Looking out the window, you will see the best sights of the trip. Because there is no up or down in space, earth may loom either above or below you, but in any case you'll see the blue of the oceans covered with swirls and patches or white clouds. You might even see the brown-green fabric of a continent or two. And, if the sun goes behind the earth, therewill be a billion clear, bright, non-flickering (because there is no distorting atmosphere inspace) stars.
望著窗外,你會看到此行最美麗的景致。外層空間中沒有上下之分,因此地球可能在你上方,也可能在你下方,但不管怎樣,你都會看到白云繚繞的藍色海洋。你甚至還可能看到棕綠交織的一兩塊大陸。要是太陽轉到地球另一邊,就會出現千千萬萬顆清澈明亮,但并不閃爍的星星(因為外層空間中沒有會引起失真的大氣層)。
You will realize that the ship is entering the earth's outer atmosphere when, once again, you feel an invisible force pushing you back into your seat. You will still be seated as if the craft were horizontal and, in fact, it will descend in just that way. As the shuttle passes through much of the outer atmosphere, the bottom of the craft, covered with special tiles will glow red from the air friction. Then the rapid descent begins. The shuttle slows to five times the speed of sound (3,750mph).
當你再次感覺到有一股看不見的力量把你推回到座位上時,你就會意識到飛機正在進入地球的外層大氣層。你仍舊坐在座位上,好像飛機是在水平飛行,事實上,飛機恰恰是要水平下降。當飛機穿過大部分外層大氣層的時候,由特種絕熱瓦片覆蓋的飛機底部會由于空氣摩擦而發出紅光。接著就開始了迅速的降落。飛機把速度降到聲速的五倍(每小時3,750英里)。
Meanwhile, the sky turns lighter and layers of clouds pass you like cars on a highway. Minutes later, still sitting upright, you will see the gray runway in the distance. Then the shuttle slows to 300 mph and drops its landing gear. Finally, with its nose up slightly like the Concorde SST and at a speed of about 225 mph, the shuttle will land on the asphalt runway and slowly come to a halt. The trip into space will be over.
與此同時,天色變淡,云層就像公路上行駛的汽車那樣,從你身旁飄過。幾分鐘之后,仍然垂直坐著的你會看見遠處灰色的跑道。隨后飛機減速至每小時300英里,并放下起落架。最后,飛機機頭略略上抬,就像協和式超音速運輸機那樣,以每小時大約225英里的速度降落在瀝青跑道上,緩緩停下。太空之行就此結束。