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If you look at the earlier registered passengers onboard Virgin Galactic, for example,
如果看一下早期登记的想乘坐太空船 比如维珍银河（太空船）的人
they have astronauts in their 80s that are raring to go.
就会发现有八旬老人也跃跃欲试
I see great opportunities for older astronauts to get onboard Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin and SpaceX in the near future.
我觉得在不久的将来 年龄较大的宇航员有很大可能会登上维珍银河 蓝色起源和SpaceX
Certainly one of the greatest honors of my life
我一生中最大的荣誉之一
was getting a chance to fly in space with my boyhood hero Senator John Glenn.
就是有机会跟我的儿时英雄参议员约翰·格伦一起在太空飞行
He was up on the pinnacle of heroes as a kid.
我小时崇拜的英雄中 他排第一
He was the very first to orbit the Earth as an American back in 1962,
1962年 他成为了第一个绕地球飞行的美国人
back when rockets didn’t necessarily always behave; there were a lot of failures.
那时候的火箭性能没有保障 很多尝试也以失败告终
In fact the two launches right before John’s flight, as I recall, blew up, and he was on number three—
其实 在约翰进入太空之前 我记得有两次发射都爆炸了 而他是第三次火箭发射的搭载人员——
so there were definitely brave men back in those early days.
所以那时候的人们绝对是英勇无畏的
So it was an incredible thrill to welcome him back to the astronaut ranks and to fly with him on STS-95.
所以欢迎他重回宇航员的队伍 并且跟他一起进行STS-95飞行 真的特别棒
He came back at age 77, the oldest astronaut ever,
他回来的时候已是77岁高龄 史上最年长的飞行员
and we were basically studying his adaptation to space and re-adaptation to earth’s one gravity.
我们研究了他对太空的适应 以及对地球引力的再适应
Going up into space is sort of like an accelerated aging process.
进入太空就类似于加速的老化过程
When even a younger astronaut goes into space we have weakening of our muscles and bones and our heart,
即便是比较年轻的宇航员在进入太空后 肌肉 骨头都会弱化 还有心脏
because it doesn't have to pump against gravity,
因为它跳动的时候无需再抵抗重力了
we aren’t resisting the force of gravity to move ourselves around.
我们移动的时候不需要再对抗重力
It’s like your body is going on holiday,
你的身体就像在度假
and so it’s actually a great laboratory for developing countermeasures to the aging process.
这对研发老化过程的对策而言 是很好的实验契机
That was the real reason we wanted to bring John onboard,
这就是我们想带约翰一起进入太空的真实原因
is to compare and contrast an older astronaut’s experiences with a younger astronaut population.
为了对比和比较年长宇航员与年轻宇航员的经历
And he did an amazing job.
他做的特别好
He was in phenomenal shape, and just a wonderful human being to be around.
他身材特别棒 相处起来也让人很愉悦
We learned a lot by having him onboard with us.
有他在 我们学到了很多东西
One of the things that was really striking is just how well an older person does adapt to space.
让我们非常震惊的是 这位年长的老人对太空的适应能力出奇的好
He was able to perform right lockstep with every other crew-member onboard,
他能跟太空船上的其他人步伐一致
contributed in every facet of the mission.
对这项任务的方方面面都有贡献
He was actually a subject in ten different life sciences experiments—
其实他是十个不同生命科学实验的实验对象
I had to draw gallons and gallons of his blood, which he didn’t care for very much,
我得从他身上抽取一管又一管的血 不过他倒不太在乎
but he helped us understand those differences.
他帮助我们去理解这些不同
And one of the things that he did struggle with a little bit, coming back to earth’s one gravity.
他在返回地球适应重力的时候遇到了点小麻烦
He had issues with getting his balance back, the nervous tubular system was a little slow to recover,
他无法保持平衡 管状神经系统恢复的有点慢
not dissimilar to some of our longer duration astronauts when they come back from their missions to the ISS,
这对那些长期在国际空间站执行任务后返回地球的宇航员来说并不陌生
but certainly nothing that was a showstopper.
但也绝不是什么丢人之事
It was like a dream come true to have someone that I had revered as a kid
把我儿时敬仰的人变成同事和密友
become not just a crew-mate but a close friend, as I talk about it all the time.
这简直就是梦想成真 我一直都这么说
So one of the high points of my career for sure.
所以这绝对是我事业中的一个巅峰
