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MARTIN: |
There's a crowd already, Mel. |
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MEL: |
The
landing is always a popular event. |
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MARTIN: |
What will actually happen? |
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MEL: |
The
shuttle will appear from that direction. It will land there. It's
going to come to a stop right in front of us. The crew will get out
and walk to that area. |
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MARTIN: |
Will someone greet the crew? |
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MEL: |
Yes, there's always an official welcome. The radio and television
people will also be there. They'll ask questions and take pictures.
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MARTIN: |
Will you tell me something about the Space Shuttle? I've seen the
smaller rockets and one of the big ones. Does the shuttle have the
same kind of rockets? |
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MEL: |
They are different in some ways. For one thing, they can be used
again. In the old space flights, the rockets were dropped in the
ocean. We couldn't recover them or use them again. |
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MARTIN: |
How
many rockets does the shuttle have? |
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MEL: |
It
has two booster rockets that help lift it into space. These drop
off, and we recover them. It also has three engines of its own.
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MARTIN: |
Is
that all? |
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MEL: |
It
has other engines to help it slow down, turn, and so on. |
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MARTIN: |
Are
rockets the same as engines? |
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MEL: |
In
this case they are. Some people call them rocket engines. |
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MARTIN: |
What has this crew done in space? |
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MEL: |
Several things. They've just repaired one of the satellites. Next
trip they will repair another satellite. |
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MARTIN: |
How
will they do that? |
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MEL: |
After the launch, they will go into orbit. Then they will catch up
with the satellite. Next they will open the door and go out to the
satellite. |
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MARTIN: |
Do
they just go out? |
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MEL: |
No,
they have to be prepared. They will put on space suits. After they
are outside the shuttle, they will fasten the satellite to the
shuttle. |
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MARTIN: |
Has
it been easy to make these repairs in the past? |
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MEL: |
We've had good success on some things. It hasn't always been easy to
find the problem. |
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MARTIN: |
When was the first Space Shuttle? In the nineteen eighties? |
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MEL: |
Yes, nineteen eighty-one to be exact. It was called the Columbia.
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MARTIN: |
One
of the shuttles exploded. |
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MEL: |
Yes, that was a terrible accident. It was in nineteen eighty-six. It
took us a long time to get over that accident. |
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MARTIN: |
Will you send another man to the moon? |
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MEL: |
Probably not. There will be other space exploration, I think. |
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MARTIN: |
What project or exploration do you want? |
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MEL: |
I
want work on a space station. We can't go much further without a
space station. |
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MARTIN: |
It
sounds very exciting. |
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MEL: |
That was a perfect landing. |
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MARTIN: |
Well done. |
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