Who Was Neil Armstrong - 尼尔·阿姆斯特朗 Chapter 5 The Space Race

The United States’ space program began in the late 1950s. Only a little more than fifty years earlier, in 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright flew the very first airplane in Kitty Hawk¹, North Carolina.
Yet by mid-century, air travel was common. After the end of World War II, new planes were developed. They had jet engines. They flew at faster and faster speeds, reaching higher and higher altitudes. Rockets were developed that could travel far into space.
In 1955, the White House announced plans to go beyond high-speed air travel. Scientists were working to launch a satellite (an unmanned craft) into space, where it would orbit Earth.
Then, on October 4, 1957, news flashed around the world. Soviet² scientists had launched a satellite called Sputnik I. It was only the size of a beach ball and weighed less than two hundred pounds. It traveled around Earth in a little less than a hundred minutes.
The space age was born.
The space race started that same day. The goal was the moon. Would it be the United States or the Soviet Union?
After World War II, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as the two great superpowers. They were also enemies. The Soviet Union was a Communist nation. The United States—a democracy—feared that the Soviets³ would force other countries to become Communist, too.
This period became known as the Cold War. There were no battles between armies. Instead, each side built up huge storehouses of atomic bombs. The question was whether either nation would drop an atomic bomb and start World War III.
The launch of Sputnik I showed that Soviet technology was the most advanced in the world.
The Soviet space program was very secretive; it did not let any failures become public. Nevertheless, the Soviets had done something amazing. They’d also done it first.
Meanwhile, NASA (National Aeronautics⁴ and Space Administration) failed again and again at launching a spacecraft into orbit. (One rocket got only four inches off the ground!)
Only a month after Sputnik I came the much bigger Sputnik II with a dog named Laika as its passenger.
Then, in April 1961, the Soviets jumped even further ahead in the space race. They put a man into space. His name was Yury A. Gagarin. Overnight he became world famous.
Only three weeks later, NASA sent an American test pilot named Alan Shepard soaring into space aboard a Mercury spacecraft. The flight lasted almost fifteen minutes. And Shepard piloted the vehicle himself, something Gagarin had not done.
In the United States, Shepard was given a hero’s welcome upon his safe return. But in the history books, he would always remain the second human being in space. Not the first.
John F. Kennedy was president at the dawn of the space race. He took office in January of 1961. He was determined⁵ to see the United States pull ahead of the Soviets.
The president prodded⁶ Congress to pour billions of dollars into NASA, which was based in Houston. (Spacecraft, however, were launched from Cape⁷ Canaveral, Florida, because the area’s mild weather meant launches could take place any time of year.)
A team of seven men was picked as the very first group of astronauts.
In a famous speech before Congress, President Kennedy said, “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon, and returning him safely to Earth.”
By the end of the decade? That meant an American astronaut had to reach the moon before 1970. To many people, that seemed an impossible dream. But the challenge had been issued. NASA would do all it could to make the dream a reality.

1 hawk   

n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员

参考例句：

• The hawk swooped down on the rabbit and killed it.鹰猛地朝兔子扑下来,并把它杀死。
• The hawk snatched the chicken and flew away.老鹰叼了小鸡就飞走了。

2 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

3 soviets   

苏维埃（Soviet的复数形式）

参考例句：

• A public challenge could provoke the Soviets to dig in. 公开挑战会促使苏联人一意孤行。
• The Soviets proposed the withdrawal of American ballistic-missile submarines from forward bases. 苏联人建议把美国的弹道导弹潜艇从前沿基地撤走。

4 aeronautics   

n.航空术，航空学

参考例句：

• National Aeronautics and Space undertakings have made great progress.国家的航空航天事业有了很大的发展。
• He devoted every spare moment to aeronautics.他把他所有多余的时间用在航空学上。

5 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。

6 prodded   

v.刺，戳( prod的过去式和过去分词 )；刺激；促使；（用手指或尖物）戳

参考例句：

• She prodded him in the ribs to wake him up. 她用手指杵他的肋部把他叫醒。
• He prodded at the plate of fish with his fork. 他拿叉子戳弄着那盘鱼。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。