UNIT 10: SPACE TRAVEL

A. VOCABULARY AND GRAMMAR

I. Match the words or phrases with their definitions.
1. rocket a. a piece of clothing worn by a person who travels in space
2. satellite b. a piece of rock from outer space that hits the earth’s surface
3. space station c. a zero-gravity flight
4. spaceline d. an optical instrument that makes far away objects look closer
5. spacewalk e. a vehicle used for travel in space
6. spacesuit f. a large structure in space where people can live and work
7. spacecraft g. a large cylinder-shaped object that moves very fast by forcing out
burning gases
8. meteorite h. an act of moving around in space outside a spacecraft
9. telescope i. a device sent into space, used for communicating by radio,
television, etc. or gathering information
10. parabolic flight j. a company that carries out space flights

II. Complete the sentences with the words/ phrases in part I (use a plural form if necessary). Take
the picture as a clue.

1. Elon Musk’s SpaceX will launch U.S. astronauts to the International

________ for the first time since 2011.

2. Virgin Galactic, the world’s first commercial ________ , was founded

by Sir Richard Branson.

3. Fifty years ago, a ________ fell to Earth and landed in Australia,

carrying with it a rare sample from interstellar space.

4. The ________ was expected to remain in service until at least 2024.

5. NASA uses ________ to launch things and people into space.

6. When turned on the night sky, a ________ allows you to see millions
of things that are invisible to the naked eye.

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7. NASA is considering sending astronauts in an Orion _______ to the
surface of a near-Earth asteroid in 2025.

8. The last time astronauts did a _________ from an aerial outpost was in
1974, when Skylab was operating.

9. Astronauts train on _________ to prepare for the weightlessness

experienced in space.

10. NASA’s new _________ can withstand over 120°C, removes toxic
gases and regulates temperature.

III. Complete the sentences with the words from the box. Modify the words if necessary.
cosmonaut astronomy habitable astronauts microgravity
rinseless mission altitude maintenance
weightless
1. The astronauts became _______ on going into orbit round the earth.
2. When _______ go to space, they float due to the lack of gravity.
3. NASA intends to land its first manned _______ on Mars in 10 years’ time.
4. After the Earth, Mars is the most _______ planet in our solar system.
5. _______ is the condition in which people or objects appear to be weightless.
6. The plane is now flying at a(n) _______ of 30,000 feet.
7. On April 12,1961, Soviet _______ Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin became the first human being to travel
into space.
8. The space station requires routine _______ and safety checks on most days.
9. _______ is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena.
10. Astronauts wash their hair with a _______ shampoo so they don’t need to get their hair wet.

