Believe it or not, the day when you can go to the moon is coming soon. You can go into space _______ space shuttle (太空船). It _______ about three days for the shuttle to go from the earth to the moon. The shuttle flies a long way to a space station. You can stay there for a short rest and then it will _______ you to the moon.

Now you can jump out of the shuttle. But you mustn’t take off your spacesuit (太空服), because it is very hot in the daytime and very cold at night on the _______. The moon is much smaller than the earth. Things are _______ on the moon than they are on the earth. You can jump high every time you take a step. You will find that it is never tiring to walk on the moon. You don’t need to take an umbrella or a raincoat with you _______ there is no rain on the moon. You can hear _______ because there is no air on the moon. And there are no animals or other living things there.       

The moon moves more _______ than the earth, so one day on the moon is as long as two weeks on the earth and one night is just as long as two weeks on the earth. What could you do in _______ long days and nights and in a silent world? Now ________ are trying to make the best of the moon. But our earth is really a far better place to live, as long as we take good care of it.

Many kids are crazy about space. Last month, a space agency (机构) told the public that they were _________ “a planet protection officer.” Some people laughed at the funny job title, but a 9-year-old boy took the information _________. He wrote a letter to the agency, saying that he wanted the job.

“Dear sirs, my name is Sam Lee. I think I am the _________ person for the job,” he wrote.

What are Sam’s _________? For one, he wrote, “My sister says I act like an alien (外星人)” Sam also said he had watched almost all the _________ movies he could find. His last sentence may touch people’s hearts: “I am young, so I can learn to think like an alien.”

Sam soon got a _________ from Bill Black, director of the agency. “We have received your letter. It is great that you are interested in the job. This job is to _________ the earth from germs (细菌) on things brought back from other planets.” Bill ended the letter with some warm words, _________ Sam to study hard and do well in school. “We hope to _________ you at the agency one day.” he wrote.

“Among kids, there are __________ space scientists.” Bill told a newspaper. “We think of this letter as a chance that may forever change our kids’ life.”

The first astronauts

Since the earliest times, people have looked up at the stars, the moon and the planets. Today people use modern machines _______ at the sky. This is very different from the situation _______ years ago when people could only use their eyes. Perhaps they dreamed of _______ the universe. When did humans first go into space? The story began not so very long ago, _______ the first astronauts were not people-they were animals.

Scientists wanted to make travelling to space as _______ as possible for humans. So they decided to experiment with animals and, test _______ in spaceflights. Insects, mice, frogs, dogs and monkeys were some of the animals _______ first went into space. Many of them _______ , but they helped to make space travel safer for humans. For their great service, we _______ forget these animals.

Albert I was the first monkey to go into space in 1949. Sadly he died ________ his spaceship landed back on Earth.

________ the result was different for Ham the Monkey. His story ended happily when he returned to Earth ________ very good health.

Scientists wanted to know the answer to the important question: could ________ animal like Ham do the same things in space as he could do on Earth? The answer came when Ham ________ into space in 1961. Yes, he did everything well and lived for ________ 16 years.