Name: 阿波羅12號的月球之旅 The Incredible Journey of Apollo 12
Uploaded: 2013-04-06T15:43:47.000Z
Duration: 24 min 31 s

Three astronauts, with spacesuits, food, water, and a battery of scientific and communications

三名太空人，帶著宇航服、食物、水和一系列科學和通信設備。

Thousands gathered at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, including President and Mrs. Richard

數千人聚集在佛羅里達州的肯尼迪航天中心，包括理查德總統和夫人。

It was raining that day, but that was no cause for delay. The ship that would carry them

那天下著雨，但這並不是拖延的理由。運送他們的船

into space was designed to launch in any weather.

進入太空的設計是為了在任何天氣下發射。

But how would it respond to a powerful electrical storm now gathering above the launch pad?

但是，它將如何應對現在聚集在發射臺上方的強大電風暴？

That was just the beginning of the incredible journey of Apollo 12.

這只是阿波羅12號不可思議的旅程的開始。

With three astronauts fastened into their seats, the countdown proceeded.

隨著三名太空人固定在座位上，倒計時開始了。

Astronaut and Mission Commander Pete Conrad would say later: “The flight was extremely

太空人兼任務指揮官皮特-康拉德後來會說。"這次飛行是非常...

The five engines of the Saturn 5’s huge first stage were designed to burn through

土星5號巨大的第一級的五臺發動機被設計成可以燒燬。

5 million pounds of liquid oxygen in just two and a half minutes, and to send the spacecraft

5百萬磅的液態氧在短短的兩分半鐘內，並將航天器送出。

up 67 kilometers above the Atlantic Ocean.

When it reached an altitude of 2000 meters, something unexpected happened.

當它到達2000米的高度時，意想不到的事情發生了。

Racing through the stormy environment, the rocket generated a lightning bolt that traveled

火箭在暴風雨的環境中飛馳，產生了一道道閃電，穿越了

down its highly conductive exhaust trail.

All of the spacecraft’s circuit breakers shut off. The tracking system was lost.

太空梭的所有斷路器都關閉了。追蹤系統丟失。

A young flight controller in Houston, Texas instructed astronaut Alan Bean on how to turn

德克薩斯州休斯敦的一名年輕的飛行控制員指導太空人阿蘭-賓如何轉。

on an auxiliary power system. The mission was back on track.

在輔助動力系統上。任務又回到了正軌。

Once in Earth orbit, all systems appeared to check out, and flight control officials

一旦進入地球軌道，所有系統似乎都檢查完畢，飛行控制官員

gave the crew the green light to leave Earth.

The astronauts were not told of concern that the lighting strikes had damaged the pyrotechnic

太空人們並沒有被告知擔心燈光打擊損壞了煙火。

system used to deploy the parachutes that would ease them back through the Earth’s

用於部署降落傘的系統，以使他們輕鬆地通過地球的回程

If that system failed, the astronauts would not return alive.

如果該系統出現故障，太空人將無法活著回來。

This mission would have its share of perils, not unlike those faced by a long line of past

這項任務將有它的一部分危險，不象過去一長串的人所面臨的危險。

explorers, whose courage and restless spirit propelled them into the unknown.

探險家，他們的勇氣和不安分的精神將他們推向了未知的世界。

This one, however, was backed by years of technology development, test flights, astronaut

不過，這個背後是多年的技術研發、試飛、太空人。

training, and the largest support team back home that any mission ever had.

訓練，以及任何一個特派團都有的最大的支持團隊回國。

But hundreds of thousands of kilometers out in space the three astronauts were pretty

但在幾十萬公里外的太空中，三位太空人很是

What made Apollo 12 unique was the friendship and chemistry of its crew. Conrad, Bean, and

阿波羅12號的獨特之處在於其隊員的友誼和化學反應。康拉德、賓和

Richard Gordon were all Navy men. Working and training together on the Gemini program,

理查德-戈登都是海軍的人。一起在雙子星計劃中工作和訓練。

they had gained each other’s respect and trust.

他們已經獲得了對方的尊重和信任。

Now, hurtling across more than 400,000 kilometers to the moon, they prepared to fullfill the

現在，他們跨越40多萬公里的距離飛向月球，準備滿載而歸。

One was to set up a scientific station designed to record seismic, atmospheric, and solar

其中之一是建立一個科學站，旨在記錄地震、大氣和太陽。

Another was to visit an unmanned lunar probe called Surveyor III that had landed there

另一個是訪問一個名為 "勘測者三號 "的無人月球探測器，該探測器已在那裡著陸。

two and a half years before. The idea was to bring back a part to study the effect of

兩年半前。的想法是把一個部分帶回來研究效果。

A third goal was to improve on the landing of Apollo 11 just 5 months before.

第三個目標是在5個月前阿波羅11號登陸的基礎上加以改進。

Dropping down over a region called the Sea of Tranquility, pilot Neil Armstrong found

飛行員尼爾-阿姆斯特朗在一個叫 "寧靜之海 "的地區上空墜落，他找到了

himself heading straight for a crater full of boulders.

自己直奔一個滿是巨石的火山口而去。

He had to fly over the planned landing site and find a new one.

