2015-05-22

【Aiden in English】

        Neil Alden Armstrong grew up like any other kid, not knowing what life would hold in store for him. It was a world of unknown and opportunities. Born in Wapakoneta, Ohio on August fifth, 1930, Armstrong probably didn’t know that one day he would be the first man on the moon, carrying the Americans, along with the rest of the world, to a whole different level of possibilities. Yet the stage was set for his road to fame at a very young age.

        It all started on his first plane ride at the age of six. Airplanes drew Armstrong’s interest as ice cream would draw a child. He pursued his passion of flight, beginning lessons when he was fourteen. Also, Armstrong had a large interest in the final frontier or outer space. Along with the fact that his neighbor possessed a powerful telescope, his fascination was encouraged when he saw the stars, moon, and planets. On his sixteenth birthday, Armstrong was given a pilot’s license. For a person so young, Armstrong showed a very serious sort of amazement, building models of planes in the basement and even a small wind tunnel where the air was forced in to the tunnel, controlling the speeds for study. It was just a beginning to what would be a marvelous career, and the start to fame.

        Armstrong’s studies and interest were temporarily stopped, for the Korean War was taking place. Like all the other 1,789,000 Americans called on to serve, Armstrong’s skills were put to use as a navy aviator. At the age of eighteen, he was sent to the Naval Air Station Pensacola for a year and a half of basic training. Once promoted to a fully active naval aviator, Armstrong was assigned to join Fighter Squadron Fifty-one, a fighter jet group. Sailing on the USS Essex, an aircraft carrier, Armstrong made his way to the sounds of chaos. He piloted a Grumman F9F-2B Panther, the first jet that was transported on an aircraft carrier and the mainly used fighter jet in the Korean War. This jet had four built-in cannons, making it a very effect air-to-ground unit. This particular jet made as a bomber as well, and Armstrong flew seventy-eight combat missions with it. That was a full 121 hours in the air. After the war, Armstrong was awarded the Air Medal for the first twenty missions, and then the Gold Star for the next twenty. Finally, he was given the Korean Service Medal and an Engagement Star.

        Armstrong, now as a veteran of the Korean War, served eight more years as a Junior Grade Lieutenant. He resigned his post later, and went back to college at Purdue. There, Armstrong’s grade shot through the roof, and he could re-ignite his interests. After college, Armstrong went to work with the NACA, the association that later became NASA. He began to build and test certain aircrafts, such as the Convair F-106 Delta Dart and the Bell X-1B. Armstrong also followed his dream job on the Titan II. He became an astronaut working on the Gemini VIII program, which was a project that was trying to get a man in orbit of the earth.  He was aboard the Titan II rocket, following the Agena Target Vehicle, an unmanned spacecraft. These two rockets were the first to ever dock in space, but then something a problem occurred on the Titan II. The crafts were beginning to spin at dangerous speeds. Armstrong undocked the Agena, but that only made the Titan II spin even faster. That resulted in tumbling back to earth, rotating at extreme speeds. At a point, Titan II was spinning at one revolution per second. The protocol kicked in and the mission was aborted. Although it was a rough ride down, Armstrong managed to survive and splash down safely.

        Walking on the moon is every child’s dream, and for Armstrong, the only difference was that he was able to turn a simple child’s imagination into reality. He made history during the Gemini VIII mission when Armstrong took the role of being the head captain of Apollo XI. He rode the Eagle, the module of Apollo XI, into the final frontier, and on July 20^th, 1969, the Eagle module touched down on the bay of the Sea of Tranquility. Aboard the capsule that would set history was Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. The Eagle was also much more spacious than Titan II, and Armstrong was very grateful of that. At a young age, he was prone to motion sickness in cramped, small spaces, especially for long durations. Armstrong was the first person on step on the rocky surface of the moon. As he was taking the step of the century, Armstrong said his famous words. “One small step of [a] man, one giant leap for man-kind.” Indeed, it was a large leap of man-kind, for in that moment, America had taken a huge advantage in the Cold War against Soviet Unions, allowed humanity to a new prospective of the galaxy, and uncovered a batch of new possibilities to the explorers of the universe’s answers. Scientists were able to carry out experiments on the samples collected by Armstrong and the Eagle’s crew. Armstrong also conducted a few simple experiments on the moon, too, but their time on the moon was cut short due to the uncertainty of how the suits would react to the temperatures of the vacuum of space. The atmosphere on the moon was thin, so the temperatures could fluctuate from 523 degrees to negative 387 degrees Fahrenheit. Armstrong could only stay for about two and a half hours on the surface, but the crew slept aboard the Eagle that night. The next day in universal time, the first craft to ever make it to the moon began its way home.

