Because the population is increasing     1     (rapid), the Earth is becoming more and more crowded and polluted. It     2     (believe) that people could start all over again and build a better world on Mars.

What’s the life on Mars     3    ?

    4     (compare) with life on the Earth, life on Mars would be better in some ways. People would have     5     (much) space. They might live in houses with huge rooms. Also, robots would do most of their work     6     (satisfy) people.

    7    , our spacecrafts are too slow to carry large numbers of     8     (passenger) to Mars at present. By the year 2100, the spacecrafts can travel at the speed of light, but the journey might be quite     9     (comfort). Moreover, food on Mars would not be so tasty. And gravity could be     10     problem. Life on Mars would be not only interesting, but challenging as well.

The moon is     1     away from the earth. We can only see a small moon with our own eyes on the earth. When we see a small part of the moon, we call it a crescent moon (新月). When we see the whole moon, we call     2     a full moon. That’s all people knew about the moon in ancient times. They even didn’t know the moon goes     3     the earth. But they thought that there might be life on the moon. However, in July 1969, scientists sent Neil Armstrong to the moon and found that there weren’t any     4     on the moon.

Have you ever heard of the satellite (卫星) called Early Bird, which was built by a group of scientists     5     14 countries? So far, a few satellites have been put into space and they helped people to     6     photos of the earth and other stars.

    7     we know a lot about the moon and the earth now, people always ask the questions: Is there anyone out there in space? Are we alone? Our scientists haven’t got a clear answer     8    . It is still one of the greatest mysteries (谜底) and some people think it will be a secret for     9     long time. But we believe we can     10     the problem some day.

What is the solar system? It is our sun and other     1     (planet) that travel around it. The sun is in the center of it and     2     (it) shape looks like an egg.

Our solar system including the Sun, the Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Our solar neighborhood is an     3     (excite) place. Most people think we have to live in outer space, although no one     4     (communicate) with us so far. One reason is that some of us can hardly live on the earth because of     5     (increase) population, and the other reason is that perhaps some     6     (science) will create some space like our earth for people     7     (live) in. Are you expecting that?

While others disagree with the ideas above. They believe we will like inner space better     8     (compare) to outer space in the future. We are not certain if we can live     9     (safe) in outer space because it is changing all the time. As a result, most people will refuse to live there.

Which one do you believe? I can’t wait     10     (know) your answer.

Deng Qingming, aged 55, is a Chinese taikonaut. He has served as a backup (备份) m    1     for the Shenzhou-9, Shenzhou-10 and Shenzhou-11 missions, for 23 years. Though he has never been c    2     to space so far, Deng continues to stand ready at his post, able to join a mission at a    3     time.

“Be it a crew or backup, it is our job. Deng, don’t give up!” one of Deng’s teammates said to him. Deng never forgot those words. No m    4     how difficult the road to space flight is, he never once t    5     of giving up. At the end of every mission, he would quickly p    6     to welcome new challenges with a positive attitude.

“The success of the mission comes b    7     my personal wishes,” said Deng, who still firmly believes he has a c    8     at a mission and works as hard as any of his teammates.

Deng is the greatest hero in his d    9     eyes. “My father is the most hardworking, most selfless person I’ve ever met.” she said. Being i    10     by Deng, the girl now works for ground control in Beijing, too.

The Shenzhou-18 manned spaceship has been successfully launched (发射) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. It marks China’s 32nd manned flight into space.

At 8: 59 p. m. on April 25, 2024, it     1     (send) three astronauts and nearly 100 experimental boxes (实验柜) to the Tiangong space station. The three astronauts     2     (be) Ye Guangfu, Li Cong and Li Guangsu. They were all born in the 1980s. Ye was one of the     3     (member) of the Shenzhou-l3 mission (任务) from October 2021     4     April 2022.

This time, he works as the     5     (lead) of the three astronauts. Both Li Cong     6     Li Guangsu are newcomers to space. During     7     (they) time in space, they will care for the space station to make sure it can work     8     (safe). They will do over 90 experiments. A fish     9     (call) “the 4th member of Shenzhou-18” will be used for an experimental project.

The Shenzhou-18 astronauts are planned to return to     10     earth in late October this year. So they will spend about six months on the space station.

In 1957, the Soviet Union sent Sputnik Ⅰ into space. It was the f    1     successful spacecraft to orbit (进入轨道) the Earth, and it started the time period known as the Space Age. A     2     (短的) time later in the US, the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) successfully sent another spacecraft, Explorer Ⅰ, into space. In the year that followed, incredible advances were made.

Today, space exploration goes on, and governments still compete w    3     one another to make new discoveries. In 2012, NASA landed its unmanned spacecraft Curiosity on Mars in order to     4     (收集) information about the planet. In 2016, Europe and Russia worked t    5     and sent a spacecraft to Mars. China is also working on similar projects. However, there has been one big change: private companies, i    6     of public government organizations, are entering the Space Race.

Private companies are     7     (幸运的) in one way. They don’t have to wait for money from the government like NASA does. They can spend money on these projects by t    8    . However, that doesn’t     9     (意味着) that problems and accidents don’t happen. In 2014, Virgin Galactic’s VSS Enterprise crashed in the Mojave Desert in the US in a test flight. The 39-year-old pilot, Micheal Alsbury, was killed.

The race to explore the universe (宇宙)     10     (继续) and the possibilities are endless. Maybe in our lifetime, those dreams will come true.