THE DANGERS OF SPACE TRAVEL Human beings have always had two...

THE DANGERS OF SPACE TRAVELHuman beings have always had two burning ambitions. On the one hand they need to settle
down and call a place “home”, but on the other hand they also have an uncontrollable
desire to go where no one has ever gone before. First they conquered the Moon and now
they are aiming to go even farther.
With modern technology , space travel safety has improved the great deal and astronauts
today are much better equipped to go to outer space than the first man stepped on the
Moon. However, john Charles, a NASA analyst of the costs and risks of human space flight,
says that several are the dangers of sending people to space.
To start with, history has proved that launching, landing and re-entry are possibly the most
dangerous moments in any space venture. Also, while Earth ordinary injuries can be easily
treated, a long space missions they can become potentially life-threatening or even deadly,
due to lack of medical facilities. In addiction, zero or reduced gravity has its toll on humans,
causing, for example, bone and muscles loss. Astronauts also have to cope with “psychological
pressure” as they are forced to be in a small group and isolated for months or years.
Another drawback is that traveling for away into space exposes men to dangerous radiation
particles, which are abundant beyond the Earth’s orbit. This means that a two-year trip to
Mars, plus six months of travel time each way, would exposed an astronaut to nearly the
lifetime limit of radiation allowed under NASA guidelines.
There are two primary forms of hazardous space radiation: The high-energy particles, emitted
by the Sun, and the cosmic rays. The Earth’s against both particles, but in outer space they
come from all directions. As a dire consequence, these particles go right through the human
body and break the filaments of DNA, that is, the damage caused in the cells makes them lose
their ability to perform normally and regenerate. Therefore, exposure is about twice as bad
while traveling through space compared to being on planetary surfaces, experts claim.
Every year NASA spends millions of dollars on research into space radiation and long-term
spaceflight to give astronauts more and more protection for future space explorations.
www. space. com
READ THE TEXT AND CHOOSE THE CORRECT ANSWER:
1- Why does the text suggest that man have contradictory feelings?
A( )Because first they conquered the Moon and now they are aiming to go farter.
B( )Because they have a need to settle down and call a place “home”, but they also
have an uncontrollable desire to go where no one has ever gone before.
2- What does John Charles, a NASA analyst, think about space travel?
A( )He says that there are several dangers of sending people to outer space, despite
the advances in technology.
B( )He says that space travel safety has improved a great deal and astronauts today
are much better equipped to go to outer space than when the first man stepped on
the Moon.

3- Why can ordinary injuries become life-threatening in space?
A ( )Because of the lack of medical facilities in space.
B( )Because space trips are long and dangerous.
4- What is the negative side of living in a small group of astronauts?
A( )Astronauts may suffer from psychological pressure because they are forced to
live with the same people for months or even years.
B( )Space trips are long and uncomfortable and there are no medical facilities.
5- Why are the radiation particles not very dangerous when astronauts are within the
limits of the Earth’s atmosphere?
A( )Because of the high-tech space suit astronauts wear.
B( )Because the Earth’s atmosphere blocks most of them.
6- What is the effect of those radiation particles on humans in outer space?
A( )They break the filaments of DNA, damaging the cells and making them lose their
ability to perform normally and regenerate.
B( )Because the exposure to radiation is about twice as bad while traveling through
space compared to being on planetary surfaces, experts claim.