IV. Complete the sentences with the correct tense or form of the verbs in the box.
orbit experience launch land attach
float cooperate descend recount
train
1. Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, _______ into Earth orbit on 4 October 1957.
2. NASA prepares its astronauts for a microgravity environment by _______ them on parabolic flights.
3. A mysterious spacecraft _______ the Earth for the past 720 days.
4. It took less than an hour before the plane began _______ down to a small town.
5. Astronauts _______ around in space because there is no gravity in space.
6. Parabolic flights allow passengers _______ weightlessness without actually going to space.
7. Visiting astronauts can sleep anywhere in the ISS so long as they _______ themselves to something.
8. The former NASA astronaut _______ his experiences living and working aboard the International
Space Station.
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9. NASA’s Curiosity rover _______ on Mars in 2012 with a mission to find out if Mars is suitable for life.
10. Nearly any technical problem can be solved when crew and ground controllers _______.
V. Choose the correct idioms to complete the sentences.
1. Joe was _______ when he got a job with his dream company.
a. out of this world b. over the moon
c. once in a blue moon d. many moons ago
2. _______ I go to the cinema, only when there’s a film I really, really want to see.
a. Over the moon b. Out of this world
c. Once in a blue moon d. Many moons ago
3. That’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. It’s really _______.
a. out of this world b. calling it a day c. the sky’s the limit d. once in a blue moon
4. He asked his dad to buy him a yacht as a birthday present. I think he was _______.
a. once in a blue moon b. out of this world
c. promising the moon d. asking for the moon
5. You’ve heard the saying, “_______” It’s meant to indicate that you can achieve anything if you want.
a. Reach for the stars. b. Come back down to earth.
c. The sky’s the limit. d. Everything under the sun.
6. He’s living _______ if he thinks he’s going to get £5000 for his old car.
a. out of this world b. on another planet c. under the sun d. over the moon
7. She’s very intelligent and knowledgeable. She can talk about everything _______.
a. over the moon b. out of this world c. on another planet d. under the sun
8. I really _______ returning to work after my two-week holiday in Spain.
a. asked for the moon b. lived on another planet
c. came back down to earth d. was once in a blue moon
9. We went to Paris _______, I’m sure it has changed a lot since then.
a. many moons ago b. once in a blue moon
c. over the moon d. under the sun
10. I doubt she’ll actually become a famous actress - she just has _______.
a. out of this world b. the sky’s the limit c. on another planet d. stars in her eyes
VI. Underline the correct form.
1. When Anne opened / had opened the door, she realized that somebody broke / had broken into.
2. He couldn’t make a sandwich because he forgot / had forgotten to buy bread.
3. Clyde Tombaugh discovered / had discovered the planet Pluto in 1930.
4. By the time Julia left / had left the shop, she spent / had spent all her money on clothes.
5. I didn’t want/ hadn’t wanted to see that film because I saw / had seen it twice.
6. Philip tidied / had tidied his bedroom before he left / had left for work.
7. When he painted / had painted the kitchen he decided / had decided to have a rest.
8. Alfred had worked / worked in a bank for five years before he was sent to Rome.
9. He doubted that he saw / had seen her somewhere before.
10. After he had / had had a good night’s sleep, he felt / had felt much better.
11. In 1998, Glenn attracted / had attracted media attention when he returned / had returned to space
aboard the space shuttle Discovery.
12. He touched down / had touched down in Kazakhstan at 11:26 pm, having completed 340 days in space.
13. Did James already cooked / Had James already cooked breakfast when you got up?
14. After arriving home, I realized / had realised I didn’t buy / hadn’t bought any milk.

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15. It wasn’t easy when I lived / had lived on the International Space Station for nearly a year.
VII.Complete the sentences with the past simple, past progressive or past perfect form of the verbs in
brackets.
1. Matt _______ (live) in Greece for two years before he _______ (move) to Italy.
2. The patient _______ (die) while the doctors _______ (perform) the operation.
3. I _______ (be) happy to see Matha because we _______ (not see) each other since last Christmas.
4. Mary _______ (clean) the windscreen when she _______ (notice) a crack in the glass.
5. By the time Alex _______ (finish) his studies, he _______ (be) in London for over eight years.
6. As I _______ (cross) the street, I _______ (catch) sight of an old friend of mine in a restaurant.
7. The hotel was full, so I _______ (be) glad that we _______ (book) in advance.
8. As soon as the people _______ (hear) the trumpet blast, they _______ (shout) a loud war cry.
9. What _______ (you/read) when I _______ (interrupt) you last night?
10. I _______ (want) to help with the washing up, but Sandra _______ (already/ do) it.
11. They _______ (watch) a film in the cinema so they _______ (not realise) it _______ (snow) outside.
12. First I _______ (tidy) the flat, then I _______ (sit) down and _______ (have) a cup of coffee.
13. _______ (you/ ever/ visit) London when you _______ (live) in England?
14. The neighbors _______ (call) the fire department when they _______ (see) the old house go up in
flames.
15. Nobody _______ (come) to the meeting because Angela _______ (forget) to tell them about it.

