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Space exploration is not something, Chicago student Mawuto Akploh finds in textbooks, or classroom discussions in her school.
太空探索不是什么神秘的事。芝加哥学生Mawuto Akploh在学校的教科书和课堂讨论中认识到这一点。
"We do physics, biology, Earth and Space Sciences, but we never talk about the people that actually took the time to do those things."
“我们学物理，生物，研究地球和太空科学。但我们从来没有谈论过实际花时间做这些事情的人。”
Akploh, originally from Togo, attends an area high school career academy, and just became certified as an automobile mechanic.
Akploh的祖国是多哥（非洲西部国家），现在就读于地区高中职业学院，不久前取得汽车修理工的资格认证。
Aerospace engineering wasn't an option, "It's not that people don't want to do it. It's that people don't know about it."
此前，她从未考虑过从事航空航天工程。“这不是人们不想做。而是人们不了解。”
That lack of knowledge has, in part, fueled a shortage of students in the U.S. seeking advanced degrees in science,
一定程度上，在这方面的知识的缺乏导致攻读科学、
technology, engineering and math - also known as STEM, fields the aerospace industry depends on.
技术、工程和数学高级学位的美国学生的短缺，而航空航天工业所依赖的正是这些领域。
"There is a shortage across engineering which I think is generally bad for the progress of humanity."
“我认为，可以说，航空航天工程的人才短缺对人类的进步是不利的。”
Beth Moses hopes her career serves as an example inspiring others to fill that shortage.
贝丝·摩西希望她的事业能树立一个榜样，鼓舞他人填补这种短缺。
After a successful career at NASA as the assembly manager for the International Space Station,
摩西曾供职于美国航空航天局，担任国际空间站安装部经理一职，事业颇为成功。
Moses is now the chief astronaut trainer at Virgin Galactic, the company founded by Richard Branson,
她现在是理查德·布兰森创办的维珍银河公司的首席宇航员培训师，
seeking to be the first to consistently take paying passengers into orbit.
该公司力图成为第一家搭载付费乘客乘坐其宇宙飞船进入太空的公司。
"There's no road map, there is no instruction manual, there is no guidance on how to do this. Nobody has done it before, we are doing it for the first time."
“没有路线图。没有使用说明书。没有关于如何做这个的指导。以前没有人做过。我们第一次这样做。”
As Moses writes this kind of manual for commercial human spaceflight,
正如摩西需要编写这种用于商业用途的人类航天手册，
the need for more engineers is critical to help her company—and others'
同时急需更多的工程师来帮助她的公司和其他公司，
meet the demands of a growing industry that Moses says doesn't "come in pink or blue."
满足不断发展的航天行业的需求，摩西认为这一行业“既不会一时蓬勃发展，也不会短期衰落不振”。
"In my entire time, in school and in aerospace engineering both at NASA and here at Virgin Galactic,
“在我整个时期，无论是在校学习，还是从事航空航天工程之后，在美国航空航天局还是在维珍银河公司工作，
I've never once had any hassle or gender issue,
我从来没有遇到任何麻烦或性别歧视方面的问题，
and there have been plenty of women around (and) also plenty of diversity of all kinds… age, race, points of view."
而且我周围有很多女性，而且，她们的年龄、种族、观点各不相同。”
It was a message Moses reinforced while accepting the 2017 "Women in Space Science Award" from the Adler Planetarium's Women's Board.
摩西在接受2017年“太空科学女性奖”时再次强调了这一点，该奖项由阿德勒天文博物馆妇女委员会颁布。
And part of her pitch to hundreds of Chicago area high school students, including Mawuto Akploh,
并且，她在向数百名芝加哥地区高中学生演讲时也谈到了这一点，其中一名听众是Mawuto Akploh，
who gathered to see her at the place that sparked Moses' own interest in space—the Adler Planetarium.
Akploh聆听了摩西的演讲，并想亲眼见到摩西本人站在这个激发了自身对于太空的兴趣的地方——阿德勒天文馆。
Beth Moses knows well that the final frontier of space is a difficult environment to master.
贝思·摩西深知，太空的最后边界是一个难以掌控的环境。
In 2006, Richard Branson told VOA he was hopeful Virgin Galactic would be orbiting the earth soon.
2006年，理查德·布兰森接受美国之音采访时说道，他很有信心维珍银河的宇宙飞船将会在地球上绕轨飞行。
"Twenty-four months from now, my parents, my children and myself shall be popping into space."
“再过二十四个月，我的父母，我的孩子和我自己会突然出现在太空。”
Eleven years later, he still waits to be his company's first passenger.
11年后，他仍然等待着成为自己公司的第一位乘客。
"We are in the air and we are working our way through a test program.
“还有问题悬而未决，我们正在努力通过程序测试环节。
And when it's complete and the vehicle is safe, we'll start commercial flights with Richard and his family."
当程序完成并且实现安全的时候，我们将为理查德和他的家人启飞商业航班。”
More than 700 passengers have already paid more than $200,000 each to experience space flight,
超过700名乘客已经每人支付了20多万美元，以体验太空飞行，
reinforcing to students contemplating a career that not only is the experience in demand, it could also be lucrative.
这不得不使学生们考虑从事航空航天事业，因为不仅需求巨大，而且有利可图。
Kane Farabaugh, VOA News, Chicago, Illinois.
VOA新闻，凯恩·法巴休于芝加哥伊利诺斯州为您播报。