他不得不飛過計劃中的降落點，尋找新的降落點。

Now kilometers beyond the target, the lander, called Eagle, was literally running out of

現在，距離目標數千米，名為 "鷹 "的著陸器，已經沒有多少錢了

With less than 30 seconds of fuel left, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin finally touched

在燃料只剩下不到30秒的時候 尼爾-阿姆斯特朗和巴茲-奧爾德林終於接觸到了。

down on a landscape obscured by dust stirred up by

Future astronauts would have to be able to make precision landings at locations dictated

未來的太空人必須能夠在規定的地點進行精確降落

by science. That meant they would have to touch down on landscapes filled with all kinds

由科學。這意味著他們將不得不降落在充滿各種景觀的土地上。

For Apollo 12, the science pointed to a region known as the Ocean of Storms, some 2000 kilometers

對於阿波羅12號來說，科學指出了一個被稱為風暴海洋的區域，大約2000公里的地方

from where the Eagle had landed. Here, the landscape is dark from lava that cooled to

從老鷹號降落的地方開始在這裡，由於熔岩冷卻到一定程度，地貌變得漆黑一片。

form its flat expanse billions of years ago.

在數十億年前形成其平坦的廣闊天地。

Within it, an impacting asteroid had hollowed out Copernicus crater, perhaps showering the

在它的內部，一顆撞擊的小行星掏空了哥白尼隕石坑，也許在它的身上灑下了雨水。

region with rocks blasted out from deep underground.

區域內有從地下深處爆破出來的岩石。

To sample this geological treasure trove, the astronauts sought to land at a series

為了對這一地質寶庫進行採樣，太空人們尋求在一系列的地方著陸。

of smaller craters about 45 kilometers away.

After a journey lasting 83 and a half hours, the crew fired the spacecraft’s engine to

經過83個半小時的旅程，船員們啟動了航天器的發動機，以達到

Five hours later a second burn put the spacecraft into a circular orbit 111 kilometers above

5個小時後，第二次燃燒將航天器送入離地球111公里的圓形軌道。

The next day, Pete Conrad and Allan Bean entered the lunar module, Intrepid.

第二天，皮特-康拉德和艾倫-賓進入了月球艙，無畏號。

Separating from the command module, they dropped down toward their target.

分開指揮艙，他們向著目標落下。

Pete Conrad would rely on improvements in the ship’s landing radar to find his way

皮特-康拉德將依靠改進後的艦船著陸雷達來找到他的路。

Pete Conrad and Alan Bean landed without a hitch.

皮特-康拉德和艾倫-賓順利落地。

Now, they prepared to climb down the ladder to experience a whole new world.

現在，他們準備爬下梯子去體驗一個全新的世界。

The plan was for Earth to experience it too, courtesy of a color video camera that was

計劃是讓地球也體驗一下，由一臺彩色攝影機提供，這臺攝影機是

Conrad was careful to keep it pointed away from the Sun to protect its sensitive imaging

康拉德小心翼翼地讓它遠離太陽，以保護其敏感的成像。

tubes. Unfortunately, it caught the glare from Intrepid’s shiny surface, and blew.

管。不幸的是，它被無畏號閃亮的表面所反射的強光所吸引，炸了。

Back on Earth, the television networks cancelled their coverage. Millions of viewers then went

回到地球后，電視網絡取消了他們的報道。數以百萬計的觀眾隨後去

Which left Conrad and Bean to go about theirs’.

The astronauts spent the first of two four-hour moonwalks setting up science and communications

太空人們在兩次四小時的月球行走中，第一次在月球上進行了科學和通信設置

equipment, taking photographs, and seeing what was there.

There were discoveries and surprises aplenty. One was a series of mounds out in the open,

有很多發現和驚喜。其中一個是露天的一系列土丘。

perhaps made up of material ejected from the craters upon impact.

也許是由撞擊時從隕石坑中噴出的物質組成。

Two and a half hours into the moonwalk, the astronauts flipped their wrist-mounted checklists

在月球行走的兩個半小時後，太空人們翻開了他們的腕上的檢查表。

They opened an unlikely page, placed there by the Apollo 12 back-up crew.

他們打開了一個不太可能的頁面，是阿波羅12號的備份隊員放在那裡的。

This little prank hardly distracted from their central goal: to walk among the craters making

這個小惡作劇幾乎沒有分散他們的中心目標：走在環形山中，使

That was part of a major, unheralded, scientific quest of the Apollo program: to find clues

這是阿波羅計劃中一個重要的、未被提及的科學探索的一部分：尋找線索。

At the time, there were three leading theories.

The so-called fission theory, championed by George Howard Darwin, son of Charles Darwin,

所謂的裂變理論，由查爾斯-達爾文的兒子喬治-霍華德-達爾文倡導。

held that the moon was once part of the Earth, cast off by the rapid spin of its young parent.

認為月球曾經是地球的一部分，由其年輕的母體快速旋轉拋下。

That might explain the Pacific Ocean, a giant hole in the Earth’s surface.

這也許可以解釋太平洋，地球表面的一個巨大的洞。

Then there was the capture theory, which held that the moon was a wayward object that floated

然後是捕獲理論，它認為月球是一個漂浮在空中的流浪物

through our solar system and was pulled into orbit by Earth’s gravity.

穿過太陽系，被地球引力拉入軌道。

A third idea came from the American astronomer Thomas Jefferson Jackson See, known at the

第三個想法來自美國天文學家托馬斯-傑弗遜-傑克遜-見，他的名字是在

time for his attacks on Einstein’s theories.

他對愛因斯坦理論的攻擊時間。

He suggested that the Moon formed near Earth and gradually fell under its gravitational

他認為，月球形成於地球附近，並在其引力作用下逐漸下降