2006年VOA标准英语-NASA Searches for Missing Tapes of 1969 Moon La

By David McAlary
Washington
15 August 2006

The U.S. space agency NASA has stepped up its search for the original videotapes of the first moon landing in 1969. The tapes are missing, but NASA does not consider them lost. They are of higher visual quality than the images the world saw 37 years ago.

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		deployed1="" flag="" beside="" photograph="" a="" for="" poses="" aldrin="" jr.="" us="" july="" src="/upimg/allimg/070416/1422240.jpg" /> Astronaut Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin Jr. poses for a photograph beside US flag deployed on the moon on July 20, 1969

Much of the world was watching on television when the commander of the Apollo-11 mission, Neil Armstrong, took the first steps on the moon in July 1969.

ARMSTRONG:  "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

The pictures of that historic footstep and everything else about that and subsequent Apollo moon landings, including flight data and astronaut health readings, were recorded on magnetic tape at three NASA ground tracking stations around the world.  The tapes were then shipped to a NASA operations center near Washington, the Goddard Space Flight Center.

In late 1969, the space agency began transferring them and tens of thousands of tapes from other space missions to a nearby U.S. government archives warehouse². NASA says it asked for them back in the 1970s, but now does not know where they are.

"I probably am overly sensitive to the word 'lost.' I do not feel they are lost," said Richard Nafzger, a Goddard Space Flight Center engineer who was in charge of television processing from all of NASA's ground receiving sites.  

The space agency has authorized³ him to set aside his other duties for the foreseeable future and devote his time to the hunt for the tapes.  Nafzger says they are stored somewhere.

"We had very good procedures on documenting everything, where it went," he added.  "So I think we're tracking paperwork to see if it's in a storage facility outside of Goddard, possibly at Goddard, or were there some other procedures taken to [dispose of] these tapes for some reason. But they would all be documented."

One possible disposition⁴ might have been erasure⁵ of the tapes for re-use. The Internet website Space.com quotes a retired⁶ Apollo tracking station engineer as saying that telemetry recording⁷ tapes were expensive, $100 per reel, so they might have been wiped clean as a money saving measure.

This would obviously be a big disappointment to Nafzger and the rest of NASA. The tapes contained the highest resolution images of the moon landing in existence. Because NASA's space video system was incompatible⁸ with broadcast standards, it retransmitted the live images to the world by pointing a standard television camera at a TV screen, offering lower quality video still available today.

"It was pretty good, but nowhere near as good as we can do today with the digital technology we could use on the original tapes to convert it to broadcast TV," he noted⁹.

If the tapes are located and still in good condition, we might finally see the moon's surface almost as Neil Armstrong saw it.

ARMSTRONG:  "It has a stark¹⁰ beauty all its own. It's like much of the high desert of the United States. It's different, but it's very pretty out here."

1 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

2 warehouse   

n.仓库；vt.存入仓库

参考例句：

• We freighted the goods to the warehouse by truck.我们用卡车把货物运到仓库。
• The manager wants to clear off the old stocks in the warehouse.经理想把仓库里积压的存货处理掉。

3 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

4 disposition   

n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署

参考例句：

• He has made a good disposition of his property.他已对财产作了妥善处理。
• He has a cheerful disposition.他性情开朗。

5 erasure   

n.擦掉，删去；删掉的词；消音；抹音

参考例句：

• The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became truth. 过去给人擦拭个干净，擦拭的行为又忘了个干净，于是，谎言就变成了真理。 来自英汉文学
• The inspection, modification, replacement or erasure of part of file's contents. 检查、修改、代替或擦去文档内容一部分的过程。 来自互联网

6 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

7 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

8 incompatible   

adj.不相容的，不协调的，不相配的

参考例句：

• His plan is incompatible with my intent.他的计划与我的意图不相符。
• Speed and safety are not necessarily incompatible.速度和安全未必不相容。

9 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

10 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。