Олимпиада к Дню космонавтики

SPACE EXPLORATION

1. The history of space exploration in Russia started with Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, a maths teacher from Kaluga. Tsiolkovsky never built or launched a rocket, but he was the first person to understand the main ideas behind rocket science – as early as 1903. He predicted and solved many of the problems in rocket engineering, and he made designs for several rockets. He dreamt of a space age.

2. It was nearly 60 years before Tsiolkovsky’s dream came true. On 12^th April, 1961, at exactly 9.07 a. m. Vostok 1 lifted off for its 108-minute flight. There was one man inside – Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet pilot and the first person in the world to fly into outer space. During his one orbit around the earth, Gagarin had some food and water; so he was also the first person to eat and drink in conditions of weightlessness. He didn’t have a camera to take photos, but he observed different parts of the earth.

3. Gagarin’s flight started a new stage in the history of exploration. It made more space travel possible. Now, 50 years later, many cosmonauts and engineers from different countries have made flights to outer space. Some of them have stayed in space for several months. They have done a lot of research and experiments.

4. In the 1990s Russian scientists started thinking about sending tourists into outer space. The world’s first space tourist was American millionaire, Dennis Tito. He went on an eight-day holiday in May 2001 in a Russian spaceship. He visited the International Space Station and landed afterwards in Kazakhstan with the two other members of the flight team. ‘I was worried that I might not feel well in space’, he said, ‘but I felt the best I’ve felt in my whole life. It was a trip to paradise’. Space scientists are now discussing the next idea: two-week space holidays with a trip around the moon, for $100 million… anyone interested?

1. Read the text and choose the headline to each paragraph

1. Holiday-makers in space

2. Yuri Gagarin, the first cosmonaut

3. Outer space as a workplace

4. Father of rocket science

5. The flight that changed the world

2. Match letters to numbers.

3. True or false?

1. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was the first person to build a rocket.

2. Yuri Gagarin went round the Earth once.

3. During his flight Gagarin took photos of the Earth.

4. Space flight is now international.

5. Space engineers do a lot of scientific work.

6. The Americans took the first tourist into space.

4. Fill the words from the exercise 2 into the phrases

1. Cosmonauts and engineers have done a lot of … and experiments.

2. The history of … in Russia started with Konstantin Tsiolkovsky.

3. Tsiolkovsky predicted and solved many of the problems in ….

4. Tsiolkovsky’s dream … on 12^th April, 1961.

5. Yuri Gagarin was the first person in the world to fly into ….

5.Space quiz

How many billion miles across does our Solar System have?
 seven
 six
 eight

Our Solar System is home to how many planets?
 seven
 eight
 nine

The Solar System is ...... billion years old.
 3.4
 6.4
 4.6

The eight planets in our Solar System grew out of tiny specks of..... .
 dust
 mud
 sand

The Solar System is divided into how many distinct regions?
 2
 4
 3

Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune make up...
 the Inner Solar System
 the Outer Solar System
 the Middle Solar System

The four planets of the Outer Solar System make up ...... of the known mass orbiting the Sun.
 90%
 99%
 98%

For almost how many years was Pluto known as a planet?
 88
 89
 80

A space object must have three distinct characteristics in order to be called a planet. Circle one such characteristic below.
 the object must contain water
 the object must orbit the Sun
 the object must have its own moons

After discovering that Pluto doesn't meet all three characteristics of a planet, it has been demoted to a .....
 asteroid
 dwarf planet
 meteorite

Astronomers believe there may be as many as ...... dwarf planets in our solar system.
 44
 42
 24

Kuiper Belt is ........... our planetary system.
 the same size as
 larger than
 smaller than

There are more than ...... known comets in our Solar System.
 3350
 3550
 3530

The Scattered Disk is.....
 an immense magnetic bubble
 a belt of strangely orbiting objects, like minor planets
 the disk surrounding Saturn

The Heliosphere is......
 an immense magnetic bubble
 a scattered disk
 an interstellar wind

The outer edge of our Solar System is formed by.....
 the two dwarf planets Eris and Ceres
 the Kuiper Belt
 the Heliosphere

Our Solar System is part of.......
 Aurora Borealis
 the Milky Way
 the Inner Solar System

1. The letters in the words are confused as well as the words in the sentences. Rebuild the phrases.

1. asw istrf rinGaga senrop in cepas.____________________________________________

2. netapl si ruo the nuS morf rithd the.___________________________________________

3. dellca uor xylaga si ywa likym._______________________________________________

4. layp leor a ttetilessa gib in flie denorm_________________________________________

Across

1. The kind of planet that Earth and Mars are.

6. Star at the center of our solar system.

9. This planet is known as the red planet.

10. A hole in the ground caused by a meteor hitting a planet.

13. An outer layer of gas on a terrestrial planet.

15. Planet between Saturn and Neptune.

17. Planets like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.

20. A rock that crashes into Earth's atmosphere.

21. The largest planet in the solar system.

Down

2. Something that both Saturn and Uranus have.

3. Our planet.

4. An instrument that scientists use to observe planets.

5. Our galaxy.

6. Our sun is this.

7. The farthest planet from the sun.

8. Planet closest to the sun.

11. Planet named after the sea god.

12. Planet known as the evening star.

14. The path that a planet takes around the sun.

16. One of many 'rocks' in a belt between Mars and Jupiter.

17. The force that holds planets in their orbits.

18. Planet famous for its rings.

19. An icy rock that has bright tail when it comes close to the sun.

20. Earth's companion.