China plans to launch its first space laboratory module later today in a step toward a manned station orbiting Earth, two months after the final shuttle mission halted the U.S.’s ability to put people into orbit.

　　中国计划将于今天晚些时候发射其首个空间实验室，这意味着它向环地球轨道载人空间站又迈进了一步。而这距美国刚刚终止的最后一次轨道载人航空任务仅两个月。

　　The Tiangong-1 is due to take off around 9 p.m. local time tonight, according to China’s space agency. The liftoff is part of a program that aims to put a man on the moon by 2020 and, together with high-speed trains, the Beijing Olympics and the world’s biggest nuclear-power expansion, serves as a marker for the nation’s emergence as a global power.

　　根据中国的空间计划表，天宫一号将于当地时间今晚9点左右发射，这次发射行动只是2020年登月计划的一个组成部分，加上高铁、北京奥运会以及世界最大的核动力扩张，都无不标志着中国作为世界强国的崛起。

　　“China sees space as one of the things that will confirm ‘we’re now on a par with Western countries, we’ve entered the club,’” said James Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for International and Strategic Studies in Washington who specializes in technology and security. “It’s prestige, it’s catching up with the West and it’s exploring ways to overcome the U.S. information advantage.”

　　“中国认为其太空事业的进步已经使他们与西方国家站到了同一个水平线，他们已经进入了这个圈子”，华盛顿国际战略研究中心的一位专于技术和安全问题的高级官员詹姆斯？路易斯说。 “这是令人佩服的，中国正在追赶西方并在超越美国信息优势方面不断探索着”。

　　Today’s launch will cement the country’s lead over emerging nations such as India, Iran and South Korea that are pumping money into matching rocket and docking technology pioneered by the Soviet Union and U.S. five decades ago. As China expands, the U.S. is scaling back on routine manned missions: President Barack Obama last year scrapped plans to return to the moon, setting a goal instead of making a “leap into the future” of deep-space travel.

　　今天的发射行动将加强中国对几个新兴国家诸如印度、伊朗、韩国的引领地位，这些国家都正在不断地为火箭竞赛及对接技术进行资金投入，而苏联和美国早在50年前就已经在这方面取得了领先地位。相比中国的发展，美国正在缩减常规的载人航天任务：去年奥巴马总统在就放弃了重返月球的计划，制定了取代所谓“迈向未来”的深空旅行的新目标。

　　The U.S. move away from “chokingly expensive” manned flight is a more sustainable model, said Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. Still, with the shuttle grounded, the U.S. is reliant on Russia to fly astronauts to the International Space Station until commercial operators can fill the gap.

　　罗德岛纽波特美国海军战争学院的教授琼？约翰逊-弗里泽认为美国放弃昂贵的载人飞行是个非常有助于可持续发展的范例。然而由于航天飞机的停飞，在有商业公司填补空白之前美国只能依赖俄国运送航天员到国际空间站了。

　　Lost Leadership

　　“It would not be good for China to move forward in the 2020’s with a manned lunar program and eventually be ferrying individuals to and from the lunar surface with the U.S. program grounded,” she said in a e-mailed response to questions. “Ceding human spaceflight to the Chinese over the long term would have significant strategic leadership implications.”