        The Eagle module stayed about twenty-one hours on the moon, in which the astronauts on board explored the area of the landing site and slept. The module started its long way home on July 21^st, completing the journey by crashing down in the Pacific Ocean. The splash down was twelve nautical miles south-west of Hawaii, and the President Richard Nixon came to greet the heroes aboard the USS Hornet. The crews of the Apollo XI were quarantined for eighteen days for extra caution. After an event that pretty much put his name in every modern science and history book, Armstrong settled down to teach at the University of Cincinnati. He continued to pursue his favorite subject, becoming a Professor of Aerospace Engineering. He taught for eight years, and retired after that. Soon, Armstrong underwent surgery on August 7^th, 2012, though. Death soon followed, due to the complications of the surgery. Armstrong had blocked coronary arteries which needed to be unclogged which had caused the surgery, and on August 25^th, the aftermath of the surgery caught up him, and he passed away. The President Barack Obama addressed Armstrong by saying: “Neil [Armstrong] was among the greatest of American heroes, not just of his time, but of all time.”

        Armstrong was just like any other kid, not knowing what the future held for him. He lived somewhat more successful than the average person. As he was buried at sea, the world remembered him. The flight of Apollo XI would be an extraordinary event, and the people’s souls on earth flew with it. They would and will remember him, as his achievements and accomplishments were not buried with the great American hero.

【紅霞譯文】

        尼爾·奧爾登·阿姆斯特朗成長之路與其他孩子沒有什麼不同，也就是說早先未必清楚自己的前程，一切充滿未知，機會無處不在。一九三O年八月五日，阿姆斯特朗出生於俄亥俄州沃帕科內塔鎮，當時並未想到有一天將肩負美國乃至全世界人民的熱切期望，勇敢地穿越外空，成為天下第一個登上月球的先驅。其實早在年幼時期，他已經樹立目標朝這個方向努力。

        往事追溯回首次乘坐飛機，正如冰激凌吸引孩童的味覺，飛機博取了年僅六歲阿姆斯特朗的注意力。十四歲起，他着手學習基礎知識，立志追逐飛行之夢，同時還對外空抱以濃厚的興趣。無巧不成書，街坊鄰居有一台高倍望遠鏡，他用來觀察恆星、月亮、行星，之後對宇宙天體更加憧憬。十六歲生日那天，阿姆斯特朗考取了飛行駕駛執照，於是便在地下室開始建造飛機模型甚至小風洞，藉助空氣壓縮管道從事控制氣流速度的研究，年紀輕輕的他已初露驚人的才氣，但這僅僅是一個開頭，其輝煌的職業生涯從此拉開序幕。

        由於朝鮮戰爭爆發，阿姆斯特朗曾一度中止學習放棄愛好，178.9萬美國公民應徵參戰。根據個人特長，阿姆斯特朗當上海軍後備飛行員。十八歲時，他被送往彭薩科拉海軍飛行基地進行長達一年半之久的基礎訓練，從此以海軍現役飛行員的身份進入第五十一戰鬥機中隊。他跟隨埃塞克斯號航空母艦出海，連鬧出的噪音聲響都與眾不同。阿姆斯特朗駕駛的格魯門公司F9F-2B黑豹戰鬥機是該航空母艦首次運載專門用於朝鮮戰爭的噴氣式戰鬥機，其內設四門發射台，堪稱空對地有效武器。這種噴氣式戰鬥機也可被用作轟炸機，阿姆斯特朗一共駕駛過七十八次，飛行時間長達121小時。戰爭結束後，他因完成前後各廿次任務而分別榮獲飛行獎章和金星獎章，最終還被授予朝鮮服役勳章及“參戰之星”光榮稱號。

