BOX SET: 6 Minute English - 'Space' English mega-class! 30 minutes of new vocabulary!

6 Minute English

from BBC Learning English.

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English.

— I'm Alice. — And I'm Rob.

So, Rob, what job did you want to do when you were little?

Oh, I really wanted to be an astronaut. Be in orbit, watching the Earth from afar.

Wow! Be 'in orbit' — it means 'be in space and following the Earth's curvature'.

Well, the view must be nice from up there.

But the reality of becoming an astronaut is pretty hard.

And it's the subject of today's show.

Did you know that less than 600 people have been into space so far?

I'd like to have been one of them. I know I have what it takes to be a spaceman!

Yes. There are many others like you who would like to go for this job, Rob.

And that's the quiz question for you today.

How many people have applied to join Nasa's 2017 astronaut class?

Was it a) 800?

b) 8,000?

Or c) 18,000 people?

Hmm, 8,000 sounds like a lot already, so I'll go for b) 8,000 people.

Well, we'll find out if you chose the right answer later on in the programme.

So, what do you think is the biggest challenge

when considering becoming an astronaut?

Well, I'd say 'claustrophobia' — and that means 'fear of being in a small space'.

That might be a problem, because the space capsules are small

and you're with the same people for months at a time.

Yes, that's right.

Well, astronauts are bound to get on each other's nerves sometimes!

'To get on someone's nerves' means 'to annoy them'.

But I'm a great team player, so I think I'll be OK.

Yes, I can confirm that.

Anyway, the challenge of being an astronaut doesn't stop here.

In the space capsule,

astronauts have to put up with extremely difficult conditions,

like zero gravity, for example.

Yeah, it looks like fun, doing somersaults in the capsule

and catching bits of food in your mouth as it floats out of its packet.

But 'zero gravity' — a condition where gravity is exerting no force —

can lead to wasting of the bones and muscles.

Astronauts take two and a half hours of exercise per day to help prevent this.

But what do astronauts have to do before they go into space

to prepare themselves for weightlessness and spacewalking?

They can practice using a virtual reality headset and special gloves.

It's like playing a computer game that looks and feels like doing a spacewalk.

And they also train in a swimming pool!

Let's listen to Major Tim Peake, a British astronaut,

talking about the preparation he did

for his mission on the International Space Station.

The way we practise spacewalking is in water.

Water gives us the neutral buoyancy that we need,

so we sink training modules into swimming pools

and then practise the spacewalking on them.

We wear very specific equipment, a pressurised spacesuit —

very difficult to move in actually —

it's hard to bend the fingers, it's hard to bend your arms —

and it really gives you quite a difficult workout.

British astronaut Tim Peake says water gives us 'buoyancy',

which is the ability to float.

Floating in space is similar to floating in water,

so astronauts practise their spacewalk in swimming pools.

Yes. They take to the water and to the air too.

Astronauts experience the feeling of weightlessness in planes.

A large plane with padded walls flies to high altitude

and then goes into a 'nosedive' — or a fast and sudden fall —

which creates short periods of weightlessness.

Fabulous! I'd love to do that!

But it's not all fun and games.

Don't forget that one of the main reasons

for being out on the International Space Station is to conduct research.

Major Tim Peake is doing scientific experiments

such as how to grow plants in space,

and what effect radiation and zero gravity have on this process.

Like that film where an astronaut gets 'stranded' — or left behind —

on Mars and has to grow potatoes.

— Yes. — The film's called The Martian.

That's right. Yes.

So, do you think you have what it takes to survive in a challenging environment, Rob?

Let's listen to Major Tim Peake talking about his survival training.

Survival training, for this, the European Space Agency sends us to Sardinia.

When you land in the Soyuz capsule,

sometimes you might not land exactly where you expect to be.

Foraging for food, for example,

and your basic elements of shelter and protection, getting water.

Go and live in a cave for seven days with an international crew.

