Launched in the year 1998 by a consortium of space agencies from the United States， Europe， and Japan， the International Space Station （ISS） was largely assembled in space， a remarkable feat in and of itself. Even more impressive is the fact that the station has been continuously upgraded over the decades since， allowing it to outlive every other space station program in history. The ISS is used for many kinds of experiments， which have in turn transformed our knowledge of astronomy and technology. It’s a testament to the incredible potential of human ingenuity， but that doesn’t mean it’s perfect.

国际空间站于1998年由美国、欧洲和日本的航天机构联合发射。它大部分是在太空装配的，这本身就是一项非凡的成就。更让人赞叹的是，国际空间站几十年来一直在不断升级，这让它成为有史以来运行时间最长的空间站项目。国际空间站用于开展各种各样的实验，这些实验反过来又刷新了我们对天文学和科技的认知。它证明了人类智慧拥有巨大的潜力，但这并不意味着它是完美无缺的。

Everything astronauts eat， and many of the items they use on a daily basis， are destined to become waste. With no landfills or recycling centers to handle all the mess， astronauts on the space station are left with essentially one option： ejecting their garbage into space. Yes， that’s really how they do it， at least for now， but NASA and the other agencies involved with the ISS are searching for new and better solutions.

宇航员的所有食物和许多日常用品都必然成为废弃物。由于没有垃圾填埋场或回收中心来处理所有的垃圾，空间站的宇航员基本上只有一种选择：把他们的垃圾扔进太空。是的，他们确实是这样做的，至少目前是这样。但美国国家航空航天局和国际空间站其他相关机构正在寻找新的优化方案。

A brief history of space trash

太空垃圾简史

During early NASA missions， such as Project Mercury， which put the first American astronaut in space in 1961， waste wasn’t really an issue because the flights were so short. Of the six Mercury missions， only one lasted longer than a day. During these flights， astronauts used bags to collect their waste， including urine and feces， which they could then dispose of upon their return to Earth.

在美国国家航空航天局早期的任务中——比如1961年将第一位美国宇航员送入太空的水星计划——垃圾并不是问题，因为飞行时间非常短。在六个水星计划任务中，只有一个任务持续时间超过一天。在这些飞行中，宇航员用袋子收集垃圾，包括尿液和排泄物，然后可以在返回地球时处理掉。

When Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the Moon， he also dropped off a bag of trash， which included old food wrappers and containers of urine and feces. Subsequent Moon missions took the same approach， and there are now almost 100 bags of trash just sitting on the Moon. Meanwhile， the space agency’s shift in focus from the Moon to the International Space Station prompted an even bigger challenge. The ISS is built to sustain a crew of seven， with as much space as a large house， and there isn’t a convenient place to just ‘drop off’ your garbage.

当尼尔·阿姆斯特朗成为第一个踏上月球的人时，他也扔下了一袋垃圾，其中包括旧的食品包装纸以及装尿液和排泄物的容器。