飞船计划于十月中旬搭乘两名宇航员进入该实验室。但在此之前，该实验室将在太空进行维持约一个月的准备工作。随后，宇航员们将驻留三十天。而天宫二号主要由北京航天指挥中心监测和控制。
Its predecessor, Tiangong I, was launched in September 2011 and was mainly used to test technologies involved in space rendezvous and docking. By comparison, the Tiangong II will conduct more than 40 scientific and technological experiments together with the Shenzhou XI. That is many more than those carried out by the Tiangong I and three previous Shenzhou spacecraft, according to Wu Ping, deputy director of the China Manned Space Agency. "Strictly speaking, Tiangong II is China's first genuine space laboratory. We aim to take advantage of the lab's strong capability, the microgravity and radiation in space as well as the astronauts' long stay to conduct scientific experiments and technological tests in many fields," she said.
在2011年九月成功发射的天宫一号，身为天宫二号的“大哥”，它主要被用于测试各项技术，其中包括空间交互对接技术。相比之下，天宫二号将与神舟十一号一起进行超过40项的科技实验。中国载人航天工程办公室副主任武平表示，这比天宫一号以及三个更早的神舟系列宇宙飞船所做的更多。她还表示：“严格上来说，天宫二号是我国第一个真正意义上的太空实验室。我们的目的是充分利用这个实验室的强大作用，太空的微重力和辐射，以及宇航员长时间地作业来进行众多领域的科学实验和技术测试。”
Zhu Zongpeng, chief designer of Tiangong II at the China Academy of Space Technology, said microgravity, strong radiation and extreme temperatures in space can facilitate research on life science, physics and cutting-edge technologies, so Chinese scientists will make full use of the Tiangong II mission to do experiments that are not possible on Earth.
中国航天科技集团公司天宫二号总设计师朱枞鹏说：“太空中微重力、强辐射和极端的温度可促进生命科学、物理和尖端科技的研究，所以我国科学家将充分利用天宫二号任务去做在地球上无法做到的实验。”
Liao Jianlin, a senior engineer at the academy who took part in Tiangong II's development, said that Tiangong II has devices to test in-orbit repair technologies for China's future manned space station, which is planned to be built around 2022. Moreover, each system on the space lab uses a modular design, which means they can be rapidly changed or repaired in case of malfunction, he said. This is the first time that a Chinese spacecraft has adopted modular design, Liao added.
同时，该集团中的高级工程师——廖建林也参与了天宫二号的研发，他表示天宫二号装有测试在轨维修技术的装置，该装置将为我国计划约2022年建成的载人空间站起到作用。此外，在太空实验室上的每个系统都使用了模块化设计，这意味着当它出现故障时可以迅速更换和维修。廖建林说：“这是中国宇宙飞船第一次采用模块化设计。”
The country is expected to have the only space station after the International Space Station is retired in 2024.
由此可见，在2024年国际空间站停用后，中国有望成为唯一的空间站拥有者。
