"One small step for man" again. The latest American space plan will see astronauts repeating a journey first made over 30 years ago. A new rocket which looks very much like the old one will follow the trail first placed in the 60s. A new lander which also looks a bit familiar will carry four astronauts to the lunar surface.
Look at the footage of the original Apollo missions: the same shaped rocket, and the same kind of craft that descend onto the moon itself.
"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."
NASA announced this week that it plans to ______.
A. develop a new spaceship
B. enlarge its research field
C. send astronauts to the moon
D. cut down its expenses in space research
Of the six outer planets, Mars, commonly called the Red Planet, is the closest to Earth. Mars, 4,200 miles in diameter and 55% of the size of the Earth, is 34,600,000 miles from the Earth, and 141,000,000 miles from the Sun. It takes this planet, along 0with its two moons, Phoboes and Deimos, 1.88 years to circle, the Sun, compared to 365 days from the Earth.
For many years, Mars had been thought of as the planet with the man made canals, supposedly discovered by an Italian astronomer, Schiaparelli, in 1877. With the United States spacecraft Viking I's landing on 'Mars in 1976, the man-made canal theory was proven to be only a myth.
Viking I, after landing on the soil of Mars, performed many scientific experiments and took numerous pictures. The pictures showed that the red color of the planet is due to the reddish, rocky Martian soil. No biological life was found, though it had been speculated by many scientists. The Viking al so monitored many weather changes including violent dust storms. Some water vapor, polar ice and permafrost were found, indicating that at one time there were significant quantities of water on this distant planet. Evidence collected by the spacecraft shows some present volcanic action, though the volcanoes are believed to be dormant, if not extinct.
Which of the following is true?
A. Mars is larger than the Earth.
B. Mars had Viking as its moon.
C. Martian soil is brownish rod.
D. It takes longer for Mars to circle the Sun than it takes the Earth.