Part C

Men in space – and the women no longer in their shadow

When Neil Armstrong successfully landed on the moon in 1969, his words “That’s one

small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind” were quoted quickly all over the world.

Millions of people watched him and Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the moon, walk

around on the surface of the moon, making it the biggest television event that had ever

been broadcast. At that time, space travel, and especially the US program called Apollo,

seemed to be completely in the hands of men. But quite a few remarkable women were

involved in making space travel, and this famous first moon landing, possible.

There were not many women working at the US space agency NASA in the early sixties;

they made up only about 5 % of its workforce. Some of them, however, played an im-

portant role in getting astronauts into space. Their jobs included spacecraft design, doing

calculations for space flights, or developing software for the upcoming computer tech-

nology. Women also played an important role in medical research or in monitoring the

astronauts’ health.

A famous movie depicts the true story of three female mathematicians who were the

brains behind US astronaut John Glenn’s space flights. It successfully mixes facts with

fiction and makes up a few entertaining details on the way. This mixture helps to create a

picture of the working world of the 1960s which was prejudiced against women whatever

their color or intellectual ability, although some NASA women reported that this was not

such a major problem there. However, the main characters, like mathematicians Katherine

G. Johnson or Dorothy Vaughan, known as the ‘human computers’, were presented very

accurately. Their story, which is the message of the movie, shows that women have always

played an important role in space travel.

When we look at the number of women who have flown in space, it was not the US who

won the so-called ‘race to space’ between the Soviet Union (USSR) and the United States.

The first female cosmonaut, as the USSR astronauts are known, was Russian Valentina

Tereshkova, who spent almost three days in space in 1963. Tereshkova, who was the

daughter of a Russian farm worker, had not had any experience as a pilot before her train-

ing began in 1962, nor had she had any previous desire to go into space. However, less

than half a year later, she became the first, and youngest, woman to have flown in space

on board the Vostok 6.

In the US at the same time, a privately funded program started. The Mercury 13 were

thirteen American women who underwent the same challenging checks as the male NASA

astronauts. One of these women was Jerry Cobb, an American pilot. She completed the

same tests as the male astronauts and had always dreamt of flying in space. Women in

space-training programs had some additional benefit, because they were smaller and light-

er than men and weight is crucial in spacecraft. In the USSR, for example, rules required

any candidate for the space program to be less than 170 cm (5 ft 7 in) in height and no

more than 70 kg (154 lb) in weight. Jerry Cobb even spoke before the American Congress

to ask for space flight opportunities to be offered to women; at that time all astronauts in

the US had to be military test pilots, a position not open to women. Consequently, women

were unfairly excluded from all space programs. Cobb never achieved her ultimate goal

of space flight, but she paved the way for women after her who did.

One of those women who made it into space was physicist Sally Ride. She became the

first female US astronaut in 1983. At the age of 32, Ride was the third woman ever to go

into space and the youngest American astronaut to have done so. Before that, she had had

to face many mindless prejudices and criticism by the press about a woman’s ability to do

such a job. Finally, in 1983 she proved all her critics wrong by leaving Earth in the Space

Shuttle Challenger.

Since then, more than 40 American women have been into space, mostly on the various

Space Shuttle missions conducted from 1983 to 2011. Today, about 10 % of astronauts in

NASA are women. Moreover, the space agency has recently disclosed plans to put at least

one woman on the moon by 2024. And there is a lot more for women, or men, to discover

out there in deep space. Gender should be of no interest when it comes to choosing the

best person for exploring space or landing on Mars. NASA has recently announced that

the first person to set foot on Mars is likely to be a woman. This would be another giant

leap for mankind, or – even better – for womankind.

Reading Comprehension (see the text above)

Task 1

Match the headings (A–I) with the paragraphs (1–7). Write the letters in the boxes. Use each letter only once. There are two headings you do not need. One heading (D) is already matched.

