人類首次登月鮮為人知的故事

文/By+Michael+Bartiromo+譯/袁瑞

On July 16， 1969， astronauts Buzz Aldrin， Neil Armstrong， and Michael Collins left Earth in Apollo 11. A few days later on July 20， man took his first steps on the moon. Frankly， we're still amazed at how they pulled it off1）.

1969年7月16日，宇航員巴茲·奧爾德林、尼爾·阿姆斯特朗和邁克爾·柯林斯乘坐“阿波羅11號”離開地球。幾天之后的7月20日，人類在月球上邁出了第一步。坦白說，我們現在對他們的成功仍感到驚奇。

1. Neil Armstrong's famous quote was incorrectly transmitted. Instead of saying， "That's one small step for man，" the astronaut claims he said， "That's one small step for a man." As he once clarified to a biographer： "I think that reasonable people will realize that I didn't intentionally make an inane2） statement and that certainly the 'a' was intended， because that's the only way the statement makes any sense."

2. President Nixon was prepared for the worst， as was his speechwriter William Safire. Safire put together a tribute3） to the Apollo 11 astronauts just in case they never made it home. "In ancient days， men looked at stars and saw their heroes in the constellations4），" the president would have read in one of the speech's poignant5） lines. "In modern times， we do much the same， but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood."

3. Neil Armstrong couldn't afford the life insurance policy for an astronaut， so he， along with Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins， made an alternate plan. Prior to their mission， the three signed hundreds of autographs6） while under quarantine7）. They then sent these autographs off to a friend， who would postmark them on the date of Apollo 11's launch， and in the event of a tragedy， the friend would distribute the memorabilia8） to the astronauts' families for them to sell for money.

4. The Apollo 11 mission insignia9） was designed by crew member Michael Collins. On astronaut Jim Lovell's advice， he chose an eagle preparing to land on the surface of the moon with an olive branch in its beak. NASA， however， felt the eagle's talons10） looked too aggressive， so Collins resubmitted the design with the eagle holding the olive branch in its claws.

5. Upon entering the lunar module11） to begin their journey home， Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong discovered that a switch on a crucial circuit breaker12） was broken， leaving them without a way to ignite the engine. They tried to sleep while NASA's mission control worked out a solution， but Aldrin eventually decided to jam his felt-tip pen13） into the mechanism to use as a make-shift switch， and it worked.

6. According to the astronauts who landed there， the moon has a smell. After tracking moon dust back into the lunar module and removing their helmets， astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin thought the lunar materials smelled of "wet ashes in a fireplace" and "gunpowder"， respectively. But back here on Earth， our oxygen-rich atmosphere renders the moon dust odor-free.endprint

1. 尼爾·阿姆斯特朗的那句名言當年被人傳錯了。這名宇航員聲稱，他當時說的并非“這是人類邁出的一小步”，而是“這是一個人邁出的一小步”。正如他曾經向一位傳記作者澄清的那樣：“我想明理的人都會認識到我不會故意說一句蠢話，‘一個這個詞當然是我本來就要說的，因為唯有這么說這句話才有意義。”

2. 尼克松總統當時做了最壞的打算，他的演講稿撰稿人威廉·薩菲爾也是如此。薩菲爾寫了一篇悼念“阿波羅11號”宇航員的頌詞，以備萬一他們再也無法返回家園時使用。“古時候，人們仰望星空，在星座當中看到了他們的英雄，”總統原本會朗誦的演講稿中有這樣一句痛徹心扉的文字，“在現代，我們做著幾乎同樣的事情，但是我們的英雄卻是有著血肉之軀的偉大人物。”

3. 尼爾·阿姆斯特朗無力為自己買一份宇航員人壽保險單，所以他跟巴茲·奧爾德林和邁克爾·柯林斯一起制定了一個備用計劃。在執行任務之前的隔離期間，這三個人簽了幾百張親筆簽名。然后他們把這些簽名寄給了一個朋友，這個朋友會在“阿波羅11號”發射當天給這些簽名蓋上郵戳。如果悲劇發生，這個朋友就會把這些具有紀念意義的簽名分發給三位宇航員的家屬，讓他們拿去賣錢。

4. “阿波羅11號”的任務徽章是由登月成員邁克爾·柯林斯設計的。根據宇航員吉姆·洛弗爾的建議，柯林斯選擇了一只準備在月球表面著陸的鷹，鷹的嘴里還叼著一根橄欖枝，作為設計圖案。然而美國宇航局覺得鷹的爪子看起來太具攻擊性，所以柯林斯重新提交了一份設計圖案，讓鷹的雙爪抓著那根橄欖枝。

5. 在進入登月艙開啟回家之旅時，巴茲·奧爾德林和尼爾·阿姆斯特朗發現一個起關鍵作用的斷路器上的開關壞了，致使他們完全無法啟動發動機。在美國宇航局的航天地面指揮中心研究解決方案期間，他們曾試圖靠睡覺來打發時間，但是奧爾德林最后決定把他的氈頭筆塞進機器中作為臨時開關，而它居然起作用了。

6. 據登上月球的宇航員說，月球是有味道的。他們回到登月艙，腳上沾的月塵也給帶了進去，摘下頭盔之后，宇航員尼爾·阿姆斯特朗和巴茲·奧爾德林分別認為月球上的物質聞起來有“壁爐里潮濕的灰燼”和“火藥”的味道。但是返回地球后，我們富含氧氣的大氣層使月塵的味道消失殆盡。

1. pull it off： <口>做成，成功

2. inane [??ne?n] adj. 愚蠢的；傻的；無聊的

3. tribute [?tr?bju?t] n. 頌詞；（表示敬意的）禮物

4. constellation [?k?nst??le??n] n. 星座

5. poignant [?p??nj?nt] adj. 令人痛苦的，慘痛的

6. autograph [???t?ɡrɑ?f] n. 親筆；（尤指名人的）親筆簽名

7. quarantine [?kw?r?nti?n] n. 隔離期

8. memorabilia [?mem?r??b?li?] n. 值得紀念的事物；紀念品

9. insignia [?n?s?ɡni?] n. 徽章

10. talon [?t?l?n] n. [常作～s] （鳥、獸、尤指猛禽的）爪

11. module [?m?dju?l] n. 【空】（航天器的）艙

12. circuit breaker： 【電】斷路器，斷路開關

13. felt-tip pen： （書寫標簽等用的）氈制粗頭筆endprint