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[00:01.00]SHIRLEY GRIFFITH:This is Shirley Griffith.
[00:02.33]STEVE EMBER:And this is Steve Ember with the VOA Special English program,EXPLORATIONS.
[00:09.07]Today we tell about what visitors can see and do at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral,Florida.
[00:18.94]It is the place where the American space agency NASA launches its space shuttles.
[00:26.26]SHIRLEY GRIFFITH:It is morning on September eighth,Two-Thousand.
[00:31.12]You are visiting the Kennedy Space Center.The voice you just heard is that of a NASA announcer.
[00:40.39]He is counting the seconds to the launch of the space shuttle Atlantis.
[00:46.42]The shuttle-orbiter vehicle is making its twenty-second trip into space.
[00:53.45]Five American astronauts and two Russian cosmonauts are waiting inside the shuttle.
[01:02.23]They are about to travel three-hundred-fifty-four kilometers to the International Space Station.
[01:10.93]Their job is to prepare the station for the first people who will live there.
[01:18.74]Within days the Atlantis crew will have transported two-thousand kilograms of food,water,exercise equipment and other supplies into the station.
[01:33.70]STEVE EMBER:Thousands of mechanical devices must be perfect before launch director Mike Leinbach can give the command"Go!"Tests show the equipment is working well.
[01:47.50]Yet the weather remains a worry.Air Force and NASA experts are watching carefully.
[01:56.67]Rain over the nearby Atlantic Ocean may be moving into the launch area.
[02:03.59]A storm could delay the flight for weeks.
[02:07.87]A NASA pilot is flying an airplane around the launch area to observe the weather.
[02:15.40]This pilot reports that the shuttle can safely leave Earth.The weather experts agree.
[02:23.70]A NASA announcer talks to the waiting crowd.
[02:28.67]He explains that scientists and engineers on the ground are testing all the spacecraft's systems.
[02:37.65]One after another,you can  hear them report that their systems are"Go!"The final count before the launch begins.
[02:48.00]SHIRLEY GRIFFITH:You feel the ground shake.You see yellow flames and smoke shoot out from under the rocket.
[02:57.17]Atlantis climbs,followed by white smoke.The spaceship separates from the equipment that lifted it.
[03:06.83]Atlantis is now on its way to chase the International Space Station.
[03:14.15]STEVE EMBER:You have seen a space shuttle launch.
[03:18.22]Now you want to learn about some of the work that made it possible.
[03:23.47]So you go to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.This large educational center is not far from the launch area.
[03:35.30]The name honors John F.Kennedy,thirty-fifth president of the United States.
[03:42.44]The permanent visitor area opened in Nineteen-Sixty-Seven.
[03:48.47]That is when NASA was preparing to launch the first astronauts to the moon.
[03:55.60]Since then,millions of people have walked around the seven structures of the Visitor Complex.
[04:04.38]SHIRLEY GRIFFITY:You take a bus to see some of the center's most important places.
[04:10.91]One of these is called the VAB-the Vehicle Assembly Building.
[04:17.26]It is the third largest building in the world.
[04:22.43]It is one-hundred-sixty meters tall.The building covers more than three and one-quarter hectares.
[04:32.59]Rocket-lifting devices,fuel tanks and shuttles are joined here.
[04:39.33]When the spacecraft is ready,a long vehicle called a crawler carries it to one of the center's two launching areas.
[04:50.56]Both are only a short distance away.However,the trip takes several hours.
[04:58.17]The loaded crawler can travel only one and one half kilometers per hour.
[05:05.77]STEVE EMBER:Now you decide to get a close look at a rocket.
[05:11.02]So you go to an area called the Rocket Garden.A number of rockets stand in this area,noses pointed to the sky.
[05:21.75]One of these rockets lifted the first American satellites into space in the Nineteen-Fifties.
[05:30.24]Another lifted the first American astronaut into space.
[05:35.21]Alan Shepard made that flight in Nineteen-Sixty-One.
[05:40.38]Still another rocket launched the first American to orbit the Earth-John Glenn.
[05:47.41]That happened in Nineteen-Sixty-Two.
