美国国家公共电台 NPR Moonwalkers' Apollo 11 Capsule Gets Needed Primping For Its Star Turn On Earth

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The Apollo 11 capsule took astronauts to the first moon landing and back. It is now a priceless museum artifact. Later this year, it'll go on tour around the country for the first time in over 40 years. NPR's Nell Greenfieldboyce reports that before that happens, it has to undergo a painstaking¹ restoration.

NELL GREENFIELDBOYCE, BYLINE²: The Apollo 11 command module³ spent four decades on display in the main lobby of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. Occasionally, workers would open up its plexiglass case to look it over or put in new lighting⁴.

LISA YOUNG: But it never really went under a full examination or investigative analysis as to all of the certain materials on there, how stable they are.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Lisa Young is a conservator at the museum who's trying to make sure this capsule doesn't deteriorate⁵. She's working on it now in a restoration hangar outside of Washington, D.C.

YOUNG: And our big job as conservators right now is to figure out if we're going to put it back on display permanently⁶, what could be happening to it in 50 years?

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Inside the capsule, for example, the adhesives⁷ used to stick velcro to the walls are becoming more crumbly and losing elasticity⁸.

YOUNG: So it's starting to have things pop off. So we want to go back in and make sure that all the adhesives remain stable.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Same with the mint-green paint on those walls. It's starting to flake⁹. Another job on the to-do list, salt removal. The capsule did splash down in the ocean after all.

YOUNG: Salts embed¹⁰ themselves in materials and then creep out later.

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GREENFIELDBOYCE: And then there's the dust. Young holds a vacuum near the charred¹¹ heat shield. She uses a small paintbrush to gently sweep off dust.

YOUNG: So you actually just want to loosen the dust so it becomes airborne and goes into the vacuum.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: How long will it take to clean this thing?

YOUNG: Probably like a month just for the surfaces, and then I'll be probably doing a little bit more on the top where we do corrosion¹² removal and fabric¹³ repair.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: Young says the point of all this cleaning and repair is preservation¹⁴, not to make it look shiny and new.

YOUNG: One of the things, you know, about space objects that you want to make sure is that you leave all of its evidence from space.

GREENFIELDBOYCE: So the burn marks from its fiery¹⁵ re-entry and numbers scribbled¹⁶ by astronauts on the walls - all that stays. After the work is done, the Apollo 11 capsule will visit museums in Houston, St. Louis, Pittsburgh and Seattle. Then it returns to the Smithsonian to be displayed in a brand new, environmentally controlled glass case. Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR News.

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1 painstaking   

adj.苦干的；艰苦的，费力的，刻苦的

参考例句：

• She is not very clever but she is painstaking.她并不很聪明，但肯下苦功夫。
• Through years of our painstaking efforts,we have at last achieved what we have today.大家经过多少年的努力，才取得今天的成绩。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

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 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

5 deteriorate   

v.变坏；恶化；退化

参考例句：

• Do you think relations between China and Japan will continue to deteriorate?你认为中日关系会继续恶化吗？
• He held that this would only cause the situation to deteriorate further.他认为，这只会使局势更加恶化。

6 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

7 adhesives   

黏合剂( adhesive的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These include dyes, adhesives, solvents, detergents, metals, and other foreign materials. 其中包括染料，粘合剂，溶剂，洗涤剂、金属等外界物质。
• Preparation, properties and kinds of polyurethane adhesives were described. 综述了聚氨酯胶粘剂的合成、特性和种类。

8 elasticity   

n.弹性，伸缩力

参考例句：

• The skin eventually loses its elasticity.皮肤最终会失去弹性。
• Every sort of spring has a definite elasticity.每一种弹簧都有一定的弹性。

9 flake   

v.使成薄片；雪片般落下；n.薄片

参考例句：

• Drain the salmon,discard the skin,crush the bones and flake the salmon with a fork.将鲑鱼沥干，去表皮，粉碎鱼骨并用餐叉子将鱼肉切成小薄片状。
• The paint's beginning to flake.油漆开始剥落了。

10 embed   

vt.把…嵌(埋、插)入，扎牢；使深留脑中

参考例句：

• The harpoon struck but did not embed.鱼叉击中了但并没有插入。
• This photo showed us how did the root of plant embed the soil deeply.这张照片显示植物的根是如何深入到土壤里去的。

11 charred   

v.把…烧成炭( char的过去式)；烧焦

参考例句：

• the charred remains of a burnt-out car 被烧焦的轿车残骸
• The intensity of the explosion is recorded on the charred tree trunks. 那些烧焦的树干表明爆炸的强烈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 corrosion   

n.腐蚀，侵蚀；渐渐毁坏，渐衰

参考例句：

• Corrosion is not covered by the warranty.腐蚀不在保修范围之内。
• Zinc is used to protect other metals from corrosion.锌被用来保护其他金属不受腐蚀。

13 fabric   

n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织

参考例句：

• The fabric will spot easily.这种织品很容易玷污。
• I don't like the pattern on the fabric.我不喜欢那块布料上的图案。

14 preservation   

n.保护，维护，保存，保留，保持

参考例句：

• The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。
• The picture is in an excellent state of preservation.这幅画保存得极为完好。

15 fiery   

adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的

参考例句：

• She has fiery red hair.她有一头火红的头发。
• His fiery speech agitated the crowd.他热情洋溢的讲话激动了群众。

16 scribbled   

v.潦草的书写( scribble的过去式和过去分词 )；乱画；草草地写；匆匆记下

参考例句：

• She scribbled his phone number on a scrap of paper. 她把他的电话号码匆匆写在一张小纸片上。
• He scribbled a note to his sister before leaving. 临行前，他给妹妹草草写了一封短信。