VOA标准英语2010-Veteran Astronauts Oppose President Obama

Veteran NASA astronauts gathered in Chicago to mark the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 13 mission.  Despite a catastrophic explosion in 1970, Astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack¹ Swigert safely returned to Earth. The Adler Planetarium's anniversary celebration brought several Apollo astronauts together at a time when President Obama is planning to cut funding for NASA programs to return to the moon, while investing in other technologies and a massive rocket that could take astronauts further out into space, but with no planned destination yet.

Apollo 13 was so historic that it continues to captivate the imagination of people young and old.

 

More than 500 people packed an auditorium² in Chicago to hear how NASA astronauts and flight controllers successfully brought the 1970 mission home after an explosion crippled the spacecraft.

The continued interest in the mission, and the Apollo program in general, is no surprise to Jim Lovell, the man who helped make Apollo 13 a "successful failure."  "The twentieth century, the last century, the one positive aspect of that century was the flights to the moon and the space program," he said.

Lovell and fellow astronauts Fred Haise and Jack Swigert returned to Earth 40 years ago.  For Fred Haise, it was the last journey into space.

"It surprises me from the way I felt at the time that we haven't been to Mars," Haise said.

Apollo 13 was also Lovell's last trip to space.  He worries about NASA's focus. "They're looking at putting money into various programs at NASA but not having any goals.  Not having anything that they're striving for," he said. "Not going back to the moon or trying to go to Mars, or anything else."

Lovell, along with Neil Armstrong, and the last man on the moon Eugene Cernan, recently sent a letter to President Barack Obama to express their opposition³ to his proposed budget for NASA. That budget would end funding for the Constellation⁴ program, which would have returned U.S. astronauts to the moon as a stepping stone to Mars.

After three more Shuttle missions to the International Space Station this year.  NASA plans to retire the shuttle fleet, bringing US manned space flight to an end, for the forseeable future. 

"It's devastating⁵ to the space program if it's approved by Congress, and I really hope that more level heads will prevail.  I don't think they've looked very far into the futre. There's no vision to it," Cernan said. "There's no goal.  There's no challenge."

"Obviously there are a lot of people that are unhappy about the potential of altering the future of space flight," Buzz Aldrin said. Aldrin was the second man to step foot on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969. He thinks NASA should focus on getting to Mars, not going to the moon under the Constellation program. "Why should we do something when we've already done it," he said.  

"Going to the moon or going to Mars is about as interesting to people as say going to Antarctica," Bill Anders said. He was part of the 1968 Apollo 8 mission, also with Jim Lovell. It was the first manned mission to orbit the moon. "NASA has been burdened with a lack of enthusiasm by the taxpayers⁶," he stated.

Anders says the Space Shuttle program and the International Space Station have been a burden on taxpayers.  Though he favors an end to the shuttle program, he is upset there will be no other U.S. spacecraft to get astronauts to the Space Station. "I am frankly⁷ embarrassed as an American after beating the Russians to the moon, now we have to hitch⁸ hike rides back," he said.

Three more Space Shuttle missions are scheduled for this year.

The end of the Space Shuttle and the cancellation⁹ of the Constellation program, will cost 7,000 people their jobs at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Despite the cuts, President Obama's proposed budget increases NASA's funding by $6 billion over the next five years.  Most of the money will go towards working with industry on new technologies to make human space flight safer.

 

1 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

2 auditorium   

n.观众席，听众席；会堂，礼堂

参考例句：

• The teacher gathered all the pupils in the auditorium.老师把全体同学集合在礼堂内。
• The stage is thrust forward into the auditorium.舞台向前突出，伸入观众席。

3 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

4 constellation   

n.星座n.灿烂的一群

参考例句：

• A constellation is a pattern of stars as seen from the earth. 一个星座只是从地球上看到的某些恒星的一种样子。
• The Big Dipper is not by itself a constellation. 北斗七星本身不是一个星座。

5 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

6 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

7 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

8 hitch   

v.免费搭(车旅行)；系住；急提；n.故障；急拉

参考例句：

• They had an eighty-mile journey and decided to hitch hike.他们要走80英里的路程，最后决定搭便车。
• All the candidates are able to answer the questions without any hitch.所有报考者都能对答如流。

9 cancellation   

n.删除，取消

参考例句：

• Heavy seas can cause cancellation of ferry services.海上风浪太大，可能须要取消渡轮服务。
• Her cancellation of her trip to Paris upset our plan.她取消了巴黎之行打乱了我们的计划。