A	First woman into space
B	Promising prospects
C	An inspiring story for the screen
D	Famous first footprints
E	Astronauts after their career
F	A female US pioneer
G	A minority with an essential role
H	Space programs in Russia
I	Fighting for female astronauts

Paragraph 1 (lines 1–7)	D
Paragraph 2 (lines 8–13)
Paragraph 3 (lines 14–22)
Paragraph 4 (lines 23–30)
Paragraph 5 (lines 31–42)
Paragraph 6 (lines 43–48)
Paragraph 7 (lines 49 –56)

6 Punkte

Task 2

Which person in the text above would have said this? Match the names of the people (A–G) with the statements (1–4). Write the letters in the boxes. Use each letter only once. There are more names than you need.

One name (E) is already matched.

Dorothy Vaughan	A
John Glenn	B
Jerry Cobb	C
Sally Ride	D
*Buzz* *Aldrin*	E
Neil Armstrong	F
Valentina Tereshkova	G

Sprechblasen mit Aussagen über eine Person und farbigen Kästchen.

Sprechblasen mit Aussagen zu einem Raumfahrer und farbigen Kästchen zum Zuordnen.

4 Punkte

Task 3

Answer the following questions according to the text above.

Short answers are enough. There is an example (0) at the beginning.

0. What was the biggest TV event in the 1960s? the landing on the moon

1. What does the movie show most realistically?

___________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

2. Which country was the first to get a woman into space?

___________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

3. What are the two reasons for women being better suited for space-flight?

___________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

4. Which qualification did Jerry Cobb lack to become an astronaut?

___________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

5. Who was the youngest US woman in space?

___________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

6. Where will we probably see a female US astronaut in the future? (Give one example.)

___________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

6 Punkte

Task 4

The following words have various meanings. Which of the meanings below is the one used in the text above? Write the correct number in the box.

There is an example (0) at the beginning.

(0) step (line 2)
1	short distance
2	level, grade
3	course of action
4	movement with a foot

(1) watch (line 3)
1	look at something over a period of time
2	small timepiece worn on one’s wrist
3	monitor something or somebody
4	shift worked by firefighters

(2) major (line 19)
1	specialize in a subject
2	rank of an officer
3	life-threatening
4	significant

(3) rule (line 36)
1	have a powerful influence on
2	one of a set of regulations
3	control an area or people
4	normal state of things

(4) face (line 46)
1	confront or deal with
2	side of a planet or moon
3	turn in a particular direction
4	front part of a person’s head

4 Punkte

20 Punkte

Weiter lernen mit SchulLV Plus!

monatlich kündbarSchulLV Plus-Vorteile im ÜberblickDu hast bereits einen Account?

Task 1

Paragraph 1 (lines 1–7)	D
Paragraph 2 (lines 8–13)	G
Paragraph 3 (lines 14–22)	C
Paragraph 4 (lines 23–30)	A
Paragraph 5 (lines 31–42)	I
Paragraph 6 (lines 43–48)	F
Paragraph 7 (lines 49 –56)	B

Task 2

(1)	G	Valentina Tereshkova
(2)	D	Sally Ride
(3)	A	Dorothy Vaughan
(4)	C	Jerry Cobb

Task 3

1. What does the movie show most realistically? (the) working world of the 60s / prejudices against women (in the working world)

2. Which country was the first to get a woman into space? USSR / Soviet Union

3. What are the two reasons for women being better suited for space-flight? smaller and lighter (than men) / (less) height and weight

4. Which qualification did Jerry Cobb lack to become an astronaut? (military) test pilot

5. Who was the youngest US woman in space? Sally Ride

6. Where will we probably see a female US astronaut in the future? (Give one example.) moon / Mars

Task 4

(0) step (line 2)
1	short distance
2	level, grade
3	course of action
4	movement with a foot

(1) watch (line 3)
1	look at something over a period of time
2	small timepiece worn on one’s wrist
3	monitor something or somebody
4	shift worked by firefighters

(2) major (line 19)
1	specialize in a subject
2	rank of an officer
3	life-threatening
4	significant

(3) rule (line 36)
1	have a powerful influence on
2	one of a set of regulations
3	control an area or people
4	normal state of things

(4) face (line 46)
1	confront or deal with
2	side of a planet or moon
3	turn in a particular direction
4	front part of a person’s head

Weiter lernen mit SchulLV Plus!

monatlich kündbarSchulLV Plus-Vorteile im ÜberblickDu hast bereits einen Account?