And it's a wonderful environment to prepare you for a mission,

because you are very isolated.

So astronauts may get stranded on Earth —

when the space capsule lands somewhere unexpected.

And they have to find food. 'Forage' means to search.

Mm, it's a word we often use to describe how animals search for food.

Indeed. Well, let's go back to that quiz question you asked me earlier, Alice.

I'm keen to know how many people

want to live this experience of being an astronaut.

OK.

Well, I asked how many people have applied to join NASA's 2017 astronaut class?

Was it a) 800? b) 8,000?

Or c) 18,000 people?

Mm, and I said quite a lot, b) 8,000 people.

Mm-hm.

And you were wrong, I'm afraid!

According to Nasa's website,

more than 18,300 people applied to join their 2017 astronaut class.

This is almost three times the number of applications received in 2012,

for the most recent astronaut class.

Wow! So, there's no chance of me ever succeeding.

Oh, well, you mustn't give up, Rob.

Anyway, we are running out of time, so here are the words we heard today —

in orbit, claustrophobia,

get on someone's nerves,

zero gravity,

buoyancy, nosedive,

stranded,

forage.

Well, that's the end of today's 6 Minute English. Please join us again soon!

— Bye-bye. — Bye-bye.

6 Minute English

From BBC Learning English.

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Sam.

And I'm Rob.

How good are you at finding your way from A to B, Rob? Can you read a map?

Oh, come on, Sam, this is the 21st century!

Everyone uses GPS and mobile phone apps to find their way around these days.

True, but before mobile phones were invented,

arriving at your destination wasn't so easy.

At sea, sailors used the stars and Sun to 'navigate' —

to work out which direction they wanted to travel.

And navigating on land was almost impossible without a 'compass' —

an instrument for finding directions

that uses a magnetic needle which moves to always point north.

But, as we'll be hearing in this programme,

navigation at sea is easy compared to finding your way in outer space.

After all, what's up and what's down

for astronauts who are floating in zero gravity?

In space, is there a true north, like here on Earth?

And how is everything complicated

by the fact that all the stars and planets are moving?

Some big questions there, Rob, but first I have a question of my own.

You asked how astronauts know which way is up,

so who better to ask than the first person in space? But who was that?

Was it a) Neil Armstrong?

b) Yuri Gagarin?

Or c) Valentina Tereshkova?

Well, Neil Armstrong was the first man on the Moon,

but I don't think he was the first person in space.

So, I think it's b) Yuri Gagarin.

OK, I'll reveal the answer later in the programme.

Now, let's get back to Rob's earlier question

about whether there's such a thing as north in space.

And to answer that, it's first useful to know how north is found on Earth.

Listen as astrophysicist Ethan Siegel

as he explains why a compass always points north

to BBC World Service programme CrowdScience.

Because Earth behaves like it has a giant bar magnet in it,

and your compass needle will point north towards Earth's magnetic pole.

And we've arbitrarily defined north as, that's what we're going to say 'up' is,

like, the North Pole — that's as 'up' as you can go.

Planet Earth is like a giant magnet.

Because the needle of a compass is magnetised,

it's attracted to the 'magnetic pole' — the points near the North and South Poles

where the Earth's magnetic field is concentrated.

This explains how we find north,

but Ethan points out that the decision to call north 'up' and south 'down'

is 'arbitrary' — decided by random chance, not based on any particular reason.

When we look at a world map, we think of north as 'up',

the USA in the northern hemisphere is above Brazil, in the southern hemisphere.

But from space, Earth can just as easily be seen the other way up,

with Australia, South Africa and South America at the top.

Both views are equally true.

Wow, that's a mind-blowing thought!

But even though we can argue which direction is up,

it's still true that we can use a compass to navigate on Earth.

However, this simply isn't true in space.

Here's astrophysicist Ethan Siegel again

to tell BBC World Service's CrowdScience why.

The problem with navigating in space

is that the magnetic field flips irregularly every few hundred,

or few thousand light years.

