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Read To Me
Read the next two selections. Then choose the best answer to each question.
To The Moon by Michael Signal
1 On April 12 , 1960 , Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space . It was the second time that the Soviet Union had beaten the United States into Space . The Soviet Union had launched the first satellite , Sputnik , into orbit three years earlier . Americans had been beaten to the punch , twice . They didn't want to be beaten again . No one was more determined for an American space victory than President John F . Kennedy . In 1961 , he promised to land an American astronaut on the moon and return him safely to Earth . It would take the most powerful engine ever created to make that promise come true , but on July 20 , 1969 , American astronauts walked on the moon . They returned safely to Earth on July 24 .
2 The Soviet Union doesn't exist today . Most of what used to be the Soviet Union is modern-day Russia , but in the 1960s , Americans saw the Soviet Union as a huge threat . For decades , the United States and the Soviet Union were locked against each other in the Cold War . There was no fighting in the Cold War , but there was a lot of showing off . Each side had to prove that it was more powerful than the other . The Soviet launch of the first satellite and the first person into space seemed to prove that their space program was the best in the world . People of the United States did not want the Soviet Union to be best at anything . America had to do something big . The Soviet Union had only sent people and things into orbit around the Earth . President Kennedy made a gamble . If the United States really could put a man on the moon , it would prove that the American space program was the best . But it would also be a huge defeat if the United States failed .
3 The Soviet Union and the United States had both launched people and satellites into space , but they returned quickly to Earth or stayed in orbit around the planet . Sending men to the moon would be a much more difficult task . The first rockets that blasted into space were not nearly powerful enough to reach the moon . The United States needed to build a new rocket . A team of brilliant scientists designed the Saturn V rocket . It stood over 360 feet tall and carried about one million gallons of explosive fuel . The Saturn V's F-1 rocket engines are the most powerful rocket engines ever produced . It was the only machine that would be able to place American astronauts on the moon .
4 It took four days for Neil Armstrong , Buzz Aldrin , and Michael Collins to reach the moon . But they did reach the moon , and they returned to Earth safely . The 1969 moon landing put the United States ahead of the Soviet Union for good in their Cold War battles over space . That victory was due in part to the determination of an American President and the American people , and in part to the mighty Saturn V rocket .
Spacewalk by Michael Signal
1 A Soviet cosmonaut became the first man in space in 1961 . Yuri Gagarin's space flight was dangerous , but his Vostok 1 spacecraft protected him from the hazards of space . Almost five years later , another Soviet cosmonaut would become the first man in space , outside of a spacecraft . Alexei Leonov performed the first spacewalk in 1965 . Leonov's spacewalk proved that a person could survive in space , outside of a spacecraft . Today , astronauts and cosmonauts use spacewalks to perform all sorts of tasks .
2 The first Americans walked in space a few months after Leonov did . Americans and Soviets had proven that they had the technology to keep a man safe , even if he exited his spacecraft . This was no simple task . There is no air to breathe in space , so a space suit must have its own air supply . There are other dangers too . Temperatures can be less than -100 degrees Fahrenheit , or they can soar to 500 degrees Fahrenheit . Without a space suit , an astronaut would freeze to death , or bake to a crisp . Another danger comes from cosmic radiation . The Sun and other celestial objects emit radiation that can be very harmful to humans . On Earth , the atmosphere blocks much of the dangerous radiation . Floating outside of a spaceship , an astronaut's only protection comes from a space suit . It is like a mobile , personal habitat .
3 Today , astronauts have to perform repair missions and close inspections that cannot be done from inside of a spaceship . Some of the most useful spacewalks repaired the Hubble Space Telescope . In 1990 , NASA launched the Hubble into Space . It was supposed to be the most powerful telescope ever launched into orbit , but it was broken . During several spacewalks , astronauts repaired the Hubble's faulty mirror . After the repairs , the telescope worked better than scientists had hoped . The Hubble success proved that astronauts could safely perform complicated tasks during a spacewalk .
4 It takes a lot of technology to keep a person safe in space . It takes even more to keep someone safe in space during a spacewalk . Space suits have proven that they can do more than just keep people safe . They give astronauts a portable air supply , regulate temperature , and allow them to complete complex tasks , all while floating through space . Spacesuits are essential mission equipment for any astronaut , and spacewalks are essential activities on most space missions .