SPACE L’ESPACE

Is there life on Mars? Y a-t-il de la vie sur Mars ?

the universe [‘juːnɪvɜːs] l’univers

the solar system le système solaire
a galaxy une galaxie
outer space l’espace
a light year une année-lumière
a planet une planète
a comet une comète
an asteroid [‘æstərɔɪd] un astéroïde
a black hole un trou noir
a meteorite [‘miːtɪəraɪt] un météorite
astronomy l’astronomie
an astronomer un.e astronome
a space buff [bʌf] un.e fana de l’espace

NASA (i.e. the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) was born on July 29th 1958. It was thrown
together (créé à la va-vite) in response to Sputnik, the first artificial satellite, which was launched by the
Soviet Union in October 1957, and it was given extra impetus (élan) by the flight of the first cosmonaut,
Yuri Gagarin, in April 1961. That led to the space race… John Kennedy, America’s president at the time,
responded to Gagarin’s flight by saying that an American should go to the moon by the end of the decade.
The Economist, July 24, 2008

NASA [‘næsə] (National Aeronautics and Space Administration)

the ESA (European Space Agency) l’Agence spatiale européenne
the conquest of space la conquête de l’espace
the space age l’ère spatiale
the space race la course à l’espace
a space flight un vol dans l’espace
astronautics l’astronautique
avionics l’avionique
airspace l’espace aérien
the aerospace industry l’industrie aérospatiale

The Apollo Project was the materialization of a promise made by J.F. Kennedy during the 1960 presidential
campaign and led to Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the Moon on July 21, 1969, certainly one of the most
memorable media moments of all time. Since the Apollo missions ended in 1972, hundreds of people have
journeyed (voyagé) into space, but no further than space stations in the earth’s orbit. Now space agencies are
planning to send people on new Moon missions to learn about living in another world.

a mission to Mars une mission sur Mars

to explore explorer
an explorer un explorateur
a manned flight un vol habité
an unmanned flight un vol inhabité
a space suit une combinaison spatiale
a space helmet un casque d’astronaute
a crew [kruː] un équipage

What is the difference between an astronaut and a cosmonaut? None (aucune), apart from the fact that the
first one is American, the second Russian. Since 1998, a Chinese astronaut has been called a taïkonaut. You
may also refer to all of these people as spacemen (or spacewomen) or space travellers. The phrase space
cadet [kəˈdet] may refer to a trainee astronaut (astronaute stagiaire), but also to someone who is perceived
to be out of touch with reality, who behaves strangely, forgets things or does not pay attention as if they
were high on drugs.

a rocket une fusée

a retrorocket une rétrofusée
a telescope un téléscope
a probe [prəʊb] une sonde
a spaceship, a rocket ship, spacecraft un vaisseau spatial
fuel [fjʊəl] le carburant
a shuttle une navette
a space station une station spatiale
a lander un véhicule spatial
a lunar rover un véhicule lunaire

The International Space Station (otherwise known as ISS) is a joint project of NASA with the Russian,
Japanese, Canadian and European space agencies. It is a facility (installation) orbiting the Earth at an
altitude of 350 kilometres above its surface. It has been staffed (habité) since 2000 and used as an orbital
laboratory to carry out research in biology, physics, astronomy and meteorology, in particular to improve
our understanding of long-term space exposure on the human body. It has also been used to test the
spacecraft that will be employed in long-duration missions to the Moon and to Mars.

to launch [lɔːntʃ] lancer

to blast off être mis à feu
a satellite launcher un lanceur de satellites
a launch pad une rampe de lancement, pas de tir
the countdown le compte à rebours
lift-off l’envol
an engine [‘endʒɪn] un moteur
to propel [prə’pel] propulser
propellant le combustible pour fusée, le propergol
rocket fuel kérosène (de fusée)
a launch vehicle, a booster, a booster rocket une fusée de lancement
a space rocket une fusée interplanétaire
a multi-stage rocket une fusée à étages
an airlock un sas