There's no central object like the black hole at the centre of our galaxy —

it doesn't dominate the whole galaxy,

it doesn't make a magnetic field that you can feel out here,

25, 27,000 light years from the centre.

So, magnetism is not a good guide to navigating in space.

A 'light year' sounds like a measurement of time,

but in fact it measures the distance that light travels in one year —

which, given that light can travel seven and a half times around the Earth in one second,

is a very, very long way — around six trillion miles, in fact.

Well, the problem is that every few hundred light years,

the magnetic field 'flips' — turns over or moves into a different position.

So, a compass, which depends on magnetism, is no good for navigating in space.

So how do spacecraft know where they are, and which way to go?

The answer is both simple and very clever —

they use specialised heat sensors to detect the position of the Sun

and use that to guide their way.

So simple yet so ingenious!

I'm sure it would have impressed the first person in space, whoever they are.

Ah, yes, in my question I asked who the first person in space was.

And I said it was b) Yuri Gagarin. I've got to be right, haven't I?

It was right, of course!

Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space in 1961,

with Valentina Tereshkova following in his footsteps

to become the first woman in space two years later.

OK, let's recap the vocabulary from this programme

on how to 'navigate' — or find your way — in space.

On Earth you can use a 'compass' —

an instrument with a magnetic needle that moves to point north,

that is towards to the 'magnetic pole' —

a point near the North or South Poles where Earth's magnetic field is strongest.

Saying that north is 'up' is 'arbitrary' — done randomly,

not according to any particular reason or principle.

A 'light year' is a unit measuring the distance that light travels in one year —

around six trillion miles.

And finally, to 'flip' means to turn over or move into a different position.

Once again, our time is up.

— Goodbye for now! — Bye-bye!

6 Minute English.

From BBC Learning English.

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Rob.

And I'm Neil. Hello.

Hello, Neil! Now, I watched that space movie last night —

the one where those astronauts are stranded in space.

Oh, yeah, I know the one.

Um, 'stranded', now that means 'stuck in a place with only a small chance of leaving'.

Gravity, that was the name, wasn't it? Is that the name of the film?

Yeah, that's the one, that's the one.

And, as we're talking about space,

did you know that this year marks the 50th anniversary of the first ever spacewalk?

On 18th March, 1965, Russian cosmonaut Alexei Leonov

was the first man to drift free in space — 500km from the surface of Earth.

And that's the subject of today's show.

What on earth must he have felt like?

Very good. Er, yes, it would have felt 'like nothing on earth' —

and that's to say: 'very strange indeed'.

He was the first person to experience

the colourful geography of our planet stretched out before him.

Oh, very poetic, Rob!

But how about answering today's quiz question?

— OK. — How long did the first spacewalk last?

Was it a) 2 minutes? b) 12 minutes?

Or c) 22 minutes?

Hmm. All quite short, so I think I'll go for the one in the middle — 12 minutes.

Well, we'll find out if you're right or wrong later on.

Now, 'cosmonaut' literally means 'sailor of the universe'.

But Leonov's mission wasn't 'plain sailing' —

in other words, it wasn't easy or straightforward.

That's right.

No-one had ever gone out into space before — it was unknown territory.

'Unknown territory' means 'a place or activity

that people do not know anything about or have not experienced before'.

And, as it happens, there were big problems.

When Leonov left the capsule, his spacesuit 'inflated' — or swelled up —

like a balloon, because the pressure inside the suit was greater than outside.

This made it impossible for Leonov to get back through the door of the spacecraft,

putting him in a life-threatening situation.

Let's listen to Helen Sharman, the first Briton in space, talking about it.

So he decreases the pressure of his suit,

which means that it's a bit more able to move inside it,

but it means the amount of oxygen he's got around his face is now dangerously low,

so he can't cope with that for very long.

So, if he's not able to get in quickly, he's going to die of oxygen starvation.