VIII. Fill in the blank with/ without a relative pronoun.

1. Can you give me back the money _______ I lent you last month?
2. They complained about the wrong goods _______ were sent to them.
3. This is Susan _______ husband works in the sales department.
4. The advice _______ Sam gave me was quite senseless.
5. Monday is the day _______ bills have to be paid.
6. The secretary showed me the cabinet _______ important documents are filed.
7. Enter the address of the person _______ you want to forward the message to.
8. Elsa seemed like the kind of person to _______ happiness came almost naturally.
9. What is the name of the woman _______ used to read the news on Channel 9?
10. His refusal to tell her the truth is the reason _______ she is so angry with him.
11. Can you name the artist _______ famous painting is called ‘The Girl with the Pearl Earring’?
12. 1969 was also the year in _______ the Venera 5 space probe landed on Venus.
13. Do you know the city _______ President Barack Obama was born?
14. Marie Curie is one of the scientists _______ I admire most.
15. Apollo 11 was the spaceflight _______ landed the first two people on the Moon.
IX. Combine the two sentences using defining relative clauses.
1. Can you show me the room? Meetings are held in that room.
→ Can you ____________________________________________________
2. What would you do with the scholarship? You were offered it this month.
→ What_______________________________________________________
3. I don’t really like the woman. She is in charge of the Marketing Department.
→ I don’t_________________________________________________________
4. I have never met the man. He gave me a lift this morning.
→ The man________________________________________________________

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5. Scientists are working with stem cells. Stem cells will revolutionize medicine.
→ Scientists______________________________________________________________
6. Most of the books are still popular today. I read them as a child.
→ Most of the books_______________________________________________________
7. We won’t forget the day. We went to Justin Bieber’s concert that day.
→ We___________________________________________________________________
8. The book is about Gagarin’s flight to the space. Mr. Henry gave it to me.
→ The book______________________________________________________________
9. I want to introduce you to Mrs. Black. Her husband is a software engineer at Google, Inc.
→ I want________________________________________________________________
10. The Nation Air and Space Museum has been renovated. We visited it last year.
→ The Nation Air and Space Museum_________________________________________
X. Fill in each blank with a suitable preposition.
1. Virgin Galactic says hundreds of customers have signed _______ for a brief suborbital flight into space.
2. Most satellites observing the Earth fly _______ an altitude of 600 kilometers to 800 kilometers above
ground.
3. Astronauts float _______ in space because there is no gravity in space.
4. Zero Gravity Corp, provides people _______ a once-in-a-lifetime experience of floating in microgravity
_______ parabolic flights.
5. _______ April 12,1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to go _______ space.
6. Some meteorites are easy to overlook because they look _______ ordinary earth rocks.
7. A popular pastime while orbiting Earth is simply looking _______ the window.
8. On 31 May he carried _______ checks on the KiboJEM Robotic Manipulator System.
9. Nick was crazy _______ the universe after his visit to the Space Museum in Sweden.
10. Most people have wondered if there is life beyond Earth _______ space.
B. READING
I. Complete the passage with words from the box.
satellites explore exploration orbit evidence
fly dreamed take-off unmanned further

Space (1) ________ is sending people or machines into space to visit other planets and objects in space.
Mankind has (2) ________ of visiting the stars for hundreds of years, but it wasn’t until 1969 that the first
person walked on the Moon. Since the first person walked on the Moon, hundreds of (3) ________ have
been launched into orbit around the earth, and hundreds of people have been into space on lots of different
types of spacecraft. We have also sent machines to investigate objects that are (4) ________ away in the
Solar System.
Apart from the Moon, the most popular place to send (5) ________ space expeditions is to Mars. Since
the year 2000, there have been 10 unmanned expeditions to Mars, including putting spacecraft into (6)
________ around Mars and landing machines called rovers to (7) ________ the surface. NASA sent the
rover Curiosity to Mars in 2012 to look for (8) ________ of life. They haven’t found it yet, but they are
going to keep on looking!
Now private companies are starting to (9) ________ into space too. Virgin Galactic sells tickets for a
short trip into space for £130,000! Passengers won’t go high enough to go into orbit, but they will spend
about six minutes in space. The whole trip will take two and a half hours from (10) ________ to landing.
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II. Read the passage carefully, then do the tasks.
In 2006, Anousheh Ansari became the first female space tourist when she made the trip from Russia to
the International Space Station (ISS). Anousheh stayed on the ISS for eight days and kept a blog. Parts of
her blog are shown here.
Anousheh’s Space Blog
September 25th
Everyone wants to know: how do you take a shower in space? How do you brush your teeth? Well my
friends, I must admit keeping clean in space is not easy! There is no shower with running water. Water does
not ‘flow’ here, it ‘floats’ - which makes it a challenging act to clean yourself There are wet towels, wet
wipes and dry towels that are used. Now brushing your teeth in space is another joy. You cannot rinse your
mouth and spit after brushing, so you end up rinsing and swallowing. Astronauts call it the ‘fresh mint
effect’.
September 27th
Being weightless has some wonderful advantages. You can lift a really heavy object with one hand and
move it around with one finger. You can fly and float around instead of walking. You can do somersaults at
any age. Everything is effortless. If you want to move forward, you slightly touch a wall with one finger and
you start moving in the opposite direction. If you have left your book at the other side of the module, no
problem - you ask someone close to it to send it to you. That means they pick it up and very gently push it
towards you, and here it is - your book flying to you all the way from the other side.
A. Decide whether the following sentences are true (T) or false (F).
1. Anousheh Ansari was the first woman to travel into space.
2. Anousheh Ansari kept an online diary while she stayed on the ISS.
3. It is not easy to take a shower in space because water does not “flow” in microgravity.
4. In space, astronauts swallow their toothpaste instead of spitting.
5. Weightlessness makes it really hard to lift heavy objects in space.
6. Anousheh Ansari felt wonderful being able to do somersaults and flying around.
7. Astronauts have to push against the inside walls of the ISS when they get around.
8. Anousheh Ansari found weightlessness to be a discomfort when things fly through space.

