关于冠词，求助，死活理解不了答案

alicejingli

原体
Unlike the short flights of the shuttle and earlier spacecraft, which carried sufficient power in fuel cells and batteries, a permanently orbiting space station will have to generate its own electricity.
A. the short flights of the shuttle and earlier spacecraft, which carried sufficient power in fuel cells and batteries,！
B. the shuttle and earlier spacecraft, with sufficient enough power in fuel cells and batteries for their short flights,
C. the short flights of the shuttle and earlier spacecraft, which enabled them to carry sufficient enough power in fuel cells and batteries,
D. the shuttle and earlier spacecraft, which were capable of carrying sufficient power in fuel cells and batteries for their short flights,
E. the flights of the shuttle and earlier spacecraft, whose shortness allowed them to carry sufficient power in fuel cells and batteries,

我的问题是Unlike the short flights of the shuttle and earlier spacecraft, which carried sufficient power in fuel cells and batteries ,a permanently orbiting space station will have to generate its own electricity.
D.正确是D the shuttle and earlier spacecraft, which were capable of carrying sufficient power in fuel cells and batteries for their short flights
但是the shuttle and earlier spacecraft这个不就很奇怪吗？就一个冠词的话应该是连接两个相同的是the a and b 位于就应该是单数的呀！那这个正确的为啥是复数were

alicejingli

自己顶

alicejingli

再顶

shkyxy

spacecraft本身就是复数形式，你可以查一下这个词