But, of course, you know that one way or another, you've got to get back in,

you're going to die if you don't,

so he had the presence of mind to get on with all this,

got back in, swivelled himself round, managed to close the airlock,

and then, when the pressure was equilibrated was finally able to,

you know, hug his compatriot up there in space.

Now, if you 'can't cope with something',

it means you are unable to deal successfully with a difficult situation.

And here the situation was having very little oxygen.

But Leonov had the presence of mind to find a solution.

'Presence of mind' means 'being able to react quickly

and stay calm in a difficult or dangerous situation'.

And, 'if I was in Leonov's shoes' — meaning 'if I was in his situation' —

I would have panicked big time!

Me too! And there was plenty more to panic about before the mission was over.

The spacecraft's automatic re-entry system failed,

so the cosmonauts had to fire the rockets 'manually' —

meaning 'controlled by hand' — which they'd never done before.

And that's not all.

Their capsule failed to 'detach' — or 'separate' —

from the spacecraft's equipment module,

and this sent them tumbling through space towards Earth.

Goodness me. But the capsule did finally detach

and then you would think they'd have been home and dry, wouldn't you?

'Home and dry' means 'being close to achieving a goal'.

Well, they certainly weren't dry.

The capsule 'touched down' — or landed — hundreds of kilometres off course

in freezing Siberia, populated only by wolves and bears.

Leonov had sweated so much on the spacewalk

that his boots were filled with water up to his knees!

Both cosmonauts had to 'wring out' — or twist and squeeze —

their clothes to avoid frostbite.

Mm. And 'off course', by the way, means 'not following the right route'.

Those men must have been overjoyed

when they were finally airlifted to safety two days later!

But what seems unfair to me is, we all know about the Apollo moon landing,

but how many of us know about the first spacewalk?

Yes, well, at least we do now, and of course our listeners do too!

OK, let's have the answer to the quiz question.

I asked how long did the first spacewalk last?

Was it a) 2 minutes? b) 12 minutes?

Or c) 22 minutes?

Yes, and I said a) 12 minutes.

And you were right, Rob, well done.

Excellent. Good, good!

So, just 12 minutes, eh?

What an amazing short stroll that must have been, but a very historic one too.

Now, can we hear today's words again, please?

OK. We heard: stranded,

like nothing on earth,

plain sailing,

unknown territory,

inflated,

can't cope with something,

presence of mind,

in Leonov's shoes,

manually,

detach,

home and dry'

touched down,

wring out,

off course.

Well, that's the end of today's 6 Minute English.

We thought it was out of this world — hope you thought so too!

Please join us again soon.

— Bye-bye. — Bye.

6 Minute English

from BBC Learning English.

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.

And I'm Georgina. Have you finished writing that report yet, Neil?

Er, not quite, it's almost done.

Well, finish it this morning please,

then make sure you've planned all the studio sessions for the week

and show me so I can double-check, OK?

Ah, OK.

Has this ever happened to you? Being 'micromanaged' by someone?

That's what it's called when your boss wants to control everything,

down to the smallest detail.

And I notice you've written the report in font size 11

when I told you to use size 12!

If this keeps up I'm might 'go on strike'.

It wouldn't be the first time someone has refused to continue working

because of an argument with their boss.

Hmm, maybe I'd better go easy on Neil.

After all, I don't want a repeat of what happened

on the American spaceship, Skylab — the subject of this programme.

In 1973, three US astronauts on board the Skylab space station

had a disagreement with mission control over their workload

in an incident that has, incorrectly, been called the Skylab space 'strike'.

But before we find out more, let me ask you my quiz question — if that's OK, boss?

Go ahead.

Well, the Skylab astronauts

felt they had been given too much work to complete during the space flight.

But how did they protest to their bosses at ground control?

Did they a) pretend the radio had broken?

b) stop shaving and grow beards?

Or c) fake the results of their experiments?

