VOA慢速英语 登陆月球:双子星计划

　　VOICE TWO:

　　On the sixty-second orbit, the astronauts prepared to return to Earth. They fired the spacecraft's control rockets. The spacecraft slowed and began to re-enter the atmosphere. It landed safely in the Atlantic Ocean.

　　Rescue helicopters reached McDivitt and White within seven minutes of landing. The two American astronauts were in excellent condition. They had made the first space walk. And they had proved that people could both live and work in space.

　　(MUSIC)

　　VOICE ONE:

　　The next Gemini launch was planned for just two months later. Gordon Cooper and Charles Conrad were to spend a record eight days in space.

　　Soon after the launch, Cooper and Conrad noted a problem that almost ended their flight early. They discovered a drop in pressure in the fuel cells that supplied electricity. These fuel cells powered the communications and computer systems. And they were very important to the environmental control systems in the spacecraft.

　　VOICE TWO:

　　Gemini's flight director decided to reduce the use of power on the spacecraft, instead of ending the flight early. Cooper and Conrad turned off the radar, radio, computer and even some environmental control systems. The spacecraft floated silently through space.

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