A Chinese podcast · Same story, 4 levels
星舰第一次进入轨道：放出二十六颗星链卫星，飞了三小时就提前返回
Starship Reaches Orbit for the First Time, Deploys 26 Starlink Satellites — Then Comes Home Early
About this story
On its 14th test flight on Sept. 28, 2026, SpaceX's Starship finally reached orbit despite losing an engine on the way up, and released 26 working Starlink satellites. SpaceX then cut the planned ten-hour mission to about three, splashing down north of Hawaii without saying why. What orbit means for reuse, NASA's moon plans and SpaceX's new shareholders. Chinese listening practice at four levels. HSK 1 Chinese listening practice.
This is an HSK 1 Chinese listening episode that runs about 2 minutes. The full Mandarin script is shown with tap-for-pinyin and a line-by-line English translation, so you can listen and read at once — comprehensible input in the sense of Stephen Krashen's i+1 theory. It teaches 12 key vocabulary words such as 飞机、喜欢、工作 and walks through 3 grammar patterns, each explained in English with examples. The same news story is retold at 4 difficulty levels — use the level selector above to find the version that is challenging but still understandable for you.
Read at your level
原文Read the complete story in Chinese. Reveal pinyin and English only when you need them.
English transcript reference
Do you like planes?
I like planes a lot.
But today, we're not talking about planes.
We're talking about a very, very big rocket.
This rocket is called Starship.
Starship was made by an American company.
Starship is very, very big.
On September 28, Starship flew.
Starship has flown many times.
Those times, Starship went up and came down very quickly.
This time, Starship went up and didn't come down.
Starship flew around the Earth.
This was the first time Starship flew around the Earth.
Starship has six engines.
When Starship was going up, one engine stopped working.
Lots of people wondered: can Starship make it up?
But five engines were all working.
Starship made it up, and flew around the Earth.
There were twenty-six satellites inside Starship.
All twenty-six satellites inside Starship went out into space.
The company wanted Starship to fly around the Earth for ten hours.
But the company said: Starship, come back.
Starship flew for three hours, came back, and came down in the ocean.
Everyone at the company was very happy.
People at the company said: Starship flew around the Earth for the first time, great!
The company thinks: one day, people could ride Starship to the moon.
Would you like to ride Starship and look at the Earth from space?
Listen again
Try it without the transcript and notice what sounds clearer.
What vocabulary does this episode teach?
词汇HSK 1. 你喜欢飞机吗？
HSK 1. 我很喜欢飞机.
HSK 1. 一个发动机不工作了.
HSK 1. 公司的人都很高兴.
HSK 1. 人可以坐星舰去月亮.
HSK 1. 去天上看地球.
火 (fire) + 箭 (arrow).
地 (ground) + 球 (ball).
星舰绕地球飞.
星舰有六个发动机.
星舰里有二十六个卫星.
去月亮 = go to the moon.
* beyond level超纲词
What grammar patterns appear in this episode?
语法这是……第一次 + verb
This is the first time… did…
这是星舰第一次绕地球飞。
能不能 + verb？
Can it or can't it…? — a worried question.
很多人想：星舰能不能飞上去？
verb + 上去 / 下来
Direction words: going up, coming down.
这一次，星舰飞上去，没有下来。
Proper Nouns
专有名词Free account
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