Danger in Space

 Vocabulary practice. Match the words with their explanation. Find the words in the
text:
1. broken a) an opening in or through something
2. to float b) the people who work on and operate a ship/ plane or spaceship
3. to shake c) the natural satellite of the earth
4. heart d) oil, petrol, used for engines, motors
5. fuel e) to move slowly through air or water
6. Moon f) to come down to earth after a flight or a jump
7. hole g) to move in rapid movements
8. crew h) muscular organ who pumps blood throughout the body
9. to land i) not functioning
 Astronaut Fred W. Haise was floating between two cabins in Apollo 13 when it
started to shake up and down. Haise’s heart was beating fast.
The other two astronauts joined him quickly. Now all three were sitting in a small
compartment, no bigger than a tent. They were all trying to understand the situation.
Suddenly, one of them identified the cause of the problem. One of the instruments showing
the fuel was broken. Captain James A. Lovell noticed that the ship was losing electric
power. He went to the window to see what was wrong. “It was an explosion and we’ve lost
fuel. We have a hole in one side of the service module”, he said. Fuel was disappearing
into space when the final radio instruction came from Earth: use Aquarius to survive!
Aquarius was built to land on the Moon and not o Earth. It had its own air and engine, but
it didn’t have enough space. But now the crew had to abandon landing on the Moon and
try anything to get back. And so, Aquarius had a new and more important mission: to keep
the three men alive and bring them home.

 Read the story and match the notes and the information

a) First thing that happens: 1) they die.

b) Cause of the problem: 2) Apollo starts to shake.
c) Immediate result of the problem: 3) to use Aquarius.
d) Solution to problem: 4) no room to sit down, not much
space inside
e) Characteristics of Aquarius: 5) the loss of fuel and a broken
instrument.
6) an explosion.
f) Disadvantages of using Aquarius: 7) built to land on the Moon
g) Consequence of people who are lost in space: and not on Earth; has its own air
and engine.

 Join the following sentences:

EXAMPLE: The spaceship shook. Fred Haise was floating between two cabins.
Fred Haise was floating between two cabins when the spaceship shook
1) The spaceship was shaking up and down. The crew went into the small compartment.
2) He called the command module. Haise’s heart was beating fast.
3) One of them identified the cause of the problem. They were trying to understand the
situation.
4) The ship was losing electric power. Captain Lovell went to the window to see what was
wrong.
5) The fuel was disappearing into space. The final radio instruction came from earth.
6) The temperature dropped to -35 degrees Celsius. They were talking about their terrible
situation.

 Read the next part of the Apollo story:

“That’s Earth!” said Lovell to his crew. “We must prepare to land”. First the
astronauts had to separate the service module from Aquarius and the command module.
After that they watched the service module disappear in the distance. Next they had to face
another problem: that of re-entering the earth’s atmosphere, which was not easy at all.
They could burn if something went wrong, but naturally, no one was talking about that.
Finally they decided to use the remaining oxygen in the command module and to abandon
Aquarius because they did not want to die in it.

 Use the underlined words in the text to complete the rest of the story:

They were falling in their module at about 15 000 miles per hour. ________they lost
all radio contact. _____________ the speed increased to 20 000 an hour. _______some
flames appeared.
On Earth everybody was worried about Apollo 13, but they could not help. While
they were all waiting nervously, the command module with its giant white and orange
parachutes splashed into the sea. __________the astronauts were picked up from the ship.
They were all alive and well thanks to Aquarius.