Ready for Launch!
Flyers coaching · Reading & Writing Part 4 · Space and Science
How a rocket goes to space
A rocket needs (1) ______ lot of power to go up into space. Gravity pulls everything down, so the rocket must be very fast. It goes (2) ______ than 25,000 kilometres an hour!
Before a launch, scientists look at the sky. If there (3) ______ big clouds or strong winds, they stop the countdown. “It’s (4) ______ to rain,” they say. “We’ll try again tomorrow.”
On launch day, crowds of people come (5) ______ watch. The astronauts sit in the top of the rocket (6) ______ the fuel is at the bottom.
Ten, nine, eight … The engines are going (7) ______ start! Fire and smoke come out of the bottom. Then the rocket goes up, (8) ______ and higher. After a few minutes it is in space, (9) ______ it can put a satellite (10) ______ orbit.
Vocabulary
- rocket — A machine that flies very fast up into space.
- cloud — A white or grey thing in the sky. Rain comes from it.
- fuel — Something like petrol that you burn to make engines work.
- launch — Send a rocket or a ship up into the sky or out to sea.
- gravity — The force that pulls things down to the ground.
- star — A bright light that you see in the night sky.
- satellite — A machine in space that goes round the Earth and sends pictures and messages.
- telescope — A long tube that you look through to see stars and planets.
- countdown — Counting backwards to zero before something starts: “Three, two, one!”
- crowd — A lot of people together in one place.
Sample questions (10 questions)
- (1)
- a
- an
- the
- (2)
- fastest
- faster
- fast
- (3)
- is
- be
- are
Answers and hints from Migo appear when you do it online.