[05:50.91]One rocket in this area is not standing.The huge Apollo Saturn One-B lies on its side.
[06:00.78]It is the only rocket in the Garden that NASA designed.
[06:06.14]The other rockets were built as military missiles.
[06:10.92]NASA later redesigned them for peaceful exploration of outer space.
[06:18.83]SHIRLEY GRIFFITH:Next,you want to see the inside of a spacecraft.So you enter the Explorer.
[06:26.93]This vehicle is a copy of a full-size space shuttle orbiter.
[06:33.28]Once inside,you may be surprised at how the astronauts are able to work in such a small amount of space.
[06:44.90]The pilot of an astronaut crew flies the shuttle from a crowded place called the flight deck.
[06:53.50]Shuttle crews work on experiments in an area called the middeck.
[06:59.53]They also sleep,eat and use the bathroom on the mideck.
[07:05.98]Astronauts who work outside the spaceship repair satellites in an area behind the middeck.
[07:14.58]This is the cargo bay.The Russian space station Mir connected with shuttles in this cargo bay area.
[07:25.23]Inside the cargo bay is a fifteen-meter-long mechanical arm.
[07:31.97]It help the astronauts work in space.Here you will also see a curved device covered with shining gold material.
[07:44.38]In Nineteen-Ninety-Two it rescued a satellite that was traveling in the wrong orbit.
[07:53.55]STEVE EMBER:By now you probably have questions about the space program.
[07:59.12]You can  get answers by attending a meeting with an astronaut.
[08:04.58]On this day the speaker is aerospace engineer John Fabian.He has served on two space flights.
[08:14.06]A child from Japan asks Mister Fabian if he always wanted to be an astronaut.
[08:22.36]He says he did but he was too tall.He had to wait until spacecraft were designed with enough space for his height.
[08:33.21]The earliest American astronauts were required to be average height or less.
[08:41.20]Mister Fabian has special advice for the many children in the Visitor Complex this day.
[08:47.94]He advises them to study hard so they can be a part of an exciting future.
[08:55.07]SHIRLEY GRIFFITH:Children can learn about the space program from many exhibits in the Visitor Complex.
[09:02.20]For example,a colorful,often funny presentation called"Robot Scouts"tells about the activities of robots.
[09:13.33]These machines are designed to do special tasks in the space program.
[09:20.07]Another exhibit offers a document for travel among the planets.
[09:27.10]It asks young visitors to identify planets and space equipment like the Hubble Space Telescope.
[09:36.58]Visitors can study the exhibits and supply the answers.
[09:42.43]Other devices in this area of the Visitor Complex give information about the planets that orbit our sun.
[09:52.30]These interactive machines provide facts in unusual way that helps visitors remember them.
[10:02.86]STEVE EMBER:You can also watch several educational movies about space.
[10:09.49]A movie called"Quest for Life"explores the possibility of finding forms of life on what may be two-thousand-million other planets in the universe.
[10:22.68]NASA scientists say many of these planets may have the elements required to support life.
[10:31.17]Another movie tells about a future community in space.
[10:36.14]"L-Five,First City in Space"is the story of a human city built far from Earth.
[10:44.84]It tells some of the many dangers that the first space citizens may face.
[10:51.65]NASA scientists helped produce the film,which shows events that seem very real.
[10:58.86]For example,water from a waterfall in the movie appears to be about to flow directly on your head.
[11:07.56]You wear special eyeglasses to see the action.
[11:12.63]SHIRLEY GRIFFITY:The sun is going down now.Soon the Visitor Complex will close for the day.
[11:20.83]But before you leave,you visit the Space Mirror.The Mirror is a large black stone wall.
[11:30.89]It contains names of astronauts killed while training or serving in space.
[11:38.10]Those honored here include three astronauts who served in the early days of the American Space Age.
[11:47.66]Gus Grissom,Roger Chaffee and Edward White died in a Nineteen-Sixty-Seven fire on the ground.
[11:58.50]The names of the crew who died in the space shuttle Challenger also are on the wall.
[12:06.21]Challenger exploded shortly after its launch in Nineteen-Eighty-Six.
[12:13.23]Six astronauts and school teacher Christa McAuliffe died in the explosion.
