Next stop
——International Space Station

“It is such a big world waiting for me to explore.”

Miss Gu(Gu Shaoqiang)said in her resign letter which is hailed as the most sensational one in history.The letter made her famous overnight throughout China.There is a dream in many people`s heart.That is to travel around the world.How far have you gone by now? The North Pole? How high a mountain have you conquered?The Everest?

Now NASA（National Aeronautics and Space Administration）offers us a chance,also a challenge to go beyond the earth.That is the International Space Station（ISS）.

NASA plans to send passengers to the ISS as early as 2020.Of course,it is not cheap.According to the prediction,it’ll cost you $58 million which doesn’t include food,storage,and communication.During the 30-day trip in orbit,you will spend about$35,000 per night.

So you see,sometimes,money does make the call.Besides the huge amount of money,you still need some luck.A potential traveler has to past the medical testing and training.

Visitors will not make the trip in NASA spacecraft.Instead,the agency has made arrangements for private aerospace companies SpaceX and Boeing to carry passengers.

The program is part of NASA’s plan to open the space station to private enterprise.The station has become a burden for the U.S.government to keep up.The goal is to let private companies use the station now and someday run it on their own.This will allow NASA to focus time and money on sending astronauts to the moon in 2024.

“世界這么大，我想去看看。”

顧少?gòu)?qiáng)在她的辭職信里這樣寫(xiě)道。這封被稱(chēng)為史上最具情懷的辭職信讓顧老師一夜紅遍中國(guó)。在很多人的心里，都有一個(gè)夢(mèng)想，那就是：周游世界。你現(xiàn)在最遠(yuǎn)到過(guò)哪里？北極？爬過(guò)最高的山是哪一座山？珠穆朗瑪？

美國(guó)航空航天局給大家提供了新的機(jī)會(huì)，也是挑戰(zhàn)，那就是到遠(yuǎn)在地球之外的國(guó)際空間站旅游。

美國(guó)航空航天局計(jì)劃最快在2020 年把人類(lèi)送往國(guó)際空間站。當(dāng)然，這趟旅行不便宜。預(yù)計(jì)費(fèi)用是5800萬(wàn)美元，這還不包括食物、存儲(chǔ)和交流。30 天的太空旅行，每天大約花費(fèi)3 萬(wàn)5 千美元。

所以說(shuō)，有時(shí)候錢(qián)真的很重要。除了大筆的錢(qián)，你還得幸運(yùn)，得通過(guò)體檢和訓(xùn)練。

美國(guó)航空航天局并不為游客提供太空飛船。而是通過(guò)和私人航天企業(yè)（太空探索科技公司及波音公司）合作，由它們負(fù)責(zé)接送乘客。

這是美國(guó)航空航天局向私人企業(yè)開(kāi)放空間站計(jì)劃的一部分?？臻g站已經(jīng)讓美國(guó)政府難以負(fù)擔(dān)。近期計(jì)劃是讓私人公司使用空間站，最終目標(biāo)是讓它們接管。這樣，美國(guó)航空航天局可以集中時(shí)間和金錢(qián)讓宇航員在2024年再次登月。

Notes：

hail 認(rèn)為；稱(chēng)為

sensational 轟動(dòng)的；有情懷的

conquer征服；戰(zhàn)勝