Teacher in Space Answers Questions From Students

教师在太空中回答学生问题

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

SOUND: "Good morning, Discovery Center -- good afternoon. We're happy to be here with you. This is Al Drew, Clay Anderson, Dave Williams and I'm Barb Morgan. And we are ready for your first question. Welcome aboard the International Space Station."

[Astronaut Barbara Morgan on the space shuttle Endeavour]

That was teacher-turned-astronaut Barbara Morgan, speaking from more than three hundred twenty kilometers above the Earth.

CHILDREN: "Hello from Idaho!"

And those were the students she was greeting in the northwestern state of Idaho. They gathered at the Discovery Center in Boise on Tuesday to ask the astronauts questions by video link.

The astronauts already knew what the questions would be. One student asked what stars look like from space.

Basically the answer was that the space shuttle and the space station are kept brightly lit, so it is difficult to see a lot of stars.

BARBARA MORGAN: "In fact, one way to think about that when we're on the International Space Station and all the lights are on when we look outside, it's very much like trying to look at the stars when you're in Boise. You can see some, but then if you go up high in the mountains, up to McCall, and you have all the lights out, that's what it will be like once we undock from [the] station and we can turn all our shuttle lights out, and also for the station folks they can turn all their lights out."

Barbara Morgan taught elementary school in McCall, Idaho, before she trained for space. She and six other astronauts arrived Friday on the shuttle Endeavour to bring supplies and new equipment to the international station.

Barbara Morgan is fifty-five years old. She taught for many years before she became an astronaut.

QUESTION: "Hi, I'm Sarah Blum. How does being a teacher relate with being an astronaut on this mission?"

BARBARA MORGAN: "Well, astronauts and teachers actually do the same things. We explore, we discover and we share. And the great thing about being a teacher is you get to do that with students. And the great thing about being an astronaut is you get to do it in space. And those are absolutely wonderful jobs."

Barbara Morgan first prepared for a shuttle flight more than twenty years ago. She trained in case NASA needed a substitute for Christa McAuliffe, its choice to become the first teacher in space.

Then, in nineteen eighty-six, Christa McAuliffe died with the Challenger crew when the shuttle exploded shortly after launch.

After the disaster, NASA officials barred other civilians from shuttle flights. But in nineteen ninety-eight, they created a new position for teachers to become fully trained astronauts. Barbara Morgan is NASA's first "educator astronaut" launched into orbit.

One of her first tasks was to operate Endeavour's robotic arm to inspect the shuttle for any launch-related damage. Cameras showed a small area hit by a piece of protective foam that fell off the fuel tank. NASA officials say the damage is not a safety threat but they are deciding what to do about it.

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report, written by Nancy Steinbach. For a link to NASA educational resources, go to voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Mario Ritter.

这里是VOA特别英语教育报道。

“早上好，发现中心 -- 下午好。 我们很高兴与你一起在这里。这在艾尔拉，安德森，戴夫威廉斯和我巴巴拉•摩根。并且我们为你的第一个问题作好了准备。在国际空间站上欢迎参与。”

[乘“奋进”号航天飞机的宇航员巴巴拉•摩根]

那是教师出身的宇航员巴巴拉•摩根，从离地球320多公里的空中的讲话声。

孩子： "你好，我们在爱达荷州"！

她问候的那些学生是在西北的爱达荷。他们在星期二在博伊西聚集在发现中心通过视频连接问宇航员问题。

那些宇航员已经知道那些问题将是什么。一个学生问星星从太空看起来象什么。

基本上，答案是航天飞机和空间站保持灯火通明，所以很难看到很多星星。

“其实,当我们看外面的时候，要想到一种情况：我们处在国际空间站里，而且所有的灯光都亮着。非常象你们在博伊西要看星星时的状况。但如果你到了山上高处，直到麦考尔, 你们可以看到一些星星，那里没有灯光，那就象是我们还没有与空间站对接时一样，我们可以关闭飞船上所有的灯, 空间站里人员也可以把他们的灯光全部熄灭。”

巴巴拉•摩根在太空训练之前，在爱达荷州麦考尔教小学。她和其他六名宇航员乘航天飞机“奋进”号在星期五到达，带着补给和新的设备到国际空间站。

巴巴拉•摩根现年55岁。 在她成为一名宇航员之前，她已教学多年。

“嗨，我是萨拉•布卢姆。在这项任务中怎样将一名教师与一名宇航员联系起来？”

“嗯，宇航员和教师实际上做相同的事情。我们探索，我们发现和我们分享。作为一名教师你与学生一起做的事情是重要的。作为一名宇航员你在太空里做着同样重要的事情。并且那些是绝对令人惊叹的工作。”

巴巴拉•摩根于二十多年前首次为太空飞行做准备。她在航天局需要克丽斯•麦克莱伦的替补的情况下训练，是成为第一位教师升入太空的选择。

在1986年, 克丽斯•麦克莱伦和挑战者号全体人员不幸遇难，当时航天飞机在发射后不久就发生了爆炸。

在灾祸之后，美国航天局官员禁止了来航天飞行的其他的平民。但在1998年，他们为教师成为全面训练的宇航员创立了一个新的岗位。巴巴拉•摩根是美国航天局的第一个"太空人教育家"发射进入轨道。

她的首要工作之一是操作“奋进”号机器人的手臂检查航天飞机任何与发射有关的损伤。镜头显示有一小块损伤是燃料箱的泡沫绝缘材料脱落击中所致。美国航空航天局官员认为损伤没有安全威胁，但是他们决定了对此要做的事情。

以上VOA特别英语教育报道，由南希·斯坦芭撰稿。链连美国航天局的教育资源，请点击voaspecialenglish.com。我是马里奥·里特。

附背景资料：

[学术动态] 太空授课（2007-08-18）

*北京时间8月15日凌晨5时9分，乘“奋进”号航天飞机升空的美国教师巴巴拉•摩根在国际空间站上开始了人类有史以来的首次太空授课，尽管地面只有18个学生听讲、时间也仅有25分钟，但却受到全世界关注，因为它实现的是21年前的一个梦想——

21年前的1986年1月28日，美国“挑战者”号航天飞机升空73秒后凌空爆炸，使首次选拔进入太空、准备在太空中向学生现场授课的美国女教师克丽斯特•麦考利夫与航天员一道遇难。而今巴巴拉•摩根作为克丽斯特•麦考利夫的替补终于完成了她的未竟事业…

从1967年美国阿波罗号燃烧和苏联联盟1号返航陨落，到2003年2月1日美国“哥伦比亚”号航天飞机返航解体，共有22名航天员为人类的载人航天事业英勇牺牲。如今太空授课，首先应向这些为人类航天事业而英勇献身的勇士们，致以崇高的敬意和深深的怀念…

*“奋进”号航天飞机于美国东部时间2007年8月８日从肯尼迪航天中心发射升空，两天后，宇航局发现航天飞机腹部隔热板有一处明显的沟痕状损伤。宇航局的专家认为，这处损伤是由于航天飞机升空时其外部燃料箱泡沫绝缘材料脱落击中所致。经过长达一周的审慎评估，宇航局地面控制中心决定放弃在轨修复，让航天飞机带伤返航。