【英语听和读】太空旅行

 Jackie: Hello I’m Jackie Dalton and today, we’re going to find out about space travel

and look at some science language. We’re going to do this with the help of Jeff
Hoffman. He’s a former NASA astronaut – an astronaut – a person who goes
into space. He’s going to describe what it’s like.
Some words to listen out for:
shuttle – meaning an aircraft that goes into space.
hydraulics – the parts of a machine that use the pressure of liquids to move
things.
launch pad – the base from which the shuttle is sent up into the sky, or
launched into space. You might also hear the word launch in other contexts,
usually meaning to start something.
Voice: We’ll launch the project next month.
Why don’t you come along to tonight’s book-launch – the author will be
signing copies of her new book.
Jackie: Try to listen out for ‘shuttle’, ‘hydraulics’ and ‘launch pad’ and also listen out
for another expression which we haven’t heard yet. What do people working at
the base say when they are ready for the shuttle to launch? Here’s Jeff.
Jeff: Well you get up, you start with a quick breakfast - if your stomach is calm
enough. 
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Then the bus comes up to take you past the waiting photographers out toward
the shuttle towering on its launch pad.
Now the shuttle is fully 1 loaded there’s not a whole lot of people on the pad.
Just enough to help you get into the shuttle, strap 2 you in. Then they leave and
you’re alone. And at this point, with all of the fuel inside, the vehicle is alive.
Then the launch director goes around the room and everybody gives their ‘go
for launch, go for launch!’ And you start the final countdown and then you
start up the hydraulics and you can actually feel the thumping 3 as the pumps go
on and the whole shuttle shakes…
Jackie: ‘Go for launch!’ Is what staff say when they’re ready for the shuttle to launch.
We also heard the phrase ‘final countdown’. 4, 3, 2, 1 – that’s a countdown.
Now we’re going to hear mention of ‘boosters’. Boosters are a kind of vehicle
which give the shuttle extra power to take off and get into space. When the
boosters ignite, which means when they start burning, the shuttle lifts off. The
shuttle usually drops the boosters once it has reached space.
Jeff: Those last few minutes go by really quickly until finally everything starts to
rumble 4 below you for a few seconds until all of a sudden you feel this kick in
the pants when the solid boosters ignite and everything starts shaking
tremendously
‘…and we have lift off - lift off of the space shuttle Endeavour on an ambitious
mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope…’
The shuttle goes supersonic in about 45 seconds, going straight up. 
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Jackie: What was that word? Supersonic – faster than the speed of sound. Soon after
it’s launched the shuttle goes supersonic. And things get pretty noisy. What
happens next?
‘…and we have lift off - lift off of the space shuttle Endeavour on an ambitious
mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope…’
The shuttle goes supersonic in about 45 seconds going straight up.
I mean the power you’re sitting on is just spectacular. It’s a pretty violent ride
for those first two minutes when the solid rocket boosters are burning. Then
they fall off… all of a sudden it gets very quiet. The engines shut off, you’re in
space.
Then you realise that you are sort of floating up against your straps 5 and in fact
you’re weightless. You’re in space.
Jackie: You become weightless – you don’t weigh anything because there is no gravity.
Gravity is the force that pulls you down towards earth.
(the following is not included in the Mp3 version)
To finish, no more vocabulary, let’s just listen to Jeff Hoffman describing how
it feels to get into space.
Jeff: After having dreamed about his moment since I was six years old, I just got
this incredible smile on my face, I floated out of my seat, looked out my
window and we were racing 6 across the Atlantic Ocean…Africa was coming up
along the coast. And I just couldn’t get rid of that smile and I think it lasted for
the entire mission.