Who Was Neil Armstrong - 尼尔·阿姆斯特朗 Chapter 8 Next Stop—the Moon

On the morning of July 16, 1969, Neil and his two fellow Apollo 11 crewmen rose at 4:15 A.M. They had steak and eggs for breakfast, the same breakfast all astronauts had before a flight. The night before a special visitor had arrived for dinner to wish them good luck—Charles Lindbergh.
Once the astronauts were in their bulky space suits and helmets, an elevator on the launchpad took them up, past the Saturn¹ rocket, to the space capsule, Columbia.
The countdown for Apollo 11 had started days ago. Now there were only a few minutes left until the launch. Launch control in Florida was responsible only for the very beginning of the flight. Once the craft cleared the launch tower, the NASA team in Houston would take over.
It was the last seconds of the countdown.
Six . . . five . . . four . . .
It seemed as if everyone watching held their breath.
Three . . . two . . . one . . .
Blastoff.
Trailing fire, the Saturn rocket with the astronauts inside the Columbia capsule soared into the sky. The entire cabin was rattling². But after just a few minutes, the ride grew smooth.
The Saturn V was a three-stage rocket engine. Three engines were needed because it wasn’t possible to build a single engine with enough power to take the craft a quarter of a million miles away.

Fuel in the Saturn’s first-stage engine propelled the rocket forty miles into the air. When its fuel was all used up, the first stage dropped off. At this point the second-stage engine kicked in. This took Apollo 11 one hundred and fifteen miles above Earth.
Now the astronauts were circling Earth. After one and a half orbits, the second stage fell off and the third-stage engines fired. This sped up the Apollo so that it could escape Earth’s gravity and continue toward the moon.
So far it had been a smooth and uneventful trip.
On the fourth morning, Columbia entered the moon’s gravity. From this point on, every step in the mission was being done for the very first time.
After breakfast on July 20, Neil and Buzz floated from Columbia into the landing module³, which Neil had named the Eagle.
“See you later,” Michael Collins said to them right before the Eagle separated from Columbia.
One and a half hours later, it was time for the Eagle to touch down on the moon.
The Eagle had to land perfectly⁴. That meant touching⁵ down on a flat area; otherwise the Eagle would not be able to take off from the moon and rejoin Columbia. Neil and Buzz would be left stranded⁶ on the moon forever.
The landing was supposed to be controlled by computers. But as the Eagle got close to the moon’s surface, Neil saw that the landing area was much too rocky.
Quickly he took the controls and looked for a safer spot. With less than a minute’s worth of fuel left, he spotted⁷ a good area four and a half miles away. Then the four bug-like legs of the landing vehicle made contact with the dusty surface of the moon.
“The Eagle has landed!” Neil told the NASA group in Houston. Now it was time to sightsee!

1 Saturn   

n.农神，土星

参考例句：

• Astronomers used to ask why only Saturn has rings.天文学家们过去一直感到奇怪，为什么只有土星有光环。
• These comparisons suggested that Saturn is made of lighter materials.这些比较告诉我们，土星由较轻的物质构成。

2 rattling   

adj. 格格作响的, 活泼的, 很好的 adv. 极其, 很, 非常 动词rattle的现在分词

参考例句：

• This book is a rattling good read. 这是一本非常好的读物。
• At that same instant,a deafening explosion set the windows rattling. 正在这时，一声震耳欲聋的爆炸突然袭来，把窗玻璃震得当当地响。

3 module   

n.组件，模块，模件；(航天器的)舱

参考例句：

• The centre module displays traffic guidance information.中央模块显示交通引导信息。
• Two large tanks in the service module held liquid oxygen.服务舱的两个大气瓶中装有液态氧。

4 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

5 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

6 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

7 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。