My Japanese station didn't cover the space shuttle launch live today, but they had a big thing about the shuttle on the morning news, featuring Noguchi in particular, of course. One of the clips showed Noguchi getting all geared up this morning and holding up a sign saying "Out to Launch" in English. For the benefit of the TV audience, the NHK folks had that translated—literally—as "Youyaku, uchiage." It's too bad that in Japanese "launch" (uchiage) and "lunch" (hiru-gohan, or ranchi if you're being fashionable about it) don't sound anything alike. Puns rarely translate well.
But anyway, they had Mohri-san on to talk about the shuttle and all the safety issues. He did a demonstration with the space caulk (the special paste that hardens into something heat resistant enough to survive re-entry) and the special caulking gun to show how tiles could be repaired. Although well meant, the demonstration just did not look all that convincing. It looked like caulking.
I did listen to the live launch broadcast on NPR this morning and wore my NASA earrings in solidarity. I hope the mission gets more coverage over and above the "Hey, it didn't blow up!" variety.
202 words | July 26, 2005 08:29 PM | Lost in translation