The progress made by space research has impressed people so much that rocket science has become a
byword for (synonyme de) something particularly difficult to grasp (saisir). Thus, the colloquial expression
“it’s not rocket science!” corresponds to the French “ce n’est pas sorcier !”. Similarly, a rocket scientist
being a specialist of rocket science, you may say “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that…”, in
French: “Pas besoin d’être un génie pour comprendre que…”.

a missile [‘mɪsaɪl] un missile

a communications satellite [‘sætəlaɪt] un satellite de télécommunications
a weather satellite un satellite météorologique
a surveillance satellite [sɜː’veɪləns ‘sætəlaɪt] un satellite espion
remote-controlled télécommandé

Humbling (humiliant) though it may be, for the present people are unnecessary for space science, and they
are also an expensive liability (handicap). Telescopes, earth-observing satellites, global positioning systems,
communications and spy satellites all work perfectly well without human involvement (intervention). Even
in the rarest cases of experiments that require human involvement in space, it is tough to find enough
science to justify a $100 billion platform, or even a single $500m shuttle.
The Economist, Feb 6th, 2004
to be in orbit / go into orbit être en orbite / se mettre en orbite
to put a satellite in(to) orbit mettre, placer un satellite en orbite
to land, to touch down atterrir
touchdown atterrissage OU amerissage OU alunissage
to land on the moon alunir
to splash down amerrir

In recent years the idea of putting human crews on the surface of something other than the moon or Mars has
found its way into the strategy documents of the international space agencies. This mission is less science
fiction than you might think. The European Space Agenecy’s Rosetta mission, which so spectacularly
landed the Philae lander on the surface of a comet last year, showed us that we could find and intercept a
tiny target hurtling (filer) through space hundreds of billions of miles away. This has given agencies
confidence that their idea of landing a human crew on an asteroid might be realisable. But for now it is Mars
that lies at the edge of possibility…
Kevin Fong, The Guardian, 13 December 2015

weightlessness, zero gravity l’apesanteur

microgravity [‘maɪkrəʊ’grævɪtɪ] la micro-gravité
space tourism le tourisme dans l’espace

SpaceX is a company that manufactures advanced rockets and spacecraft. According to its website, “its aim
is to revolutionize space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets.
Dragon, a free-flying spacecraft manufactured by SpaceX “made history in 2012 when it became the first
commercial spacecraft in history to deliver cargo to the International Space State and safely return to Earth,
a feat previously achieved only by governments. Currently Dragon carries cargo to space, but it was
designed from the beginning to carry humans.

space research, rocket research recherches aérospatiales

a space lab un laboratoire spatial
space science la spatiologie
a spin-off une retombée
a flying saucer une soucoupe volante
an unidentified flying object, a UFO [ˌjuːe’fəʊ, ‘juːfəʊ] un OVNI
an alien, an alien being [‘eɪlɪən] un extra-terrestre
a Martian un martien

It is remarkable how many astronauts have discerned their identity as Earthlings (terriens)—from a vantage
point few human beings have attained. “The first day or so we all pointed to our countries,” said Saudi
astronaut Sultan bin Salman Al Saud, who flew on Space Shuttle Discovery in 1985. “The third or fourth
day we were pointing to our continents. By the fifth day, we were aware of only one Earth.” Many
astronauts have made similar statements. The experience is so common among space travellers that it has
been dubbed the “overview effect.” Seeing the Earth as a whole, apparently, enables one to see the Earth as
a whole. Eventually the human race will return to the moon, and set foot on Mars, and venture to the stars.
The astronauts may be Chinese, Russian, Indian, Israeli or Japanese. The voyages may be financed by
nations, or private initiatives like Blue Origin or SpaceX or Virgin Galactic. It may be a World Aeronautics
and Space Administration (WASA not NASA).
The American Prospect, 19 July 2019

IDIOMS

to ask for / to promise the moon demander / promettre la lune

to shoot for the moon viser très haut

to be over the moon être aux anges, se croire au paradis

to bay at the moon hurler à la lune

once in a blue moon tous les trente-six du mois

Traduire en français

1. I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a
man on the Moon (J.F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961).