B. Answer the questions.

1. When did Anousheh Ansari go into space?
____________________________________________________________________________
2. Where did she start her trip?
____________________________________________________________________________
3. Where did she stay in space?
____________________________________________________________________________
4. How long did she stay in space?
____________________________________________________________________________
5. Did she enjoy her space trip?
____________________________________________________________________________

C. Write the answers, using information from the text.

1. Look at Anousheh’s blog entry for September 25th. Find and copy groups of words that shows that
Anousheh wrote her blog for others to read.

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 ____________________________________________________________________________

2. Look at Anousheh’s blog entry for September 27th. Find and copy a group of words that shows how
Anousheh felt about being in space.
____________________________________________________________________________

C. WRITING
I. Write sentences, using the clues given.
1. How/ astronauts/ live/ space/ they/ have to/ float/ move about?
____________________________________________________________________________
2. Sally Ride/ be/ an astronaut/ become/ the first American woman/ go/ space/ 1983.
____________________________________________________________________________
3. Sputnik 1/ be/ the first artificial satellite/ launch/ the Soviet Union/1957.
____________________________________________________________________________
4. In order/ keep/ the body/ work/ the astronauts/ the ISS/ need/ proper amount/ exercise.
____________________________________________________________________________
5. April 12, 1961/ Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin/ become/ first human/ orbit/ Earth/ Vostok 1.
____________________________________________________________________________
6. Six Apollo missions/ make/ explore/ moon/ between 1969 / 1972.
____________________________________________________________________________
7. 2025/ the time/ humans/ set foot/ Mars/ the first time?
____________________________________________________________________________
8. By the time/ the Apollo program /end/ twelve astronauts/ walk/ the moon.
____________________________________________________________________________
9. Apollo 11/ be/ the spaceflight/ first/ land/ humans/ the Moon.
____________________________________________________________________________
10. If/ you/ can fly/ plane/ Pluto/ the trip/ take/ more than 800 years!
____________________________________________________________________________

II. Complete the second sentence so that it has the same meaning as the first.
1. I had learnt about Pham Tuan before reading articles about him.
→ Before I_______________________________________________________________________
2. They have sent around 8,378 satellites to space since the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957.
→ Around 8,378 satellites___________________________________________________________
3. Do you know the reason? Many people around the world learn English for this reason.
→ Do you know__________________________________________________________________
4. “I went to the National Air and Space Museum with my friends yesterday,” Ann said.
→ Ann said______________________________________________________________________
5. Martin can’t apply for NASA astronaut training because he is not a U.S. citizen.
→ If____________________________________________________________________________
6. It’s a long time since men last went to the Moon.
→ Men _________________________________________________________________________
7. The earthquake has caused the closure of many roads in the area.
→ As a result ____________________________________________________________________
8. Most parents want their children to study a useful subject leading to a good job.

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→ Most parents would rather ________________________________________________________
9. Don’t press that button on the keyboard, or you’ll lose what you’ve written.
→ If____________________________________________________________________________
10. “How long does it take to get to Mars?” Jim asked his father.
→ Jim asked_____________________________________________________________________

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