The Race to the Moon: Gemini 6 and 7 Meet High Above Earth in 1965

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1.survive vi.活下来, 幸存

例句：The two tribes consolidated to survive in wars.
这两个部落联合起来，以在战争中求得生存。

2.countdown n.倒计数

例句：The director began the countdown ten seconds before the broadcast.
距离开播还有十秒，导播开始倒读数。

3.disappointed a.失望的

例句：After the first defeat, the team felt disappointed.
首次失利后，队员感到很沮丧。

4.inspect v.检查, 检阅, 检验

例句：The frontier guards work very hard, as they have to go and inspect the frontier many times every day.
边防战士每天巡防好几次，很辛苦。

5.hostile a.敌人的, 怀敌意的, 敌对的

例句：The team manager was hostile to our proposals.
部门经理对我们的建议持反对意见。

1.So America's space agency, NASA, said there was no reason to send up Gemini Six. NASA decided to move ahead with the next flight, Gemini seven.

send up发出, 射出, 呈交, 使上升

例句：The students like to send up the teacher's manner of walking.
学生喜欢模仿老师走路的样子。

Could you send up some lunch, please?
请给我送午餐过来好吗？

move ahead进行，进展

例句：The black horse bagan to move ahead halfaway through the race.
那匹黑马在比赛进行到一半时开始领先了。

The black horse began to move ahead halfway through the race.
如果想在工作上不落后，那就听从我的忠告。

2.The computers immediately shut off the rocket engines.

shut off关掉, 切断

例句：The scandal shut off his high-powered election campaign.
这件丑闻终止了他那声势浩大的竞选运动。

3.Schirra and Stafford proved that spaceships could link up while in orbit.

link up连接

例句：Transport and communication lines link up all parts of the province.
全省交通运输四通八达。

