Before the mid-20th century, most people felt travelling into space was an     1     dream. However, some scientists were determined to help     2     realise their dream to explore space. After many     3    , they succeeded in making rockets that could     4     Earth’s gravity. On 4 October 1957, the Sputnik 1 satellite was launched by the USSR and successfully orbited around Earth.    5    , the USSR focused on sending people into space, and on 12 April 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the     6     person in the world to go into space. Over eight years later, on 20 July 1969, American     7    Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon,     8     saying, “That’s one small step for a man, one giant     9     for mankind.” Following this, many more goals were achieved. For example, America’s NASA space agency launched Voyager 1 on 5 September 1977 to study deep space, and it still transmits     10     today.

The Renaissance (from the 14th to the 17th century)

New ideas and values gradually replaced old ones from the Middle Ages. As a result, painters c    1     less on religious themes. They began to a    2     a more humanistic attitude to life. An important b    3     during this period was the use of perspective by Masaccio. I    4     painters such as Leonardo da Vince, Michelangelo, and Raphael built upon Giotto and Masaccio’s innovations to produce some of the greatest art that Europe had ever seen.

Another innovation was the use of oil paints. With their deep colors and realism, some of the best oil paintings look like photographs. While painters as early as Da Vinci had used oil, this technique reached its h    5     with Rembrandt, who gained a r    6     as a master of shadow and light.

In subject matter, the emphasis increasingly s    7     from religious themes to people and the world around us. Kings, n    8    , and people of high rank wanted to p    9     accurate pictures of themselves and the people they loved. Others wanted paintings showing important historical events or stories from mythology. Finally, most c    10     wanted paintings that were beautiful and interesting to look at.