VOA常速英语:First Flight to the Moon, 50 Years Later

On Christmas Eve of 1968, NASA astronauts Bill Anders Frank Borman and Jim Lovell,boldly went where no one had gone before around the moon.Apollo 8 was originally a mission designed to test the command and lunar modules while orbiting the Earth.But cold war heat launched Lovell and his colleagues further.We had intelligence information that the Russians were going to put a man or two men just circumnavigate the moon and come back.When they took off from Cape Canaveral Florida 50 years ago,the Apollo 8 crew succeeded in beating the Russians to the moon and making history.
1968年的平安夜，美国宇航局宇航员比尔·安德斯·弗兰克·博尔曼和吉姆·洛维尔勇敢地去了月球周围之前从没有人去过的地方。阿波罗8号的任务设计最初目的是在绕地球运行的同时测试指挥和月球模块，但冷战的加剧使洛弗尔和他的同事们的工作得到了进一步的发展。我们有情报说俄国人要派一两个人环绕月球一周然后回来。50年前，当他们从佛罗里达州卡纳维拉尔角起飞时，阿波罗8号机组人员成功地击败了俄罗斯人登上月球，创造了历史。

“And our job was to look for suitable landing spots.”“Everybody remembers Apollo 11. It’s the first time people walked on the moon. But Apollo 8 was the first time that humans had actually gotten that Close.” Andrew Johnston is the vice president of astronomy and collections at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago,where Jim Lovells space flown flight suit and flight manual from Apollo 8 are on display.“Well，the Apollo 8 mission was a landmark in human exploration,it was the first time humans that had ever left the close vicinity of the earth and the first time human eyes had ever seen the far side of the Moon.”
“我们的工作是寻找合适的着陆地点。”每个人都记得阿波罗11号。那是人类第一次登上月亮。但阿波罗8号是人类第一次如此接近它。”安德鲁·约翰斯顿是芝加哥阿德勒天文馆负责天文学和收藏品的副总裁，吉姆·洛夫尔斯的太空飞行服和阿波罗8号的飞行手册都在那里展出。“阿波罗8号任务是人类探索中的一个里程碑，这是人类第一次离开地球附近，也是人类第一次看到月亮的远端。”

But Johnston says the most important discovery wasn’t found at Apollo 8 destination.“Orbiting the moon, it’s what they left behind.It was the first time that humans had seen the earth as this blue marble floating in space and really changed how we think about our planet.”
但约翰斯顿说，最重要的发现不是在阿波罗8号目的地。“他们所留下的是环绕月球。这是人类第一次把地球看作漂浮在太空中蓝色的宝石。这真正改变了我们对我们星球的看法。”

“To be this was a real adventure, it was like a many Lewis and Clark expedition.”Jim Lovell says the importance of the Apollo 8 mission came to him seven months later while watching the Apollo 11 crew, those who would ultimately land on the moon take off from Cape Canaveral while standing next to famed aviation pioneer Charles Lindbergh. ”But he says it was Apollo 8 that was the real deal.For the first flight to the moon, to navigate to the moon for the first time, to surf on the moon, this to him was the epitome of the program as he saw.On Apollo 8 wasn’t levels last trip to the moon.
“这是一次真正的冒险，就像一次刘易斯和克拉克的探险。” 7个月后，吉姆?洛维尔说他才意识到阿波罗8号的重要性，此时他在观看阿波罗11号机组人员从卡纳维拉尔角起飞，最终在月球着陆，当时就站在著名的航空先驱查尔斯林德伯格旁边。但他说，阿波罗8号才是真正起决定作用的。正如他所看到的，第一次飞向月球，第一次绕月球航行，第一次在月球上观测，对于他来说，这一切都是这个项目的缩影。阿波罗8号不是他的最后一次登月之旅。

April of 1970, he was finally on his way to the lunar surface, but instead of Landing,a catastrophic accident forced the crew to slingshot the moon in a desperate attempt to return back to earth and a crippled spacecraft.Today Apollo 13 is remembered as NASA’s successful failure and while it would be levels last mission into space. He says he is at peace with his place in history.“As the first to see the far side of the Moon and Earth rods as a member of the historic Apollo 8 mission”
1970年4月，他终于踏上了登陆月球表面的征程，然而这次没有着陆，一场灾难性的事故迫使机组人员绝望地离开月球，乘着一艘残缺的宇宙飞船返回地球。今天，阿波罗13号被人们铭记为美国宇航局的成功的失败，尽管它可能是最后一次进入太空的任务。他说，他对自己在历史上的位置感到很平静。“因为作为具有历史意义的阿波罗8号任务的成员之一，我是第一个看到月球远端和地球在太空中样子的人。”

Kane Farabaugh, VOA news Chicago Illinois
凯恩·法拉博于伊利诺斯州，芝加哥报道， 美国之音新闻。