Discovery

 

The American space shuttle Discovery is now sitting on its launch pad waiting for its turn to go up and rendezvous with the ISS (International Space Station).  It has been nearly a year since the last time NASA launched their reusable rocket and there is going to be another month to wait before this one lifts off.  There is still a lot more work to do first though.  They have to fill the large tank with liquid oxygen and hydrogen, and then they've got to check that all the electrical systems work.  This is not a fast process.

 

Even if they had all the fuel ready today, they wouldn't be able to launch for another month.  Why?  Well, the ISS is in the wrong place.  It goes round the earth, rather than staying in one place (we call satellites that stay in one place 'geostationary').  If they want one moving object to meet with another moving object, they have to get the timing right.  Imagine it this way:  You want to jump onto a moving train and so you have to run fast enough before you jump.  You need to start running at just the right time so that you can jump just as soon as the open train door is passing.  If you start too early, or too late, you'll miss.  By the way, don't try this for real!

 

Of course, they could launch on almost any day at just the right moment, but in June that means that they would have to go up at night.  They don't want to do this because they want to see what happens to the shuttle when it goes up.  They have been having problems with it and they need to have as many cameras, in as much light, as possible.

 

There are all sorts of problems that might come up.  Ice is one, falling foam is another.  They destroyed Challenger and Columbia.  The fuel sensors (an electronic object that tells you how much fuel you have left) might go wrong.  If that happens, the computer won't know when to stop pumping fuel and the pump might get too hot.  You don't want something burning on a spacecraft!  Then there is bad weather (it's dangerous to launch in a storm and even if the weather is good in America, it needs to be good at the emergency landing places in different countries) and even woodpeckers.  Yes, woodpeckers have damaged the fuel tank at least once.  They must have thought it was a rather large tree.

 

Glossary

 

a launch pad               płyta wyrzutni rakietowej

to rendezvous = to meet

foam                           pianka

to pump                      pompować

a woodpecker             dzięcioł

 

Questions

 

Which of these can you not see from the ISS?

 

1. The Great Wall of China
2. The Millennium Dome (in London)
3. The Taj Mahal (in Delhi, India)
4. The Culture Palace (in Warsaw)

 

KEY

 

None of them.  There are no manmade buildings on earth that can be seen from space, unless you use a telescope.

 

If you threw a five-zloty coin towards the earth from the ISS, how much damage would it cause?

 

KEY

 

None, except to the coin.  It would burn up when it hit the atmosphere.

 

How many people have walked on the moon?

 

KEY

 

Only twelve.

 

There are over 30,000 things that came from space research.  See if you can find eight of them in the wordsearch.

 

W D U V R E Q R Y B E X H H S W P X N C S L G B G

S H T E C U N H W F E U A Z E M J C S P J M R V M

T H Z J N D S J R G A Q L P S K L K T A P Z D V K

C M B F O X R E E O J Y M L S M L P R K B U D A M

C S I W F W J N C C W Y J E A Y X B N V R T T M V

Z J G D S J V T X A B E P Z L E Y E V D S K Y Q B

Y R O H P A X B X N R I K I G N A F Q J B X K S Q

V X O F R T A T M L G B X A T A A E U N Q D W F E

W Z H U S S W R H S A Z L P N M A U A Y R Y S R S

O G A W A Q U Y T P Q R D A A E C P R O X S R D H

A Q A V I E B W Y P F G K G T C G I T A H N A S A

E T Q A A Z Z D P T F E M J S N E C Z W Y I O J I

Q Q L P O Z K D Y X V L P Q I R E M W Y B O J T E

S H B M Q L C E I L I Z L Y S T R D A W V Z X W A

X T T N G S E L G O J B R B E B M X T K T I A N I

I X I S E K Z S K M S F A D R Z Q V C U E P Q Q Y

J R W W V Q A L Y Z K B E R H M Q T H M C R K Y U

W G Z Y Y O N H L C W K J P C Y H T E R G A S B S

M G H W E E U B I Y O P I X T O C G S E A V Y U K

J S Q X Y S O T G M T F R N A I D H C Q I H N P K

C O R D L E S S S C R E W D R I V E R S L V O F G

V H X V P N T J W H N Y E X C R X G A J R K E H C

W Z M T O F Z M A D L N T N S I W X O Q R J Y Q Q

U S A N N R A P L Y G H R O S B D G R F O J K E T

D M A A C Q V A U L X U V N H Y X B Q E K G K D Z

 

KEY

 

BARCODE

CORDLESSS CREWDRIVERS

DENTAL BRACES

NON-STICK FRYINGPAN

PACEMAKER

QUARTZ WATCHES

SCRATCH-RESISTANT GLASSES

SMOKE DETECTOR

 

Did you know?

 

The shuttle moves from its assembly building to the launch pad at less than one mile per hour.  It took more than a day to transport it.

 

The Russians had a space shuttle called 'Buran'.  It only flew once, by remote control.

 

When the shuttle docks with the ISS it becomes the largest manmade object in space.