手机APP下载

您现在的位置: 首页 > 在线广播 > 科学美国人 > 科学美国人太空系列 > 正文

为什么两艘月球飞船比一艘好

来源:可可英语 编辑:aimee   可可英语APP下载 |  可可官方微信:ikekenet
  


扫描二维码进行跟读打分训练
NK[HtRA|qumVB

V1_@dpkw;Jkr9Dnbo&

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Christine Herman.
(CLIP: "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.")
July 20 marks 50 years since human beings first landed on the moon. That momentous day in 1969 made astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin household names. But years before that, a lesser-known figure was on a mission to make that first moon landing possible.
His name was John Houbolt. The son of Dutch immigrants, Houbolt grew up on a farm in Joliet, Ill. He studied engineering at the University of Illinois and eventually worked his way to NASA.
It was there, in the early 1960s, that he put his career on the line to champion what was, at the time, an unpopular idea—but would ultimately be critical to getting Apollo 11 to the moon and safely back.
"John faced a mixture of indifference, at times, abuse and, at times, ridicule that he never forgot until things started to change, and engineers started to realize his data might be right." Todd Zwillich, author of the new Audible Original spoken-word book about Houbolt's life. It's called The Man Who Knew the Way to the Moon.

;UV(L4bh6g.%

登陆月球.jpg
So what was Houbolt's unpopular idea? He championed what's called lunar orbit rendezvous. The concept involves sending a spacecraft into orbit around the moon—and from there, sending only a small, lightweight craft down to the moon's surface, instead of the entire ship.
Zwillich says while Houbolt didn't invent the idea, he was the one who started to apply it to the technologies that were within NASA's grasp at the time.
"Most of the people who know the most about this mission feel that without lunar orbit rendezvous, Apollo couldn't have succeeded. And without John Houbolt, you probably would not have had lunar orbit rendezvous."
Zwillich's book also explores the kinds of challenges NASA engineers face today, as they make plans to get back to the moon and, ultimately, to Mars.
"When you talk about Mars, gosh, 150 million miles, orders of magnitude of a bigger problem. Do we do some form of Martian orbit rendezvous? Do we send a station, build a station in Martian orbit that we can stage down to the surface to manage all that mass? A lot of problems to think about."
Those problems, he says, create plenty of debates today. With the story of John Houbolt as an example, something considered highly unlikely now might be the key to eventually putting people on the Red Planet.
Thanks for listening for Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Christine Herman.

.WVd3=J.F%qNoOZMB,J

TyXXK-@~+NT

uJj|3^I8S*C]]smP36!pu7sqQr^BSzZnerYd])*28|&JPmo_AQROHGC

重点单词   查看全部解释    
champion ['tʃæmpjən]

想一想再看

n. 冠军,优胜者,拥护者,勇士
vt. 保卫

 
emotional [i'məuʃənl]

想一想再看

adj. 感情的,情绪的

 
invent [in'vent]

想一想再看

vt. 发明,创造,捏造

联想记忆
magnitude ['mægnitju:d]

想一想再看

n. 大小,重要,光度,(地震)级数,(星星)等级

联想记忆
debate [di'beit]

想一想再看

n. 辩论,讨论
vt. 争论,思考

联想记忆
clip [klip]

想一想再看

n. 夹子,钳,回形针,弹夹
n. 修剪,(羊

 
audible ['ɔ:dəbl]

想一想再看

adj. 听得见的

联想记忆
figure ['figə]

想一想再看

n. 图形,数字,形状; 人物,外形,体型
v

联想记忆
tranquility [træŋ'kwiliti]

想一想再看

n. 宁静,平静,稳定

 
eagle ['i:gl]

想一想再看

n. 鹰
vt. (高尔夫)鹰击

 

发布评论我来说2句

    最新文章

    可可英语官方微信(微信号:ikekenet)

    每天向大家推送短小精悍的英语学习资料.

    添加方式1.扫描上方可可官方微信二维码。
    添加方式2.搜索微信号ikekenet添加即可。