國際空間站三名宇航員返航後發現地球變了

新冠肺炎疫情期間，國際空間站三名宇航員首次安全返航，但發現地球與他們離開時相比，已變成截然不同的世界。迎接他們的是戴着口罩和手套的工作人員，而且他們還被要求與他人保持安全距離。

Two NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut on Friday made a safe return from the International Space Station to find the planet transformed by the coronavirus pandemic.

美國國家航空航天局兩名宇航員和一名俄羅斯宇航員於4月17日從國際空間站安全返回，卻發現地球已經被新冠肺炎疫情改變。

Andrew Morgan, Jessica Meir and Oleg Skripochka touched down in central Kazakhstan at 0516 GMT in the first returning mission since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic in March.

安德魯·摩根、傑西卡·邁爾和奧列格·斯克裏波奇卡于格林尼治標準時間5時16分降落在哈薩克斯坦中部地區。這是自世界衛生組織3月宣佈新冠肺炎全球大流行以來的首次返回任務。

Morgan had been on the ISS since July last year, while Meir and Skripochka arrived in September.

摩根自去年7月以來一直在國際空間站工作，邁爾和斯克裏波奇卡於去年9月抵達。

"TOUCHDOWN! Welcome home, Oleg Skripochka, Andrew Morgan and Jessica Meir!" Russia's Roscosmos space agency wrote on Twitter.

俄羅斯國家航天公司4月17日在推特上寫道：“着陸！歡迎回家，奧列格·斯克裏波奇卡、安德魯·摩根和傑西卡·邁爾！”

Unusually, NASA and Roscosmos did not show live footage of the trio parachuting down in their Soyuz landing capsule.

與以往不同的是，美國國家航空航天局和俄羅斯國家航天公司沒有實況直播聯盟號返回艙打開降落傘的着陸過程。

parachute [ˈpærəʃuːt]：vi.跳傘

This was scrapped "due to technical limitations associated with the epidemiological situation," Roscosmos said.

俄羅斯國家航天公司說：“由於與流行病學情況相關的技術限制”，這一環節被取消。

Subsequent footage from the landing site showed recovery crews wearing face masks and rubber gloves as they hauled the crew members out of the Soyuz MS-15 capsule, which was lying on its side.

隨後播放的着陸地點拍攝的畫面顯示，地面接應人員戴着口罩和橡膠手套，把他們從已降落的聯盟號MS-15返回艙中拉出來。

"Please keep your distance," one ground crew member could be heard telling another.

從視頻中可以聽到，一名地面工作人員對另一人說：“請保持距離。”

While the trio's landing site southeast of the Kazakh town of Dzhezkazgan is the same as for previous crews, the pandemic has forced changes to mission-end protocol.

與之前的返回人員一樣，三人的着陸地點位於哈薩克斯坦城鎮傑茲卡茲甘東南部，但新冠肺炎疫情還是讓任務結束後的流程不得不作出調整。

The crew will not be flying back home via Kazakhstan's Karaganda airport as usual because it has been shut down, like so many other airports across the world.

三名宇航員無法使用卡拉幹達機場這個常規中轉站返回各自的國家，因爲該機場像全球許多其他機場一樣被關閉。

Instead, Skripochka will fly from the Baikonur cosmodrome used to launch missions to the ISS while the NASA duo will take off in a plane from the steppe city of Kyzlorda after a drive of several hours.

斯克裏波奇卡將從哈薩克斯坦的拜科努爾航天發射場飛回俄羅斯，這裏也是國際空間站的任務發射基地。而美國國家航空航天局的兩名宇航員將在驅車幾小時後，從草原城市克孜勒奧爾達搭乘飛機。

steppe[step]：n.大草原，[地理]乾草原

In a media appearance aboard the ISS prior to her departure, Meir said it would be difficult to forego embraces with family and friends as she gets to grips with a new culture of physical distancing on Earth.

邁爾在啓程離開前在國際空間站接受媒體採訪時說，返回地球后，她要努力適應保持身體距離的新文化，但不與親友擁抱太難了。

forego [fɔːˈɡəʊ]：vt.放棄

"I think I will feel more isolated on Earth than here," reflected Meir, who made history as one half of the first all-women spacewalk along with NASA colleague Christina Koch in October.

邁爾說：“我想我在地球上會比在這裏感到更孤獨。”她與美國國家航空航天局的同事克里斯蒂娜·科赫在去年10月份進行了首次全女性太空行走，創造了歷史。

The International Space Station -- a rare example of cooperation between Russia and the West -- has been orbiting Earth at about 28,000 kilometres per hour since 1998.

國際空間站是俄羅斯與西方合作的罕見例子，自1998年以來一直以每小時約2.8萬公里的速度繞地球運行。