The 60-foot-tall rocket took off in West Texas, sending a group of six people into space and giving them a few minutes of weightlessness before they landed by parachute (降落伞).
Most of the passengers paid a secret sum of money for their seats. But Katya Echazarreta, an engineer and science communicator, was selected by a nonprofit organization to join this travel from a pool of thousands of applicants (申请⼈). The organization’s goal is to send great leaders into space and allow them to experience the overview effect, which was reported by astronauts who say that viewing the Earth from space gives them a great change in their view.
“Looking down, you see everyone is down there, all of our past, all of our difficulties, everything — everything is there,” Echazarreta said. “When I came back down, it just completely strengthened my wish to continue enabling people of different backgrounds to go into space and do whatever they want to do.”
Echazarreta is the first Mexican-born woman to travel into space. She moved to the United States with her family at the age of seven. She recalled (回忆说) that she felt uncertain in a new place where she didn’t speak the language and that a teacher warned her she might have to repeat a grade. “It just really fueled me and after that, I just studied harder,” Echazarreta said. Later she was the main breadwinner in her family. She had sometimes up to four jobs at the same time, just to try to successfully graduate from college.
She worked in NASA before and didn’t see other female engineers like her, which inspired her to popularize science among the public. These days, Echazarreta is studying for her master’s degree in engineering at Johns Hopkins University. She also has a following of more than 330,000 fans on TikTok, and hosts a science-focused YouTube series.
【小题1】Why was Echazarreta chosen to travel into space?| A．She made great efforts to set up a nonprofit organization. |
| B．She supported the project with a big sum of money. |
| C．She was considered to be an excellent woman. |
| D．She was an expert in space science. |
| A．To make women scientists known to the public. |
| B．To share the beauty of space on social media. |
| C．To encourage the public to learn science. |
| D．To help more people travel into space. |
| A．Beat. | B．Drove. | C．Confused. | D．Attracted. |
| A．Inspiring and hardworking. | B．Humorous and outgoing. |
| C．Talented and creative. | D．Calm and confident. |
