At the time of writing this, more than 600 people have gone to space. The first person to do it was the Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin, in 1961. Most of the people that have achieved the dream of flying to outer space have been astronauts that form part of space agencies such as NASA although a few have gone as part of space tourism trips.
But space exploration can be a risky profession. We have all heard about unfortunate accidents like that of the Apollo 1 training crew or the Space Shuttle Challenger. To date, there have been 188 accidents related to space flights. Fortunately, the number of accidents has greatly been reduced since the 1980s as space agencies have gotten better at conducting safety protocols (协议).
With all those incidents, it is natural to wonder if at some point any astronauts have been lost in space. Are there any dead bodies in space? The short answer is no. There are no dead bodies in space. Most of the spaceflight-related accidents have happened on land or before reaching the line that we consider space. This limit is called the Kármán line and is 100 kilometres (62 miles) above sea level.
There have been a few cases of spacecraft that have been “lost in space”. For example, the Apollo 10 released the descent (下降) module while they were orbiting the Moon. The module did not have any astronauts inside and was “lost” although it was released in such a way that it would go into orbit around the Sun. The module was located in 2019 using a telescope. As for other types of accidents, there have been, cases of satellites that have collided (碰撞) or been hit by something. But those are unmanned and they usually fall into Earth and are disintegrated from the heat as they enter the atmosphere.
In short, there are no human bodies lost in space. Most spaceflight-related accidents that involved people have happened while still on Earth.
【小题1】What can we learn from the text?| A．Yuri Gagarin was a pioneer in space trips. |
| B．Most people flew to space mainly for travel. |
| C．Human exploration for space began in the 1980s. |
| D．About 30% astronauts suffered from space accidents. |
| A．More advanced technology. | B．Stronger safety measures. |
| C．Stricter limits to space flights. | D．More financial support. |
| A．To prove space exploration is becoming risky. |
| B．To add some background information for space. |
| C．To further explain no astronauts died in space. |
| D．To introduce more space flight-related accidents. |
| A．Space Celebrities | B．Popular Science |
| C．Space Safety | D．Advanced Science |
