評論
打印
Peggy Whitson THE ULTIMATE ASTRONAUT
佩吉·惠特森，終極宇航員
BY THOMAS PESQUET
托馬斯·佩斯凱
(Time Notes: Pesquet is a French aerospace engineer and European Space Agency astronaut)
(注：佩斯凱是法國的一名航空航天工程師，也是歐洲航天局的一名宇航員)
An astronaut doesn’t scare easily.
宇航員是不會輕易被驚嚇到的。
Yet when I learned that I would partner with Peggy Whitson,
但當我得知我的首次太空之旅就是和佩吉·惠特森搭檔時，
the first female chief of the NASA astronaut office, for my inaugural trip to space,
她是NASA宇航員辦公室的第一位女性主管，
I felt an unusual tinge of pressure.
我還是感覺到了超出尋常的壓力。
I would have to meet a very high professional standard—that’s what her name means in the astronaut community.
我必須要達到非常高的職業標準——因為她的名字在宇航員圈子里就意味著這一點。
I could only imagine the challenges she had to overcome,
我只能靠想象才能體會得到她必須克服的那些挑戰——
moving from a farm in rural Iowa to academia to the International Space Station,
從愛荷華州農村的一個農場到學術界再到國際空間站，
cracking through the glass ceiling with every step.
她走過的每一步都是在突破當時的玻璃天花板。
As we trained together—
我們一起受訓的時候——
in a simulator in Russia, out in the wild for a survival exercise, underwater or in a jet—
在俄羅斯的一個模擬裝置里，在野外，水下或在飛機上，進行生存訓練——
I got to know Peggy up close.
我得以近距離地了解了佩吉。
She is by far the most hardworking and strong-willed person I’ve ever met.
她是我所見過的最勤奮、最堅強的人。
She never accepts limitations.
她從不接受限制。
And she’s a genuinely good person: passionate but kind, fearless but gentle,
也是一個由衷的好人：她熱情而善良，無畏而溫柔，
with all the heart you want a leader to have, in order to follow her into battle.
還有著你希望能跟隨她戰斗的領導人的所有特質。
It’s no wonder that Peggy has almost single-handedly redeined the role of women in space exploration.
所以，她能勉強做到憑一己之力拯救女性在太空探索中的角色也就不足為奇了。
She is now the most successful astronaut in the history of the United States,
現如今，她是美國歷史上最成功的宇航員了，
having spent a record-breaking 665 cumulative days in space
在太空中累計度過了破紀錄的665天時間，
and contributing to hundreds of scientific experiments while she was there.
并在那期間為數百項科學實驗做出了不小的貢獻。
I’m proud to consider Peggy a mentor and friend.
能視她為我的良師益友，我感到十分自豪。
And as I watch her legacy unfold,
看到她留給世人的精神財富繼續流傳，
and I see the looks on little girls’ faces when she speaks and the diference in their lives that she’s making,
看到她說話時小女孩們臉上的表情，以及她對小女孩兒們的生活的影響，
it reminds me that, yes, one can change history and make Earth a better place by going to space,
這些都提醒著我，是的，人是可以通過太空改變歷史，讓地球變得更加美好的，
because that’s what Peggy has achieved.
因為佩吉就做到了。
譯文由可可原創，僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載。
