A close second in the giant rocket race is the former Soviet Union's N-1 rocket, an enormous booster designed to launch cosmonauts to the moon during the Space race with the United States.

巨型火箭竞赛中紧跟在第二的是前苏联的N - 1火箭，一个与美国太空竞赛期间旨在将宇航员送上月球的巨大的助推器。

youdao

NASA’s space shuttle fleet may seem puny compared to giant rockets of the past, but its 28-year flight history makes it a good measuring stick when it comes to booster match-ups.

与过去这些巨型的火箭相比，航天飞机可能看起来像个“小不点”，但其28年的飞行历史使它成为助推器调配很好的标杆。

youdao

The Ares I-X towers 327 feet (100 meters) above Launch Pad 39B, a launching site that until recently was used to fly space shuttles, and has been converted for the new booster.

屹立在39B发射台上的战神I-X火箭塔高327英尺（约100米），这个发射场此前一直被用于航天飞机发射，现在已被转用于新的助推器。

youdao

"Booster ignition and lift off for space shuttle Discovery, taking the space station to full power for full science,"

VOA: standard.2009.03.15

But Deep Space Industries Chairman Rick Tumlinson, a longtime booster of private space efforts, said the company sees itself as the 21st-century version of the "settlers and shopkeepers" who followed the Lewis and Clark expedition into the American West.

CNN: 'Fireflies' to scope out space rocks for mining

Once in flight, the plane will disengage from its capsule and return to the ground, while the capsule launches multistage booster rockets to propel it into space orbit or to the International Space Station.

BBC: The futurist: The world��s largest plane

NASA's next-generation rocket, a behemoth of a booster expected to launch astronauts deeper into space than ever before, has passed a major design milestone, space agency officials announced Wednesday.

MSN: Giant deep-space rocket passes key test - Technology & science - Space - Space.com | NBC News