I guess a) pretending the radio had broken, would show them who's boss —

although floating in space without radio contact sounds a bit dangerous to me!

OK, Georgina, we'll find out what really happened later.

Now, Skylab was planned to be the fourth — and final —

crewed flight to orbit the Earth.

For scientists, it was the last chance to test out their theories in space

and the Skylab crew were asked to study everything about space travel,

from its effects on the human body to how spiders make webs.

Here's one of the Skylab astronauts, Ed Gibson, telling Lucy Burns,

presenter of BBC World Service programme Witness History

how they communicated with ground control.

We got our instructions over a teleprinter.

One morning we had about 60 feet of teleprinter message

to cut up and divide up and understand before we even get to work.

All space missions run to a tight schedule

all the way down to exercise times and meal breaks,

but the Skylab 4 astronauts felt their ground control team

was being particularly bossy.

I don't know if any of you have ever had to work,

do something under the conditions of micromanagement —

it's bad enough for an hour, but try 24 hours a day.

We're just not constructive that way,

we're not getting things done the way we should,

because we couldn't use our own judgment.

With so many experiments to carry out and a limited time in space,

the Skylab crew had a 'tight schedule' — a small amount of time to finish a job.

Bosses at ground control sent radio messages every morning,

detailing exactly their duties for that day.

They sound like real micromanagers, Neil!

Absolutely! Or in other words, 'bossy' — always telling people what to do!

Astronaut Ed Gibson wanted to use his professional judgement

to complete the work, not be bossed around by ground control '24 hours a day' —

an expression meaning 'all day and night'.

When one of the astronauts got sick,

it was decided that they would take turns talking to ground control.

But, one day, all three of them missed the daily radio meeting

and some NASA bosses thought they'd gone on strike!

In the crisis talks that followed,

both crew and ground control agreed better ways of working and communicating —

and less micromanagement!

But the newspapers had already got hold of the story

and to this day the incident is misremembered as 'the strike in space'.

Here's Ed Gibson again, speaking to BBC World Service's Witness History

on what he learned from the experience.

We all conclude that we all learned something from it —

micromanagement does not work,

except when you're in a situation that demands it like a lift-off or a re-entry

and fortunately I think that's been passed on to the space station people

and they learned that that's the way to go.

In the end, NASA agreed that trusting people to do their jobs

was 'the way to go' — the best method for doing a particular thing.

I told you, Georgina — no-one likes being bossed around!

Including the Skylab astronauts!

But was my answer correct? About how they protested?

Ah, yes, in my quiz question,

I asked how the Skylab astronauts protested to their bosses.

What did you say?

I thought the astronauts a) pretended the radio had broken.

Ah, good guess, Georgina,

but actually the answer was b) they stopped shaving and grew beards.

Unless that was just another experiment?

Let's recap the vocabulary, starting with 'micromanage' —

control everything, down to the smallest detail.

If you're 'bossy', you're always telling people what to do.

But be careful, because your workers might 'go on strike' — refuse to work.

The Skylab astronauts had 'a tight schedule' —

a small amount of time to complete their jobs.

They felt their bosses were watching them 'twenty-four hours a day',

or all the time.

But in the end, trusting people is 'the way to go' —

the best method of doing something.

That's all for now, but watch this space

for more trending topics and useful vocabulary, here at BBC 6 Minute English.

And if you like topical discussions

and want to learn how to use the vocabulary found in headlines,

why not try our News Review podcast? Bye!

6 Minute English.

From BBC Learning English.

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I'm Neil.

And I'm Georgina.

In this programme, we're going to be talking about the astronaut

who piloted the command module

to take Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to walk on the Moon.

Michael Collins, who sadly passed away in 2021 at the age of 90,

has been described as 'the loneliest man in history'.

Yes, while Armstrong delivered his famous quote

when taking the first steps on the lunar surface, and Buzz followed soon after,

Collins was left behind to circle the Moon,

tasked with the huge responsibility of getting the three 'pioneers' —

the first people to do something — back to Earth.