        如今身為朝鮮戰爭退役老兵的阿姆斯特朗出任初級中尉，一干就是八年。後來辭職重新回到普渡大學繼續求學之路。在校期間，他出類拔萃，再次拾起中斷多年的個人愛好。大學畢業後，阿姆斯特朗來到美國航空航天局的前身國家航空諮詢委員會擔任試飛員，在那裡他開始設計試驗諸如F-106三角標槍戰鬥機和貝爾X-1B型等超音速飛機，接下來他又參與夢寐以求的“巨人－2”號火箭發射工作，擔任“雙子星－8”號太空宇航員並完成地球軌道上載人航天飛行任務。他登上“巨人－2”號，同行的還有運載火箭“火力神目標飛行器”即無人駕駛飛船，首次實現了軌道對接，但稍後“巨人－2”號出現突發狀況，飛船以極其危險的速度旋轉，阿姆斯特朗決定解離“火力神”，但“巨人－2”號旋轉愈發超速，迫使“巨人－2”號返回大氣層，此時，該航天器以每秒一周的速度飛快旋轉。按照操作步驟，宇航員不得不放棄事先擬定的太空計劃。返程途中更是險象橫生，但阿姆斯特朗機智應對，總算安全返回地面。

        月球行走是每個孩子心中的夢想，與眾不同的是阿姆斯特朗能把童年的夢想化成現實。在執行“雙子星－8”號飛行任務期間及擔任“阿波羅－11”號宇宙飛船指令長時，無論軌道對接還是艙外活動無一不是航天史上前所未有的壯舉。阿姆斯特朗駕駛“鷹號”阿波羅登月艙進入外層空間，於一九六九年七月廿日降落在寧靜海，與同時實現登月計劃的巴茲·奧爾德林和邁克爾·柯林斯一起譜寫出輝煌的歷史篇章。言外之意，“鷹號”登月艙要比“巨人－2”號寬敞得多，這使阿姆斯特朗不勝欣慰，因為小的時候，狹窄環境極易引起阿姆斯特朗暈車，特別還要經歷很長時間。阿姆斯特朗是第一位踏上月球地面的人，為了這一步，人類不惜付出長達一個世紀之久的代價，正如阿姆斯特朗發表的著名感言：“這是一個人的一小步，卻是人類的一大步。”事實如此，由於登月成功，美國在對蘇聯冷戰中揚眉吐氣，進而極大地促進人類探索宇宙奧秘，並使科學家有機會從阿姆斯特朗及其同行者採集的標本中展開實驗研究。登月期間，阿姆斯特朗曾做過簡單試驗，但由於擔心宇航服無法應對外星真空環境的溫度變化而縮短滯留時間。月球空氣稀薄，氣溫從523^oF到-387^oF（273^oC到-197^oC）變化不定，阿姆斯特朗在月球表面僅僅兩個半小時，但“鷹號”登月艙宇航員在那裡足足睡了一個晚上，世界標準時間第二天，第一艘登月飛船才踏上歸家之路。

        “鷹號”登月艙在月球上一共逗留了廿一個小時，宇航員艙外探險睡覺休息，登月艙於七月廿一日開始漫長的返航征程，飛行結束時“啪唧”一下在栽進太平洋中，落在夏威夷西南12海里以外的水域，理查德·尼克松總統乘坐大黃蜂號航空母艦親自前往迎接凱旋而歸的英雄豪傑。為安全起見，“阿波羅－11”號全體宇航員返回地面後被隔離了十八天，他們的美名紛紛走進科學教材被納入歷史書籍當中。功成名就之後，阿姆斯特朗來到辛辛那提大學，在航空航天工程系教書育人，繼續從事自己熱愛的事業；八年後，他決定退休。二O一二年八月七日，阿姆斯特朗罹患冠狀動脈硬化正接受心臟搭橋手術，但因術後併發症不治而於八月廿五日與世長辭，巴拉克·奧巴馬總統發表弔唁：“尼爾不僅是這個時代、而是美國歷史上最偉大的英雄之一。”

        阿姆斯特朗成長之路確實與其他孩子相同，並不知道未來怎樣，但他卻比一般人成功。其骨灰被撒入大海，全世界無不緬懷這位航天界開拓前輩。因為“阿波羅－11”登月之行，阿姆斯特朗豪邁壯舉深深打動人們的心靈，人們將永遠銘記他所創下的不朽功勳。