From the earth to the moon《从地球到月球》精讲之四

8. Good luck and Godspeed

“祝你成功，祝你好运”的意思，因为用了good luck 和 Godspeed两重表达，可以说是加强版的祝福。

9. In person

这个片语也可以写作“in the flesh”，意思是“in one's physical presence亲身，亲自”，例如：He applied for the job in person.

10. Special coverage 专题节目，特别报道

11. Sea of Tranquillity

静海，landing site of Apollo 11 on the Moon on July 20, 1969; 也叫Mare Tranquillitatis。

12. Roger

用在无线电通讯中表示收到讯息的答语，意思是“收到，知道了”。

文化面面观

Apollo 11：阿波罗11号的登月之旅

L-R:Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin

The Apollo 11 mission was the first mission to land on the Moon. It was the fifth human spaceflight of the Apollo programs, and the third human voyage to the moon. Launched on July 16, 1969, it carried Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin 'Buzz' Aldrin（此三人都曾作过一次太空飞行）. On July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin became the first humans to land on the Moon, while Collins orbited above.

The mission fulfilled President John F. Kennedy's goal of "landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth by the time this decade is out," in other words by the end of the 1960s.

Launch and lunar landing

In addition to one million people crowding the highways and beaches near the launch site, an estimated audience of over 700 million people viewed the event on television; a new record at that time. President Nixon viewed the proceedings from the Oval Office of the White House.

Saturn V launched Apollo 11 from the Kennedy Space Center on July 16, 1969 at 13:32 UTC (9:32 A.M. local time). It entered Earth's orbit 12 minutes later. After one and a half orbits, the S-IVB third-stage engine pushed the spacecraft onto its trajectory (航道) toward the Moon with the Trans Lunar Injection (月球转移轨道射入) burn. About 30 minutes later, the command/service module pair separated from the last remaining Saturn V stage, and docked with the lunar module still nestled in the Lunar Module Adaptor (登月转接器).

New York Times coverage of the Apollo 11 moon landing; outside of war it was possibly the only event of the 20th century to make front-page headlines simultaneously in every newspaper around the world.

On July 19, Apollo 11 passed behind the Moon and fired its Service propulsion engine in order to enter lunar orbit. In the several orbits that followed, the crew got passing views of their landing site. In the southern Sea of Tranquility about 20 km (12 mi) southwest of the crater Sabine D (0.67408N,23.47297E), the landing site was selected in part because it had been characterized as relatively flat and smooth by the automated Ranger 8 and Surveyor 5 landers, as well as by Lunar Orbiter mapping spacecraft. It was therefore unlikely to present major landing or extra-vehicular activity (EVA) challenges.

On July 20, 1969 the lunar module, called Eagle after the eagle present on the insignia, separated from the Command Module, named Columbia after the columbiad cannon used to launch moonships in Jules Verne's novel From the Earth to the Moon. Some internal NASA planning documents referred to the callsigns as Snowcone and Haystack; these were quietly changed before being announced to the press. Collins, alone aboard Columbia, inspected Eagle as it pirouetted before him to ensure the craft was not damaged. Armstrong and Aldrin used Eagle's descent engine to right themselves and descend to the lunar surface.

As the landing began, Armstrong reported they were "running long"; Eagle was 4 seconds further along its descent trajectory than planned, and would land miles west of the intended site. The LM navigation and guidance computer reported several unusual "program alarms" as it guided the LM's descent, taking the crew's attention from the scene outside as the descent proceeded. In NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas, controller Steve Bales told the flight director that it was safe to continue the descent in spite of the alarms; the computer

The Saturn V carrying Apollo 11 took several seconds to clear the tower on July 16, 1969.

was merely reporting it was overtasked and that nothing was wrong with the spacecraft. Once Armstrong returned his attention to the view outside it was apparent that the computer was guiding them toward a large crater with rocks scattered around it. Armstrong took manual control of the lunar module at that point, and with Aldrin's assistance, calling out data from the radar and computer, guided it to a landing at 20:17 UTC on July 20 with about 30 seconds of fuel left.

The program alarms were "executive overflows", indicating that the computer could not finish its work in the time allotted. The cause was later determined to be the LM rendezvous radar being left on during the descent, causing the computer to spend unplanned time servicing the unused radar. Although Apollo 11 landed with less fuel than other missions, they also encountered a premature low fuel warning. It was later found to be caused by the lunar gravity permitting greater propellant 'slosh', uncovering a fuel sensor; extra baffles in the tanks were subsequently added.

Armstrong gave the name Tranquility Base on the landing site immediately after touchdown to the partially confused staff at Mission Control. Armstrong's first words after landing were: "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed."

Shortly after landing, before preparations began for the EVA, Aldrin broadcast that:

Buzz Aldrin bootprint. It was part of an experiment to test the properties of the lunar regolith.

This is the LM pilot. I'd like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way.

He then took Communion, privately. At this time, NASA was still fighting a lawsuit brought by atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair (who had objected to the Apollo 8 crew reading from the Book of Genesis), which demanded that their astronauts refrain from religious activities while in space. As such, Aldrin (an Episcopalian 圣公会教徒) chose to refrain from directly mentioning this. He had kept the plan quiet, not even mentioning it to his wife, and did not reveal it publicly for several years.

A mounted camera captures Neil Armstrong as he takes his first step onto the Moon. At 2:56 UTC on July 21, Armstrong made his descent to the Moon's surface and spoke his famous line "That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind" exactly six and a half hours after landing. Aldrin joined him, saying, "Beautiful. Beautiful. Magnificent desolation." Then for two-and-a-half hours, they took notes, photographed what they saw, and drilled core samples. Stan Lemar of Westinghouse Corp. was the project designer of the black and white camera that returned the famous pictures of the first step onto the surface of the Moon.

It has long been assumed that Armstrong mistakenly omitted the word "a" from his famous remark, rendering the phrase redundant. Armstrong thought he had said it and claimed he did indeed say it. A digital audio analysis conducted by Peter Shann Ford, suggests Armstrong did, in fact, say "a man", but the "a" was inaudible due to static noise and the limitations of communications technology of the time.