Q1.
Space Tourism
 
In 1969, a man walked on the Moon for the first time. After this, many
people thought that space travel would be available by the year 2000
and that we would all be space tourists. However, here we are in 2015
and space tourism is still an impossible dream for most of us. It is a
reality for only a very few, very rich, people.	
 	
How would you get to your space hotel?
In the future there may be hotels in space for all the tourists. It wouldn’t take
long for the space shuttle to get out of the Earth’s atmosphere. Then, without
Earth’ gravity, you would become weightless. Arrival at the hotel would be
like an aeroplane parking at an airport but you would leave the cabin
floating along the access tube, holding on to a cable. 	
 	
Fact: The Russian Space Agency
offers flights on board a spacecraft to
the International Space Station (ISS), 
where people can stay. The ISS was 
built in 1998 and is so big that it can 
be seen from Earth. Tickets to the ISS 
are very limited.	 	What would a space
holiday be like?
Once in the hotel, you could
admire the unique views of
Earth and space and enjoy the
endless entertainment of being
weightless – and there would
always be the possibility of a
space-walk.	
 	
 	Fact: The first
tourist in pace
was Dennis Tito
in 2001. His trip
cost him around
£14 million.	

 	
Who has already had a holiday in space?
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 (an online diary). 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. 	
 
Shooting stars
Be a space tourist at home	
While space travel is an impossibility for most of us, you can still be a tourist
from here on Earth by spotting shooting stars!
Space is full of huge and tiny pieces of rock, which burn up in a flash when they
enter the Earth’s atmosphere. The flash of burning rock is called a meteor. As it
moves through the night sky, you can see the trail it leaves behind – which is
what we know as a shooting star.
On most clear nights, you should be able to see up to 10 meteors every hour.
But, at certain times of the year, many more meteors appear than usual. When
this happens, we call it a meteor shower.	
Star spotters' guide to
seeing shooting stars
1.    Find out when a meteor shower is
       due and arrange to go star spotting
       with an adult (they don’t have to be
       an expert!).
2.    Wear warm clothes and equip
       yourself with a blanket, a pillow and
       a torch.
3.    You do NOT need a telescope or
       binoculars.
4.    Go outside and find somewhere that
       is far away from town lights.
5.    When you have found your spot, lie
       down on your blanket, switch OFF
       your torch and stare up at the sky.
6.    Allow some minutes to pass. The
       longer you look, the more stars you
       will see as your eyes get used to the
       darkness.
7.    Wait for the shooting stars to appear!	 	
Q2.
1.      Look at the introduction. Why is space tourism impossible for most people?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
1 mark
2.      How would you get from the spacecraft to the space hotel?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
1 mark
3.      According to the text, what could you do on your space holiday?Give two examples:
1. ____________________________________________________________
2. ____________________________________________________________
2 marks
4.      How much did the first space tourist pay to go into space?
______________________________________________________________
1 mark
5.      How can you tell that the International Space Station is very large?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
1 mark
6.      How did Anousheh’s trip into space make history?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
1 mark
7.      Look at the text box Who has already had a holiday in space?Complete the table about Anousheh’s trip into space.
 
Where did she start her trip?	 	
Where did she stay in space?	 	
How long did she stay in space?	 	
2 marks
8.      Look at Anousheh’s blog entry for September 25th. Find and copy a group of words that shows that Anousheh wrote her
blog for others to read.
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
1 mark
9.      Look at Anousheh’s blog entry for September 27th. Explain how Anousheh felt about being in space that day.
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
2 marks
10.    Match the events below to the year in which they happened.
 
1 mark
11.    Using information from the text, tick one box in each row to show whether each statement is a fact or an opinion.
 
 	Fact	Opinion	
Anousheh Ansari kept an online diary.	 	 	
Brushing your teeth in space is a joy.	 	 	
Being weightless is endlessly entertaining.	 	 	
Tourists can stay on the International
Space Station.	 	 	
1 mark
12.    …in a flash...What does this tell you about the burning of rocks in space?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
1 mark
13.    Find out when a meteor shower is due and arrange to go star spotting
with an adult…In this sentence, the word arrange is closest in meaning to…
 
 	Tick one.	
set out.		
meet.		
pack up.		
plan.		
1 mark
14.    How does the information make it sound easy to be a star spotter?Give two ways.
1. ____________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
2. ____________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
2 marks
15.    Tick true or false in the following table to show what you should do when
spotting shooting stars. 
 
 	True	False	
Take warm clothes, a blanket, a pillow and a torch.	 	 	
Stay close to town.	 	 	
Point your torch up to the sky.	 	 	
You must have binoculars.	 	 	
1 mark