Business: English Skills
ビジネスチャンスを活かす英語力UPのために
11月のB項を担当致します、佐藤です。
今回は13年ぶりの宇宙飛行士募集の記事をピックアップし、解説いたします。
Japan will recruit a group of potential astronauts in 2021 with an eye on sending them to outer space as part of a U.S.-led lunar exploration project, the first time the nation has conducted an intake since 2008, the science minister said Friday.
Minister Koichi Hagiuda said in a news conference the government will ask for applications around next fall, with Tokyo aiming to have a Japanese national on the moon for the first time in the latter half of the 2020s.
Although Japan has recruited talent in the field approximately every decade or so since 1983, the education, culture, sports, science and technology minister said, “We will solicit applications around every five years from now on to maintain a group of astronauts (in readiness).”
As part of the Artemis program, the United States is aiming to send humans to the moon by 2024 for the first time since the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s 1972 Apollo 17 mission.
In July, Tokyo and Washington agreed to cooperate on lunar exploration, led by NASA. The two countries aim to Japanese crew with opportunities on the Gateway, a small spaceship that will orbit the moon, and to journey to the lunar surface.
Earlier this month, Japan also joined a U.S.-led international agreement, called the Artemis Accords, which seeks to establish a set of principles for space exploration, including lunar resource extraction.
Currently, seven Japanese astronauts are part of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.
When the agency last conducted an astronaut search in 2008, a record 963 people applied for the job. Kimiya Yui, 50, and Takuya Onishi, 44, were selected in February 2009 and Norishige Kanai, 43, was picked in September that year.
The three men have already traveled to outer space.
In the near future, veteran astronaut Soichi Noguchi, 55, is scheduled to fly to the International Space Station aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft developed by U.S. aerospace manufacturer SpaceX.
The launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which will carry Noguchi and three American astronauts to the ISS, has been postponed from Oct. 31 to “no sooner than early-to-mid November” due to additional checks on the rocket, according to NASA.
語彙．
minister: 大臣
solicit: 誘う、懇請する
in readiness: 準備中
Artemis program: アルテミス計画（2024年までに「最初の女性と次の男性」を月面に着陸させることを目標としている米国が出資する有人宇宙飛行（月面着陸）計画）
National Aeronautics and Space Administration: 米国航空宇宙局（NASA）
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency: 宇宙航空研究開発機構（JAXA）
表現１．
Japan will recruit a group of potential astronauts in 2021 with an eye on sending them to outer space as part of a U.S.-led lunar exploration project
日本国は、米国主導の月面探査事業の一部である宇宙空間での活動を念頭に置いて、2021年に宇宙飛行士候補生を募集する。
with an eye on: を念頭に置いて
体の部位を使ったイディオム（慣用句）は日本語同様多々あります。口語的に使うものもあれば、このように文語的にも使うものもありますので、出くわしたらどんどん覚えて使っていきましょう！
U.S.-led:米国主導の
先々月に引き続き連結語です。文中に出てくる、”lead:導く”の過去分詞形”led”に気づければ、自然と理解できる表現かと思います。
表現２．
latter half:後半
“former half:前半”と対で覚えましょう。”former, latter” でそれぞれ”前者、後者”となり、二者対比の時によく使われる表現です。