2. The space shuttle rides piggyback on a rocket.

3. The space capsule will separate from the rocket after it has reached a certain altitude.

4. Earth-observing satellites, global positioning systems, spy satellites all work perfectly well without human
involvement.

5. The existence of several thousand exoplanets—that is, planets outside the solar system—has now been
confirmed.

6. Many meteorites are the smashed-up remnants of asteroids—the tiny wannabe planets that orbit mostly
between Mars and Jupiter.

7. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand that good politics is not necessarily good economics.

8. This tool is a spinoff from space research.

9. Virgin Galactic intends to give the world’s moderately well-heeled pensioners the ride of their lives.

10. A system similar to Virgin’s could be used to launch space planes that would travel from one side of the
Earth to the other in 90 minutes.

Traduire en anglais

1. Il ne faut pas confondre les astronomes avec les astrologues, qui ignorent tout des trous noirs.

2. Le lancement de la navette s’est déroulé sans incident.

3. On s’attendait à ce que les cosmonautes souffrent davantage de l’apesanteur.

4. Ce qu’il y a de plus étonnant, c’est que le moteur n’ait pas explosé.

5. Le programme Apollo a permis aux Américains d’être les premiers à mettre le pied sur la lune.

6. Sans la recherche spatiale, le GPS n’existerait pas.

7. Il faudra plus de six mois pour aller jusqu’à la planète Mars, ce qui signifie qu’une mission là-bas durera
au moins trois ans.

8. Le but de cette mission est de collecter des données sur la situation actuelle de notre planète.

9. Comment se fait-il que l’on n’ait pas le droit de boire du vin à bord d’une navette spatiale ?

10. On peut se demander si cela vaut la peine de dépenser des milliards pour la conquête de l’espace.
Exercices

01. La traduction des mots suivants ne pose qu’un problème d’orthographe.

1. l’univers • 2. une planète • 3. un mégalithe • 4. un astéroïde • 5. l’aéronautique

02. Former des noms composés avec le mot « space ».

1. la course dans l’espace • 2. un fana de l’espace • 3. un vol dans l’espace • 4. une combinaison spatiale • 5.
un casque d’astronaute • 6. une fusée interplanétaire • 7. le tourisme dans l’espace • 8. un laboratoire spatial
• 9. les recherches aérospatiales • 10. spatiologie

03. Compléter les phrases avec la préposition ou particule adéquate.

1. On July 20, 1969 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed ……………………………… the
moon.

2. A Chinese telecommunications satellite went ……………………………… orbit at the end of last year. It
has therefore been ……………………………… orbit since the end of last year.

3. The spacecraft is just about to touch ……………………………….

4. GPS is just one of the many spin- ……………………………… of space research.

04. Trouver le suffixe qui convient pour construire les dérivés suivants.

Astronomie astronomy an ……………………….. astronome

Conquérir to conquer the ………………. of space la conquête de l’espace

Propulser to propel …………………………. propergol

Homme man an …………….. flight un vol inhabité

Poids weight ………………………… apesanteur

05. Faire correspondre les noms: satellite, space shuttle, space station, probe, lunar rover, à ces
définitions.

1. A ……………………………… is a small spacecraft, with no one travelling in it, sent into space to make
measurements and send back information to scientists on Earth.

2. A ……………………………… is a vehicle that is designed to go into space and return to Earth several
times.

3. A ……………………………… is a vehicle designed for travelling on the moon.

4. A ……………………………… is a vehicle in which people can travel round the Earth, outside its
atmosphere, doing scientific tests.

5. A ……………………………… is a device sent up into space to travel round the Earth, used for
collecting information or communicating by radio, television.