That's right. And many people over the years have wondered

whether he was disappointed not to have walked on the Moon.

How would you feel if you went all that way

and didn't stand on the Moon, Georgina?

Me personally?

I'd probably be pretty devastated, but I think it depends on personality.

To be honest, I'd probably be too scared to go to the Moon anyway.

Yes, and just think about being in a space module together,

trapped for all those hours — it could create quite the sense of 'camaraderie' —

a friendship and trust formed by spending time together.

Or you could drive each other crazy asking questions!

Which is what I'm going to do now, Georgina.

I know how much you love animals —

and the first animal that went into space was a Russian dog in 1957,

but what was that dog's name?

A) Irina? B) Laika? Or c) Anastasia?

Well, I think I know this one — b) Laika — and I believe, sadly, she didn't survive.

OK, Georgina, we'll find out if that's right at the end of the programme.

But let's talk more about Michael Collins and that famous trip to the Moon

that captured people's attention around the world.

Yes, I think one thing that has always interested me

is the feeling of friendship, or as you said camaraderie,

that must have developed between those three explorers.

But, perhaps surprisingly, in an interview with the BBC programme Hard Talk,

Collins said the close connection between the astronauts didn't develop until later.

We formed some very strong bonds,

but actually, not really during the flight of Apollo 11

or even during the preparatory flight, of the flight.

It was an around-the-world trip that we took after the flight

when I came to know Neil better.

During our training, in the first place we had not been a backup crew,

as most primary crews had been,

so we just got to know each other in the six months before the flight,

which is a short period of time.

So, it wasn't really until afterwards that they formed those strong 'bonds' —

the connections between them,

until on a trip round the world to talk about their experiences.

Six months sounds like a long time,

but I suppose when you're preparing to become famous and 'go down in history',

as they did — it doesn't leave much time for personal interactions.

One of the sad things to take away is that everyone remembers Armstrong and Aldrin,

but sometimes Collins is seen as the forgotten man.

Yes — and he did say in the interview that he would have loved to walk on the Moon,

but he was very proud to be a part of the team,

as he was one of the 'trailblazers' — a similar word to 'pioneer.'

They most certainly were trailblazers.

But imagine how he must have felt — circling around the Moon, all alone!

Yes, a lot of people questioned Collins afterwards regarding the solitude,

about which he had this to say in the same interview with BBC programme Hard Talk.

Well, I, when I returned to Earth, I was amazed,

because most of the questions to me from the press centred on

you were the loneliest man in the whole lonely orbit around the lonely planet

on a lonely evening.

And I felt, on the other hand, quite comfortable

in my happy little home inside the command module Columbia.

I had been flying aeroplanes by myself for a number of years,

so the fact I was aloft by myself was not anything new.

So, it sounds like he appreciated the peace and quiet

and he felt used to it, having been alone on flights.

Yes — while people talk about the two who walked on the Moon,

he must have experienced an incredible sense of peace

while on the dark side of the Moon — the first person ever to go there.

But now, Georgina, let's get the answer to my question.

What was the name of the first animal, a dog, to go into space?

I said Laika.

Which is correct, well done!

And you were right when you said that she sadly didn't survive the return to Earth.

Well, speaking of dogs, I need to feed mine soon —

so let's just recap some of the vocabulary we've discussed.

Yes, we had 'camaraderie' —

a sense of trust and friendship after spending a long time together,

and the creation of strong 'bonds' or connections.

And if you're the first person to do something,

you could be called a 'pioneer'.

Or even a 'trailblazer', which means the same thing.

And if you are the first person to do something,

you could become famous and 'go down in history'.

And finally we spoke about the 'solitude', or state of being alone,

that Collins must have experienced.

Well, we're out of time for today.

We have plenty more 6 Minute English programmes to enjoy

— Goodbye for now. — Goodbye.

6 Minute English.

From BBC Learning English.