VOICE ONE:
I’m Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember with the VOA Special English programEXPLORATIONS. Today we tell about some of the major space stories ofthe past year. We begin with the landing of two American vehiclesthat were sent to explore the surface of the planet Mars.
VOICE ONE:
On January third, two thousandfour, the United States successfully landed the first of twoexploration vehicles on Mars. The device is named “Spirit.” Itlanded safely on target in an area of Mars called the Gusev Crater.
Exactly three weeks later, a similar exploration rover named”Opportunity” landed almost half way around the planet in an areacalled Meridiani Planum.
Both vehicles began sending back exciting information. Theinformation included extremely good photographs. NASA officialsannounced that anyone who could link with the Internetcommunications system could see the new photographs taken by therovers.
VOICE TWO:
Very quickly, millions of people began linking with NASA to seethe photographs. NASA announced a new record. On Februarynineteenth, NASA reported it had received more than six thousandmillion “hits” to its Internet Web site. A hit is recorded for everypiece of information a computer user receives from a Web site. Allof these hits were to see the NASA photographs taken by the two Marsexploration vehicles, Spirit and Opportunity.
On March third, scientists at the American space agency’s JetPropulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California again receivedexciting news from Mars. Opportunity had sent back good evidencethat liquid water once was an important part of the environment ofMars. Earlier this month, both Spirit and Opportunity sent back moreevidence of water on Mars. One scientist said it was the bestevidence of water yet received from the rovers.
NASA scientists have said the evidence of water suggests thatlife may have once been possible on the Red Planet.
VOICE ONE:
Both the Spirit and Opportunity rovers continue to send backvaluable information. They have done so for almost one year now.That is well past the planned working life NASA scientists expectedof the two rovers. Spirit has had some problems with its right frontwheel. NASA experts have solved this problem by driving the roverbackwards and not using that wheel.
Opportunity also continues to send back huge amounts ofinformation about the surface of Mars. NASA officials sayOpportunity continues to work as well now as it did the day itlanded on the Red Planet.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
On July first, the Cassini-Huygens(HOY-guns) spacecraft arrived at the planet Saturn. It flew intoorbit from below the famous rings that circle the planet. It reachedSaturn after almost seven years. It had traveled more than threethousand million kilometers through space.
It did not take long for Cassini to start making discoveries.Cassini took photographs of Saturn’s giant moon Titan in its firstfew days of orbit. These photographs provided details of Titan’ssurface that had never been seen before.
NASA officials said the photographs showed Titan has a thickatmosphere that usually looks white in photographs. However Cassinihas special cameras that can see though the giant moon’s atmosphereto study the surface. These photographs show very unusual features.NASA officials said it will take a great deal of study to understandthe surface of Titan.
VOICE ONE:
The study of Titan is one of themajor goals of the Cassini-Huygens flight. The exploration of Titanis exciting for many scientists. Titan is very large — even largerthan the planets Mercury and Pluto. Scientists are very interestedin Titan because it is the only known moon in our solar system tohave an atmosphere.
Plans call for Cassini to make more than seventy orbits aroundSaturn. Forty-five of these will include passing close to Titan.
On December twenty-fourth, the Huygens part of theCassini-Huygens spacecraft separated from the larger spacecraft. TheHuygens instrument is expected to enter the atmosphere of Titan onJanuary fourteenth.It will descend to the surface of the huge moonby parachute.
NASA scientists hope the Huygens instrument will provide moreinformation about Titan.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
On April twenty-first, a Russian Soyuz Eight space vehicle linkedup with the International Space Station. The Soyuz space vehicledelivered Commander Gennady Padalka and Science Officer Mike Fincke.They became the ninth International Space Station Crew.
For six months, the two men lived and worked on the InternationalSpace Station. Science Officer Fincke completed one hundred percentof the twenty-four research experiments that had been planned forhis stay on the station.
VOICE ONE:
During their mission, Cosmonaut Padalka and Astronaut Finckereceived two Russian Progress cargo supply ships. They also left thesafety of the station four times to work in space. Their work inspace included gathering test materials that had been in space formore than two years.
They placed radio equipment and new navigation equipment neededfor the arrival of the European Automated Transfer Vehicle nextyear. The unmanned space vehicle will carry equipment and suppliesfrom Earth to the International Space Station.
VOICE TWO:
International Space Station Crew number ten arrived in October afew days before Commander Padalka and Science Officer Finckereturned to Earth. They are American Commander Leroy Chiao andRussian Flight Engineer Salizhan Sharipov. They are to prepare thespace station for the arrival of the first Space Shuttle to visitthe station since the Space Shuttle Columbia accident.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
Not all of the news from space during the past year was goodnews. On September eighth, a spacecraft named Genesis enteredEarth’s atmosphere high above the Western United States.
It was traveling at speeds of morethan eleven kilometers a second. The spacecraft was supposed todeploy a parachute at almost thirty kilometers above the surface ofthe Earth. The device failed and the parachute was not deployed. Thetwo hundred sixty million dollar spacecraft crashed in the desert inthe state of Utah. It hit the ground at a speed of more than threehundred kilometers an hour. It hit so hard that it buried itselfhalf underground.
The Genesis spacecraft had been in an orbit almost one and onehalf million kilometers from the Earth for the past three years. Itspurpose was to collect extremely small pieces of material from theSun. Some of the material weighs no more than a few grains of salt.
VOICE TWO:
At first, scientists who were working with Genesis believed ithad been destroyed in the crash. However, in October they reportedfinding a large amount of material within the Genesis scientificcollectors.
This material was gathered from deep space. The NASA Genesis teamsays the material will provide information about the beginning anddevelopment of our solar system.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
On December eighth, NASA completed placing the three main enginesin the Space Shuttle Discovery. The work was completed at NASA’sKennedy Space Center in the state of Florida.
NASA is preparing the shuttle Discovery for its Return to Flightprogram. Plans call for Discovery to be ready for launch in May, twothousand five.
Discovery and its seven-person crew will fly to the InternationalSpace Station. One of the main tasks for the crew will be to testnew flight safety plans.
These tests will include inspecting the space shuttle and testingmethods to repair possible damage. The new safety measures were theresult of the accident that destroyed the Space Shuttle Columbia andits crew on February first, two thousand three. That accident wascaused by safety problems and damage to the Columbia during itslaunch.
VOICE TWO:
NASA officials say returning the Space Shuttle Discovery toflight is the first step in renewing human exploration of space.NASA hopes the flight of Discovery will be the first of manyattempts to reach new exploration goals. Two of these goals arereturning to the Moon and flying humans to the surface of Mars andreturning them safely.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
This program was written by Paul Thompson. It was produced byMario Ritter. I’m Faith Lapidus.
VOICE TWO:
And I’m Steve Ember. Join us again next week for anotherEXPLORATIONS program in VOA Special English.