Day 80 of 129

Day 80: Mission Control in Darmstadt

After class at a school in Darmstadt, Tarik (A), a pupil, tells his physics teacher, Mr Albers (B), that a European space probe controlled from the city has sent its first pictures.

How to study this lesson 3 steps
  1. Read the situation under the title. It says who is talking and how they know each other, which decides how politely they speak.
  2. Read the dialogue line by line with its translation, until every line makes sense. Point at (or tap) a German word to see what it means.
  3. Spend at least 30 minutes listening to native German, for example from the Resources page. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it yet.

Dialogue

Audio recordings are on the way. For now, each lesson is the dialogue with its English translation.

Keys: E hide English · ← → previous / next day · point at a word to see its meaning

  1. A

    Herr Albers, die Raumsonde hat ihre ersten Bilder geschickt! Die wird doch von hier aus gesteuert, oder?

    Mr Albers, the space probe has sent its first pictures! It's controlled from here, isn't it?

  2. B

    Ja, vom ESOC, dem Kontrollzentrum der ESA. Dort wird jedes Manöver geplant und über Antennen in aller Welt gefunkt.

    Yes, from ESOC, ESA's control centre. Every manoeuvre is planned there and radioed out via antennas around the world.

  3. A

    Wahnsinn. Und da sitzen Leute wie im Film vor riesigen Bildschirmen und steuern die Sonde live?

    Amazing. So there are people sitting in front of huge screens like in a film, flying the probe live?

  4. B

    Live geht das leider nicht: Die von Darmstadt aus gesendeten Befehle sind oft mehrere Minuten unterwegs.

    Live isn't possible, I'm afraid: the commands sent from Darmstadt often take several minutes to get there.

  5. A

    Kann man da mal hin? Ich würde den Kontrollraum so gern mit eigenen Augen sehen.

    Can people go there? I'd love to see the control room with my own eyes.

  6. B

    Ich kann gern eine Führung für die Klasse anfragen. Die sind aber meist auf Monate ausgebucht, es sei denn, man kennt jemanden.

    I'm happy to ask about a tour for the class. But they're usually booked up months ahead, unless you know someone.

  7. A

    Und, kennen Sie jemanden? Sie klingen ja, als wären Sie selbst schon mal da drin gewesen.

    So, do you know someone? You sound as if you'd been in there yourself.

  8. B

    Vor dem Referendariat habe ich dort drei Jahre gearbeitet. Der für die Sonde zuständige Ingenieur war mein Büronachbar.

    Before my teacher training I worked there for three years. The engineer in charge of the probe had the desk next to mine.

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