俄羅斯的火箭,剛發射就被雷劈了大綱

The first launch this year of a RoscosMos Soyuz 2-1b rocket from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia went off without a hitch. Yes, even despite a bolt of lightning that struck the booster as it made its ascent.

今年俄羅斯聯盟2-1b運載火箭從俄羅斯普列謝茨克航天發射基地的首次發射非常順利。的確非常順利，儘管它在升空過程中被一道閃電擊中了助推器。

At 06:23 UTC on Monday 27 May, the rocket lifted off to deliver a Glonass-M navigation satellite into orbit.

5月27日週一國際標準時間6時23分，該火箭升空將格洛納斯-M導航衛星送入軌道。

Just a few seconds later, lightning struck - as seen in a video posted to T-witter by Roscosmos director Dmitry Rogozin.

僅幾秒後，火箭就被閃電擊中，俄羅斯聯邦航天局局長Dmitry Rogozin在推特上發佈了這一事故的視頻。

"Lightning is not an obstacle to you," he said as he congratulated the flight team.

他對航天團隊表示祝賀時說：“閃電並不能阻礙你們。”

But it didn't even slow the rocket down. It continued on its 3.5-hour journey to low-Earth orbit, where it delivered its payload on schedule. The satellite, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense, was absolutely fine.

閃電甚至都沒有使火箭減速，火箭繼續飛往近地軌道的3.5小時行程，將按照預定時間與衛星分離。據俄羅斯國防部消息，衛星情況良好。

"A stable telemetric connection is established and maintained with the spacecraft," an update from the Ministry's communications department said. "The on-board systems of the Glonass-M spacecraft are functioning normally."

國防部通訊部最新消息稱：“已與航天器建立並保持穩定的遙測連接，格洛納斯-M航天器上的控制系統一切正常。”

As we have learnt from decades of air travel, a big metal object in the sky is not immune to lightning. Lightning strikes are relatively rare during rocket launches, as these events are usually scheduled for clear skies, but they're certainly not unheard of.

數十年的航空經驗告訴我們，空中的大型金屬物體不可避免地會遭受閃電襲擊。火箭發射過程中被閃電擊中相對少見，因爲發射時間通常會選在天氣晴朗時，但此前也不是沒有過類似情況。

The launch of the Apollo 12 mission aboard a Saturn V rocket on 14 November 1969 is a well-known example. The weather was cloudy, but not stormy; but, as the crewed mission launched, lightning unexpectedly struck the rocket not once, but twice.

於1969年11月14日發射的搭載阿波羅12號的土星5號火箭就是一個著名案例。當時多雲，並沒有風暴，但當載人航天器發射時閃電意外擊中了火箭，而且不止一次，是兩次。