BBC LEARNING ENGLISH
6 Minute English
Astronauts on strike?
This is not a word-for-word transcript
Neil
Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Neil.
Georgina
And I’m Georgina. Have you finished writing that report yet, Neil?
Neil
Err, not quite – it’s almost done.
Georgina
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?
Neil
[Sigh] 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.
Georgina
…and I notice you’ve written the report in font size 11 when I told you to use size
12!
Neil
[Sigh] 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.
Georgina
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.
6 Minute English ©British Broadcasting Corporation 2020
bbclearningenglish.com Page 1 of 6
, Neil
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?
Georgina
Go ahead.
Neil
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?
Georgina
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!
Neil
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.
Georgina
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.
Neil
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:
Ed Gibson
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.
6 Minute English ©British Broadcasting Corporation 2020
bbclearningenglish.com Page 2 of 6
6 Minute English
Astronauts on strike?
This is not a word-for-word transcript
Neil
Hello. This is 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English. I’m Neil.
Georgina
And I’m Georgina. Have you finished writing that report yet, Neil?
Neil
Err, not quite – it’s almost done.
Georgina
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?
Neil
[Sigh] 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.
Georgina
…and I notice you’ve written the report in font size 11 when I told you to use size
12!
Neil
[Sigh] 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.
Georgina
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.
6 Minute English ©British Broadcasting Corporation 2020
bbclearningenglish.com Page 1 of 6
, Neil
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?
Georgina
Go ahead.
Neil
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?
Georgina
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!
Neil
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.
Georgina
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.
Neil
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:
Ed Gibson
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.
6 Minute English ©British Broadcasting Corporation 2020
bbclearningenglish.com Page 2 of 6
