014 我的宇航员生涯

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I remember looking at the clouds while lying on the grass at our family farm

near Cherkessk, a city in the Caucasus Mountains in the Soviet Union.

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I'd lie there between my regular chores, and my father would

say, "Alexei Samedov, you are a lazy boy."

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But I wasn't lazy; I was planning my future

但我并不懒，我在规划我的未来。

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I knew one day I would fly among the clouds, higher and

higher—and maybe even reach the stars.

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I needed to study hard and get in good physical shape to be a pilot

我需要努力学习并保持良好体格，才能成为飞行员。

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So I made sure my grades were near perfect, and I ran fast around

the boundary fence of our farm every day.

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In the Soviet Union, our compulsory education lasts 11 years, and after

that I was accepted at the Sarapul Air Force Academy.

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For four years I learned about the physics of flight, airplane

mechanics, aviation navigation, weather variability—

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everything I would need to become a successful pilot

我成为一名成功飞行员所需的一切知识。

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And of course I actually flew planes — at first with

an instructor and eventually solo.

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In 1947, when I was twenty years old, I attended the

Borisoglebsk Military Aviation School,

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where I learned to fly the new Soviet fighter jets

like the MiG-9 and the Yak-15.

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I was taught how to make tight turns and eject

from my plane in case of trouble.

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After graduating I became a test pilot and flew one

of the first MiG-15 fighter planes—

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the most technologically advanced fighter in the world at that time

那是当时世界上技术最先进的战斗机。

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After World War II, as rocket science developed, both the Soviet

Union and the United States began a "space race,"

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an exciting competition to put humans into space

一场激动人心的、要将人类送入太空的竞争。

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Both countries invested money and time into programs

designed to pursue human spaceflight.

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The U. S. program was called Project Mercury, and the Soviet

program was called the Vostok Program.

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In 1957 the Soviet Union put the first earthling into orbit around Earth —

a dog named Laika—and the race really became serious.

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In 1959 the Cosmonaut Training Center was created in Moscow to teach Soviet

pilots how to fly the new spacecraft and survive in space.

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The word " cosmonaut " means " sailor of the universe " in Russian, and

I was one of the first to apply to become one.

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Thousands of pilots, engineers, and scientists — men and women —

applied for the Soviet space program,

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and they had to pass extensive interviews with the director of the center

他们还必须通过该中心主任的多轮面试。

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I also had to pass very strict medical examinations and psychological tests

我还得通过非常严格的体检和心理测试，

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because it is extremely important the applicants be healthy and mentally

able to withstand the stress and the loneliness of a space flight.

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Fewer than one out of every hundred people that applied were

actually chosen, and luckily I made the cut.

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Our training includes working in many simulators, machines that mimic the

environmental conditions a cosmonaut will experience in space.

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For example, I train in a pressurized space suit to

adapt my body to various altitudes—

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first, I train at 5 to 6 kilometers and then, at 14 to 15 kilometers

首先，我在5到6公里的高度训练，接着在14到15公里的高度训练。

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When the spacecraft re-enters Earth's atmosphere, cosmonauts have to eject

at about 12 kilometers of altitude and descend to Earth with a parachute.

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So I practice jumping from airplanes and landing with

a parachute in water and on land.

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I also train with a gimbal rig, a machine that has taught me how to

control the spin of a tumbling space capsule.

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My training in a centrifuge, a huge mechanical arm, helps me

withstand spinning forward and backward,

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and round and round at differing speeds for up to 13 minutes

以及以不同速度一圈又一圈地旋转，最长可达13分钟。

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The centrifuge has accustomed my body to high g-forces

离心机让我的身体习惯了高重力加速度，

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the forces of gravity a cosmonaut experiences during the

acceleration and deceleration of space flight.

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Roller-coaster riders also experience g-forces, but at a much lower level

坐过山车的人也会感受到重力加速度，但程度要低得多。

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The part of the training I like best is learning how to

use the control panels in the capsule.

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I've learned how to maintain communication

with the space team back on Earth,

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memorized every part of my spacecraft, and practiced

what to do in case of an emergency.

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The worst part of the training is being left totally alone for very long

periods in an isolation chamber, sometimes up to ten days.

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My instructors need to test my reactions to being alone

and to the lack of outside stimulation.

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I call it the cabin of silence, and being in there is really difficult

我把它叫做寂静小屋，待在里面真的很难熬。

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At times I don't know if I am awake or asleep

有时我都不知道自己是醒着还是睡着了。

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Sometimes I pound on the walls of the chamber, sing, or talk to myself

just to make sure I can still feel and hear.

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While in isolation I think about a lot of things

在隔离期间，我想了很多事情。

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I ask myself," What will happen to my wife and children

if I do not come back from a mission?

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Should I take this risk?" These are hard questions to ponder

我该冒这个险吗？”这些是很难深思的问题。

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Recently Yuri Gagarin became the first man in history to go up into space

最近，尤里·加加林成为历史上第一个进入太空的人。

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On April 12, 1961, he spent 108 minutes in space and came back

safely. Everyone in the world was amazed!

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Quickly the Americans launched astronauts Alan Shepard in May and Gus

Grissom in July; each mission was a mere 15-minute suborbital flight.

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That August cosmonaut Gherman Titov bested the Americans when he took off

and spent more than a day in space, circling Earth 17 times.

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He was the first human ever to fall asleep in space!

他是第一个在太空中入睡的人类！

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Now I am waiting to hear, along with my fellow cosmonauts, who will be

chosen to go on the next mission. I hope it will be me.

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My father is proud and so is my wife, but they worry too

because space is a very dangerous place.

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But the galaxy is the last frontier and calls out to us on Earth to

explore and discover what the universe holds for humanity.

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Hopefully I will fly there, just as I dreamed so long ago lying on the

grass at the farm and looking up at the stars.