PARCC ELA Practice (Readworks: "Seven Minutes of Terror... )

What is Curiosity? 

• a parachute used to land on Mars 
• another name for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• a space rover that landed on Mars 
• a video made by NASA engineers

What sequence of events is described in this passage? 

• the sequence of events that led to Opportunity landing on Mars 
• the sequence of events that led to Curiosity landing on Mars 
• the sequence of events that led to the creation of NASA 
• the sequence of events that will need to take place for Mars to be colonized 

In order to land on Mars, Curiosity had to use a parachute, rockets, and a sky crane. What can be concluded from this information? 

• Landing on Mars is a simple process. 
• Landing on Mars is a complicated process. 
• Landing on Mars is a waste of time.
• Landing on Mars in the future is unrealistic

What helped make the Mars Science Laboratory mission successful? 

• one person working by himself for decades
• two countries competing with each other
• a lot of people working together for years 
• hi-tech airbags first used in 2004

 What is this passage mainly about? 

• a mission to Mars 
• life on Mars
• what being an engineer is like 
• the history of NASA 

Read the following sentence: “The mission has eight scientific objectives, each one broken into specific goals and all coming together to form a more detailed understanding of all things Mars.” What does the word “mission” mean? 

• a problem that develops when people do not prepare for something as much as they should 
• a short period of time when people feel extremely nervous about something
• the movement of interplanetary bodies 
• an important task to be carried out by a person or group of people 

 Choose the answer that best completes the sentence below. Engineers spent years getting Curiosity ready; ______, it landed on Mars. 

• finally
• however 
• third
• such as