埃隆·馬斯克旗下的太空探索技術(shù)公司（SpaceX）在去年2月就宣布，會(huì)在2018年下半年安排兩位付費(fèi)游客進(jìn)行繞月旅行并返回。然而，計(jì)劃有變。

據(jù)《華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)》（Wall Street Journal）報(bào)道，該飛行計(jì)劃要至少延遲到2019年年中，而太空探索技術(shù)公司沒有給出具體時(shí)間，只是堅(jiān)持說繞月旅行必將實(shí)現(xiàn)。

這無非是在確認(rèn)我們多少已知曉的事。當(dāng)初的旅行計(jì)劃是用太空探索技術(shù)公司的獵鷹重型運(yùn)載火箭（Falcon Heavy rocket）來承載，但馬斯克幾個(gè)月前說會(huì)改用他們的“大塊頭獵鷹火箭”（BFR）。

BFR火箭還在研發(fā)中，這可以解釋這次繞月計(jì)劃的推遲。馬斯克今年3月說BFR火箭將在2019年3月正式亮相。BFR火箭將主要用于火星探險(xiǎn)和超高速的太空遠(yuǎn)距離旅行。

《華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)》的文章也提到，太空探索技術(shù)公司對(duì)獵鷹重型運(yùn)載火箭的取舍存在不確定性。太空探索技術(shù)公司自己也透露，因大型衛(wèi)星發(fā)射合同的減少，明年重型運(yùn)載火箭的發(fā)射次數(shù)會(huì)巨幅減少，而該公司更小型的已接受實(shí)踐檢驗(yàn)的獵鷹9號(hào)火箭，則可以輕松地將小型衛(wèi)星送入預(yù)定軌道。

太空探索技術(shù)公司最近一次也即今年的第11次衛(wèi)星發(fā)射，于6月4日在卡納維拉爾角完成，同樣也是使用獵鷹9號(hào)火箭。客戶是衛(wèi)星運(yùn)營商環(huán)球衛(wèi)星公司（SES）, 所發(fā)射的衛(wèi)星用于給中東和亞太地區(qū)的用戶提供電視和數(shù)據(jù)服務(wù)。（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

作者：David Meyer

譯者：宣峰

Elon Musk’s SpaceX announced back in February last year that, in late 2018, it would fly two paying space tourists around the Moon and back to Earth. However, those plans have changed.

As reported Monday by the Wall Street Journal, the flight is now postponed until at least mid-2019—SpaceX won’t say yet when it will take place, though it insists it will happen.

This is actually confirmation of something we already more-or-less knew. The original plan was for SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket to power the mission, but Musk said a few months ago that the company would probably use its “Big F—ing Rocket” (BFR) instead.

The BFR is still under development, so that would explain the delay. Musk said in March that it may debut in March 2019. The BFR is the rocket that SpaceX wants to use to get to Mars, and to make extremely quick Earth-to-Earth journeys.

However, the WSJ piece also notes that SpaceX is facing uncertain demand for Falcon Heavy, and that the company itself is projecting a significant drop in launches next year due to fewer contracts for large satellite launches—smaller satellites can be happily sent into orbit using SpaceX’s smaller, more proven Falcon 9 rocket.

SpaceX’s latest satellite launch—its 11th mission this year, again using a Falcon 9—took place at Cape Canaveral in June 4th. The client there was the satellite operator SES, with the payload being set to deliver TV and data services to customers in the Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions.