Пособие по английскому языку

have been presented by Dr. James C. Fletcher, NASA Admi­ nistrator.

First, the space shuttle is needed to do useful things. The shuttle will be able to send most unmanned applica­ tions spacecraft into orbit — communications, weather, navigation, and Earth resources observation satellites.

It will also launch scientific spacecraft for study of near and far space. With the shuttle, men will supervise the launch and placement of the satellites and will be able to service and repair them as needed. Thus, launch vehicle

less than the expense of current space operations. The key to this cost reduction is that major parts of the shuttle sy­ stem are reused rather than thrown away.

This would be an appropriate and logical next step. After all, a transcontinental airliner is not discarded after a single trip. The shuttle will greatly reduce the cost and difficulty of preparing payloads because of its volume and weight capacity and its capability for retrieval and repair.

Third, the shuttle is, in Dr. T. C. Fletcher’s opinion, the only meaningful new manned space program which can be accomplished on a modest budget. Man has worked hard to achieve freedom of mobility on land and sea, and in the air. In the past dozen years, he has gained the freedom of space. The Space Shuttle will extend man’s ability to do useful work in space while contributing to the economy of space operations. The Space Shuttle will make launching of payloads into Earth orbit a virtually routine event.

Fourth, the shuttle will encourage far greater participation in space flight. With the shuttle’s easy and routine access to space, scientists, engineers and astronauts will be able to get into orbit to supervise and check on their space experi­ ments. You don’t have to be an astronaut to ride the Space

Shuttle. Healthy individuals will be able to withstand the mild forces of acceleration and deceleration experienced when the shuttle is launched and—reenters the atmosphere. In addition, the shuttle will be built and pressurized so that passengers such as scientists, engineers and others will be able to ride in ordinary clothing, as in an airliner. Also by lowering the cost of space operations, the shuttle will encourage more nations to participate in space activities. Such joint experiments, joint environmental monitoring, and perhaps other joint enterprises will contribute toward making the benefits of space exploration available to all people.

The shuttle will be launched vertically, the orbiter will separate from its booster and go into orbit under its own power. When it accomplishes its mission, its pilots will fire its rockets to slow it down, fly it through the atmo­ sphere, and land it like an airplane on a jet size airstrip.

The delta-winged manned orbiter will be about the size of a DC-9 airplane. The cargo compartment, which can accommodate experiments and passengers, will be about 4.5 meters (15 feet) in diameter and up to 18 meters (60 feet) long. The orbiter will be able to carry cargo and/or passen­

1760 kilometers (1100 nautical miles) to the right or left. Each orbiter will be designed for reuse up to a hundred times.

The Space Shuttle is expected to be ready to play its major role in space by the end of this decade. It will then be used to launch all but the very smallest and very largest payloads. It will send some spacecraft into orbit from which

Ex. 8. Agree or disagree with the statements.

1. The space shuttle will consist of a booster and an airplane-like manned reusable orbiter. 2. It will launch scientific spacecraft for study of near-earth space only. 3. The shuttle will encourage far greater participation in

space flight. 4. The shuttle orbiter crew will consist of a pilot and three flight engineers. 5. The orbiter will be flown back to land at a special airstrip. 6. The major parts of the shuttle system will be reused and this will result in the cost reduction of space programs. 7. The space shuttle is expect­ ed to play its major role in space by the end of this de­ cade. 8. The shuttle will not solve the problem of easy and routine access to space. 9. With the advent of the space shuttle the failures of launch vehicles and satellites will become things of the past. 10. Space flights will become routine events.

Ex. 9. Listen and repeat after the speaker.

Fourth, the shuttle will encourage far greater parti­ cipation in space flight. With the shuttle’s easy and routine

on their space experiments. You don’t have to be an astro­ naut to ride the Space Shuttle. Healthy individuals -will be able to withstand the mild forces of acceleration and de­

Ex. 10. Listen to Text 15 and retell it.

Ex. 11. Ask another student if

1. he knows what a space shuttle is. 2. lie remembers how many times it can be used. 3. he can explain why the space shuttle is called an orbiter. 4. he knows what the advantages of the orbiter are as compared to the present-day space systems. 5. he remembers what size the space shuttle will be. 6. he knows the characteristics of the shuttle. 7. he can explain why the space shuttle will be launched vertically. 8. he remembers what must be done to slow down the orbiter during its reentry. 9. he knows what size airstrip is necessary for the shuttle to land.

Ex. 12. Listen to the conversation. What is the subject discussed?

A:It’s amazing how rapidly the development of space research facilities and procedures is going on!

B:Indeed, the exploration of space began in 1957. It took only two decades to build the space industry.

C:The space industry is becoming more and more complex: Earth’s satellites, manned spacecraft, and automatic

objects in the near-earth orbits and 53 payloads and 44 auxiliary objects in outer space.

C:Yes, there are very many of those payloads and auxiliary objects. But nowadays world economy cannot develop without space technology.

A:Undoubtedly. And space economy is becoming an im­ portant part of the world economy.

B:Especially when the space industry begins to develop.

C:We have already witnessed the first attempts in this direction, during the work of the Soviet and American orbital space station crews.

A:You mean crystal growth experiments and also welding experiments in a vacuum and in weightlessness, I sup­ pose?

C: These and other experiments as well. So far these opera­ tions are rather costly.

B: Naturally, it’s because only the descending module — a fraction of the spacecraft — comes back to the Earth.

C:More than that: in case of a satellite failure no repair can be done on it and a new satellite has to be launched.

A:It is not unlikely that innovations in the field will appear soon to solve some problems.

B:As we know scientists and engineers have long been thinking about winged spacecraft. The founders of cos­ monautics — K. Tsiolkovski, F. Zander, Yu. Kondra­

tyuk and foreign specialists H. Oberth, R. EsnaultPelterie also thought about it.

B:Then what is the difference between the modern concep­ tion of reusable orbiter and the «classical» winged vehicle?

C:The reusable orbiter will become an element of a complex

transport space system first covering near-earth space, then lunar space anl finally interplanetary vastness.

Ex. 13. Read the conversation as if you were A, В or C.

Ex. 14. Translate into English.

1. Рассмотрим подробнее пилотируемый космический аппарат, который в литературе называют по-разному: многоразовый 1 транспортный космический корабль (МТКК), орбитальный самолет, космический самолет.

В последнее время в США принято официальное на­ звание «Спейсплейн»12, что можно перевести как «Космо­ план». Это название заменило старое название «челнок» 3 (shuttle — «Шатл») или «Космический челнок» 4 (Space shuttle), намекавшее на то, что корабль должен сновать подобно челноку между орбитой и Землей.

Орбитальный самолет — главный космический проект США после программы «Аполлон». Первый полет «Космо­ плана» будет означать возобновление 5 американских пи­ лотируемых полетов, прерванных после завершения про­ грамм «Аполлон» (1972 г.), «Скайлэб» (1973 г.) и «ЭПАС» (1975 г.).

2. МТКК, вообще говоря, управляется автоматически, но экипаж может при необходимости взять управление па себя, пользуясь ручками управления, аналогичными тем, которые были на кораблях «Аполлон».

Экипаж орбитального самолета состоит из четырех чело­ век: командира корабля (первого пилота), второго пилота, специалиста, ответственного за выполнение программы работ и контролирующего электропитание и терморегу­ лирование, и специалиста по полезной нагрузке. Он ве­ дет научную работу и в отличие от других членов экипажа не проходит специальной подготовки космонавтов.

Экипаж орбитального самолета помещается в двухпа­ лубной 6 кабине (объем 73 м3) с кислородно-азотной микро­ атмосферой. На нижней палубе кабины, предназначенной для отдыха космонавтов, имеются кресла еще для шести возможных «пассажиров» (по другим данным — для грех) — ученых и инженеров, также не проходящих спе­

1 Многоразовый — reusable. «Спейсплейн» — spaceplane. «Челнок» — sluil tie.

4 «Космический челнок» — Space shuttle. Возобновление — renewal.

6 Двухпалубный — double-decker.

йена короткая открытая платформа, и масса эксперимен­ тального оборудования составит (5 т, длина блока — 12 м. В третьем варианте герметичная часть отсутствует вовсе, весь блок состоит из платформы длиной 15 м, на которой будет размещено оборудование массой 9,1 т. Диаметр блока во всех случаях 4,3 м. Платформы могут выдви­ гаться из грузового отсека, не теряя связи с блоком «Спейслэб». Приборы на них могут поворачиваться (теле­ скопы снабжаются автономной системой ориентации). Избыточное тепло блока удаляется с помощью радиато­ ров орбитальной ступени МТКК.

Один экземпляр блока «Спейслэб» рассчитан на эк­ сплуатацию в течение 5 лет и должен совершать 50 полетов продолжительностью до 30 суток. Он обслуживается 3—7 специалистами, которые занимаются только научной работой и вовсе освобождены от задач управления кораб­ лем (общая численность экипажа самолета-лаборатории может, таким образом, достигать 10 человек). МТКК с блоком «Спейслэб» на борту будут выводиться на круго­ вые орбиты высотой 200—500 км. Первый полет продол­ жительностью 7 суток намечался на апрель 1980 г.

Программа научных исследований, которые намечается проводить с помощью блока «Спейслэб», чрезвычайно об­ ширна и в основных чертах соответствует обычной про­ грамме исследований, уже проводившихся на советских

иамериканских орбитальных станциях: астрономия, фи­ зика Солнца и звезд, исследования в области технологии новых материалов (сверхчистые сплавы, полупроводники

ит. д.), техника связи и навигации, геодезия (измерение расстояний между пунктами земной поверхности с точ­ ностью до одного дюйма), биология и медицина. Ожида­ ются рейсы МТКК, целиком посвященные медико-биоло­ гическим исследованиям. В тех случаях, когда продол­ жительность эксперимента превышает месяц, специальные биоспутники (например, с двумя обезьянами на борту)

будут отделяться от МТКК.

LET US SPEAK ON SPACE RESEARCH

(8 topics and 39 subtopics for a conclusive test)

I. WHAT SOVIET FIRSTS IN SPACE RESEARCH

5.TV and voice communication with orbital manned stations. Do you know when the first TV transceiver on board the Salyut station began operating?

6.Record flights. Whose names do we recall tracing back the history of prolonged manned flights?

II.WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT COSMONAUTS AND ASTRONAUTS TRAINING?

1.Selection. What were the requirements 20 years ago?

2.Training. Where are cosmonauts trained? Where are astronauts trained?

3.Readiness for a mission. How is it determined?

4.Space crews. How many crews are trained for a mis­ sion and why?

5.Position in the crew. What are two main positions? What professional background is necessary to take them?

III.WHAT DOES «BOOSTER» MEAN? WHAT ARK OTHER NAMES FOR IT?

1.Rocketry development. What were the first Soviet and American rockets? Whose names come to your mind when you speak of rocketry?

2.Inserting spacecraft into orbit. What facilities are used to do this?