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[00:00.00](MUSIC)
[00:13.75]EXPLORATIONS 
[00:15.30]a program in Special English 
[00:18.14]by the Voice of America.
[00:20.15](MUSIC)
[00:27.72]Today,Shirley Griffith and Tony Riggs 
[00:31.14]complete a report about America's 
[00:34.12]second manned space program,Gemini.
[00:38.57]Its purpose was to bring the United States 
[00:43.02]closer to its goal 
[00:44.71]of landing astronauts on the moon.
[00:47.93]To explore the surface of the moon,
[00:52.15]astronauts must be able to survive 
[00:55.70]outside the protection of their spacecraft.
[00:59.26]So an astronaut on the flight of Gemini Four,
[01:03.71]Ed White,took that first frightening step 
[01:08.88]into the unknown.
[01:10.43]For more than twenty minutes,
[01:14.01]he floated outside his spacecraft 
[01:17.51]in the emptiness of space.
[01:20.31]Astronauts on the next flight,
[01:24.13]Gemini Five,
[01:25.95]suffered a number of technical problems.
[01:29.82]But they were able to survive in space 
[01:33.50]for eight days.
[01:35.73]Then it was time to launch Gemini Six.
[01:40.35]Its crew would attempt a move 
[01:43.68]that would be necessary 
[01:45.38]for any landing on the moon.
[01:48.02]The astronauts would chase 
[01:50.63]another object orbiting Earth.
[01:53.79]And they would move their spacecraft 
[01:56.54]as close as possible to it.
[01:59.57]However,the target a satellite 
[02:04.19]apparently exploded after it was launched.
[02:08.44]So America's space agency,NASA,
[02:12.18]said there was no reason 
[02:14.50]to send up Gemini Six.
[02:17.02]NASA decided to move ahead 
[02:20.07]with the next flight,Gemini seven.
[02:23.34]Then NASA considered yet another plan.
[02:28.66]It would launch Gemini Seven.
[02:31.53]And,if everything was ready,
[02:34.17]it would launch Gemini Six 
[02:37.13]a few days later.
[02:38.83]Gemini Six would chase,
[02:41.74]and get close to,
[02:43.60]Gemini Seven instead of a satellite.
[02:47.52]Astronauts Frank Borman and James Lovell 
[02:51.66]were the crew of Gemini Seven.
[02:54.20]They would make the longest,
[02:56.67]most difficult flight ever.
[02:59.33]They would spend fourteen days 
[03:02.26]in their tiny spacecraft.
[03:04.42]Gemini Seven lifted off 
[03:08.82]from Cape Canaveral,Florida,
[03:11.02]on Friday,December third,
[03:14.13]nineteen sixty-five.
[03:16.64]Workers at the space center 
[03:19.56]examined the launch area.
[03:22.01]There appeared to be no major damage.
[03:25.79]The workers quickly moved 
[03:28.59]another huge Titan rocket into place.
[03:32.46]On top of the rocket 
[03:35.13]sat the Gemini Six spacecraft.
[03:38.43]NASA announced that Gemini Six 
[03:42.74]would be launched 
[03:44.12]in the early morning of Sunday,
[03:46.35]December twelfth.
[03:48.21]The timing would put the two spacecraft 
[03:51.94]in the correct orbit to meet in space.
[03:56.02]Astronauts Walter Schirra 
[03:59.46]and Thomas Stafford prepared 
[04:01.62]for their flight.
[04:03.35]They had waited once in a spacecraft 
[04:05.88]that never left the ground.
[04:08.06]Their first launch had been cancelled 
[04:11.46]because the target satellite exploded.
[04:14.79]This time,they hoped,
[04:17.30]things would be different.
[04:19.48](MUSIC) 
[04:34.64]On that Sunday morning,
[04:36.17]Schirra and Stafford were again 
[04:38.47]in their tiny Gemini Six spacecraft 
[04:41.99]atop the Titan rocket.
[04:43.84]Borman and Lovell,
[04:45.80]in Gemini Seven,
[04:47.32]speeded across the United States.
[04:50.40]The countdown at Cape Canaveral 
[04:53.43]reached zero as Gemini Seven 
[04:56.28]passed overhead.
[04:57.98]Frank Borman's disappointed words 
[05:01.36]from space told the story.
[05:03.66]"I saw ignition.and then shutdown." 
[05:07.32]For some reason,
[05:09.50]the Titan rocket engines
[05:11.77] had fired as planned.
[05:13.33]But then they shut themselves off 
[05:18.28]one second later.
[05:20.85]For several tense minutes,
[05:23.53]the astronauts of Gemini Six 
[05:26.30]were sitting on top of a highly 
[05:28.81]explosive mass of rocket fuel.
[05:31.58]Schirra waited with his hand 
[05:34.55]on a special device.
[05:36.28]If he pulled it,
[05:38.01]he and Stafford would get away safely.
[05:41.15]If he did not pull it,
[05:43.47]and the rocket exploded,
[05:45.19]they would be killed.
[05:46.97]With nerves of steel,
[05:49.49]the astronauts waited.
[05:51.25]The rocket did not explode.
[05:54.54]Once again,Schirra and Stafford 
[05:59.05]climbed out of Gemini Six.
[06:01.34]Borman and Lovell 
[06:03.46]continued to circle the Earth.
[06:05.61]Soon,the public heard the report.
[06:09.64]A tiny part at the bottom of the rocket
[06:13.53]had fallen out too early.
[06:16.03]That tiny part sent a signal to computers 
[06:21.04]that the launch had taken place.
[06:23.39]The computers immediately 
[06:26.12]shut off the rocket engines.
[06:28.28]Space agency officials 
[06:31.78]decided to try one more time.
[06:34.85]They set the launch for three days later.
[06:39.17]It would be the last chance for Gemini Six 
[06:43.70]to attempt to meet 
[06:45.68]with Gemini Seven in space.
[06:48.52]If this attempt failed,
[06:51.48]the United States would suffer 
[06:54.03]a serious delay in its goal 
[06:57.05]to land astronauts on the moon.
[07:00.04]Borman and Lovell
[07:02.64]continued to circle the Earth,
[07:05.00]day after day,
[07:06.94]as workers hurried 
[07:09.11]to meet the new launch date.
[07:11.35]They were almost 
[07:13.65]three hundred kilometers high.
[07:15.95]They were moving 
[07:17.59]at twenty-eight thousand kilometers an hour.
