Apollo 11, Part I

Source: www.ingvip.com classes on line with Teacher Fulvio Carlos

1. I'm Steve Ember.  And I'm Shirley Griffith with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we continue our history of the American space program with theflight of Apollo Eleven.

2. A rocket launch countdown. A common sound in the nineteen sixties. But this was not just another launch. It was the beginning of a historic event. It was the countdown for Apollo Eleven -- the space flight that would carry men to the first landing on the moon.

3. The ground shook at Cape Kennedy, Florida, the morning of July sixteenth, nineteen sixty-nine. The huge Saturn Five rocket moved slowly up into the sky. It roseperfectly. Someone on the launch crew spoke the words: "Good luck. And Godspeed."

4. In the spacecraft at the top of the speeding rocket were three American astronauts whose names soon would be known around the world: Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin and Michael Collins.

5. Neil Armstrong was the commander of the spacecraft. He was a test pilot. He had flown earlier on one of the two-man Gemini space flights. Armstrong was a calm person, a man who talked very little.

6. Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin was pilot of the moon lander vehicle. The astronauts gave it the name Eagle. Aldrin had flown on the last of the Gemini flights. He also was a quiet man, except when he talked about space.

7.Michael Collins was the pilot of the command module vehicle, Columbia. He also had made a Gemini flight. He would wait in orbit around the moon while Armstrong and Aldrin landed and explored thesurface. Collins was very popular and always ready with a smile.

8.Two-and-one-half minutes after the Apollo Eleven launch, the first-stage rocket separated from the spacecraft. Twelve minutes later, the spacecraft reached orbit. Its speed was twenty-nine thousand kilometers an hour. Its orbit was one hundred sixty-five kilometers above the Earth.

9. This was the time for the crew to test all the spacecraft systems. Everything worked perfectly. So, the NASA flight director told them they were "go" for the moon. They fired the third-stage rocket. It increasedthe speed of the spacecraft to forty thousand kilometers an hour. This was fast enough to escape the pull of the Earth's gravity.

10. Apollo Eleven was on its way to the moon. In seventy-seven hours, if all went well, Apollo Eleven would be there. Halfway to the moon, the astronauts broadcast a color television program to Earth.

11. The broadcast showed how the astronauts lived on the spacecraft. It showed their instruments, food storage, and details of how they moved and worked without gravity to give them weight. 

12. The television broadcast also showed the Earth behind Apollo Eleven. And it showed the moon growing larger in the blackness ahead. As hours passed, the pull of the moon's gravity grew stronger. Near the moon, the astronauts fired rockets to slow the spacecraft enough to put it into moon orbit.

13. Apollo Eleven circled the moon while the crew prepared for the landing. Finally, spacecraft commander Armstrong and NASA flight controllers agreed it was time to separate the lander module Eagle from the command module Columbia.

14. Armstrong and Aldrin moved through the small opening between the two spacecraft. Then they moved Eagle away from Columbia. Armstrong reported: "The Eagle has wings!" The lunar module was ready. Men were about to land on the moon.

15. On Earth, all activity seemed to stop. President Richard Nixon gave federal government workers the day off to watch the moon landing on television. Around the world, five hundred million people watched the television report. Countless millions more listened on their radios.

16. Armstrong and Aldrin fired the lander rocket engine. The firing slowed the spacecraft and sent it down toward the landing place. It was in an area known as the Sea of Tranquility.

Vocabulary

1. about to = prestes a
2. above = acima
3. agreed = concordaram
4. ahead = à frente
5. away = para longe
6. beginning = começo
7. behind = atrás
8. blackness = escuridão
9. broadcast = transmitiram
10. Cape = cabo
11. carry = transporter
12. circled = circulou
13. countdown = contagem regressive
14. Countless = incontáveis
15. crew = tripulação
16. Earth = Planeta Terra
17. engine = motor
18. enough = o suficiente
19. except = exceto
20. fired = dispararam
21. Flight = vôo
22. gave = deram
23. Godspeed = “sorte”, “Deus proteja”
24. ground = chão
25. growing larger = ficando maior
26. had flown = tinha voado
27. Halfway = na metade do caminho
28. huge = imenso(a)
29. increased = aumentou
30. known = conhecido
31. lander = modulo de aterrissagem
32. on its way = a caminho
33. opening = abertura
34. pull = arrasto
35. reached = alcançou
36. ready = pronto
37. rocket launch = lançamento de foguete
38. rose = subiu
39. seemed = pareceu
40. shook = tremeu
41. showed = mostrou, desacelerou
42. slowly = lentamente
43. soon = em breve
44. spacecraft = espaçonave
45. speeding = em aceleração
46. stage = estágio
47. storage = armazenamento
48. the day off = o dia de folga
49. through = através
50. vehicle = veículo
51. weight = peso
52. while = enquanto
53. whose = cujos