[07:21.61]December fifteenth,
[07:24.74]nineteen sixty-five.
[07:26.75]This was it.
[07:28.31]What could be an impossible effort 
[07:31.45]in the history of spaceflight 
[07:33.44]was ready to lift off 
[07:35.31]on its final chance for success.
[07:38.08]For the third time,
[07:40.22]Walter Schirra and Thomas Stafford 
[07:43.11]put on their space clothing.
[07:45.20]They took their places 
[07:47.69]in the Gemini Six spacecraft.
[07:50.30]The countdown reached zero just 
[07:53.86]as Frank Borman and James Lovell,
[07:56.17]in Gemini Seven,
[07:57.94]passed overhead.
[07:59.41]This time,with a thundering roar,
[08:02.80]Gemini Six rose into the air.
[08:06.06]As it headed into space,
[08:08.91]a radio announcer said: 
[08:11.17]"This whole nation pushed that one up." 
[08:14.46](MUSIC) 
[08:34.25]Now there were four Americans in space.
[08:37.38]Gemini Six followed Gemini Seven,
[08:41.92]but in a lower orbit 
[08:44.46]that moved the two spacecraft 
[08:46.96]closer together.
[08:48.50]Flight controllers on the ground 
[08:52.08]held their breath.
[08:53.55]Success was near.
[08:56.02]Yet failure was still very possible.
[09:00.10]The spacecraft were almost 
[09:03.53]two thousand kilometers apart.
[09:06.50]They needed to get 
[09:08.52]within six hundred meters of each other.
[09:11.55]Only then would space agency officials 
[09:15.70]consider the project a complete success.
[09:19.38]Time passed quickly as Schirra moved 
[09:24.26]Gemini Six closer and closer to its target.
[09:27.67]Gemini Six was now eight kilometers behind,
[09:32.09]and twenty-four kilometers below,
[09:35.25]Gemini Seven.
[09:36.52]Schirra fired a rocket exactly long enough 
[09:41.17]to put his spacecraft in the same orbit.
[09:44.15]Then radar on each spacecraft 
[09:47.84]noted the other spacecraft.
[09:50.28]Happily,Schirra sent a radio message 
[09:54.04]to Gemini Seven.
[09:55.41]"We'll be up shortly," he said.
[09:58.12]A few minutes later,
[10:00.29]the astronauts were able to see 
[10:02.96]each others' spacecraft.
[10:05.13]Success seemed within reach.
[10:07.62]Only six-and-one-half kilometers 
[10:10.90]separated them.
[10:12.32]The two spacecraft continued 
[10:15.13]to float together,far out in space.
[10:18.50]They moved closer and closer together 
[10:23.50]as they flew across the Indian Ocean.
[10:26.65]It was about six hours 
[10:31.92]since the launch of Gemini Six.
[10:34.35]For a while,
[10:36.88]there was no communication 
[10:39.19]from space to Earth.
[10:41.22]The spacecraft were too far 
[10:44.56]from any ground station 
[10:46.56]to send clear messages.
[10:49.11]Finally,the voice of Thomas Stafford 
[10:53.32]came through the silence of Space: 
[10:55.77]"We are thirty-six meters apart and sitting." 
[11:00.69]Thirty-six meters! 
[11:03.48]That was far better than 
[11:05.87]the six hundred meters space agency officials 
[11:08.85]would have considered a complete success.
[11:11.44]In fact,the two spacecraft 
[11:14.49]almost touched each other 
[11:16.33]before they separated.
[11:17.93]Space agency officials now knew 
[11:22.46]that it was possible to join 
[11:24.75]two orbiting spacecraft.
[11:27.73]The crew on Gemini Six 
[11:30.66]had made the operation seem easy.
[11:34.01]As the American astronauts 
[11:37.72]continued to float through space,
[11:40.27]they inspected each other 
[11:42.52]and each other's spacecraft.
[11:45.06]Frank Borman noted happily 
[11:48.07]that after twelve lonely days in space,
[11:51.86]he and James Lovell finally 
[11:54.93]had company for one night! 
[11:56.83]The next day,
[11:58.73]Schirra and Stafford 
[12:02.58]completed their flight.
[12:04.27]Gemini Six landed in the Atlantic Ocean 
[12:08.10]within twenty kilometers 
[12:10.24]of the rescue ship.
[12:11.92]Gemini Seven continued to speed on.
[12:15.72]On December eighteenth,
[12:20.08]ground controllers asked Borman and Lovell 
[12:23.54]if they were ready to come home.
[12:25.99]"Ready! Ready!" the astronauts answered.
[12:29.61]Gemini Seven landed 
[12:32.19]as perfectly as Gemini Six.
[12:35.30]Astronauts Borman and Lovell 
[12:38.50]had been in space more than 
[12:41.12]three hundred thirty hours.
[12:43.82]They had traveled almost eight million 
[12:47.17]five hundred thousand kilometers.
[12:50.56](MUSIC) 
[13:06.69]The flights of Gemini Six 
[13:08.52]and Gemini Seven greatly increased hope 
[13:12.25]that Americans soon would be able 
[13:14.85]to land on the moon.
[13:16.42]Schirra and Stafford proved 
[13:19.48]that spaceships could link up 
[13:21.79]while in orbit.
[13:23.20]Borman and Lovell proved 
[13:25.84]that humans could survive in space 
[13:28.76]for the time needed to get 
[13:30.97]to the moon and back.
[13:32.49]The distance to the moon 
[13:34.67]suddenly seemed shorter.
[13:36.80]Five more Gemini flights followed.
[13:41.53]Other spacecraft joined 
[13:44.29]with other targets in space 
[13:46.46]and landed exactly where planned.
[13:49.89]Astronauts worked for 
[13:52.53]longer periods of time 
[13:54.23]in the hostile environment of space.
[13:57.39]The Gemini program 
[13:59.98]had reached all its goals.
[14:02.75]Now,the United States was ready 
[14:05.91]for the next historic jump into space.
[14:10.02]It would be Project Apollo.
[14:13.26]Project Apollo would land men on the moon.
[14:18.46](MUSIC) 
[14:29.23]This Special English program 
[14:30.97]was written by Marilyn Rice Christiano.
[14:34.20]Your narrators were Shirley Griffith 
[14:37.27]and Tony Riggs.
[14:38.96]I'm Doug Johnson.
[14:41.04]Listen again next week 
[14:43.67]for another EXPLORATIONS program 
[14:46.76]on the Voice of America.