A space race to Mars? Not quite — here’s why.

One conclusion a reader could make is that delaying the Perseverance launch would have been a bad idea.

Which statement MOST accurately paraphrases evidence from the article to support the conclusion?

• It would mean putting the robot in storage and likely resulting in half a billion dollars in expenses.

• It could let other countries claim that they had space success before the United States.

• It would mean that NASA would not know when it might get another chance to go to Mars.

• It could signal to other countries that NASA is no longer interested in space exploration.

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Read the conclusion below:

The Perseverance mission is not the only mission that NASA is working on.

Which sentence from the article provides the BEST support for the statement above?

• "We encourage them to share what they learn with the entire world, just as NASA shares what it learns with the entire world, so we look forward to them doing that."

• Bridenstine emphasized that the U.S., China and UAE missions are launching, or blasting off, and landing (or arriving in Hope's case) at similar times.

• In fact, there was a fourth mission originally scheduled to launch to Mars this July by yet another team of countries.

• These include the OSIRIS-REx mission to asteroid Bennu, the New Horizons unmanned spacecraft in the Kuiper Belt and a quickly growing commercial crew program.

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What is MOST likely the reason the author included information about the time window when Earth and Mars are the closest?

• to show why it does not matter when Mars missions launch

• to show why it does not make sense to send three missions to Mars

• to explain why it is more cost-effective to wait to launch in 2022

• to explain why multiple missions decided to launch in July

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Read the selection introducing the three missions heading to Mars:

NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover had a successful launch July 30. In its wake, three countries now have spacecraft barreling toward the Red Planet. So is this a Mars space race? Not exactly. However, it is an exciting combination of events for planetary science. Planetary science is the scientific study of planets, moons and planetary systems.

What does the author MOST likely want the reader to think about the three Mars missions based on this selection?

• They are competing with one another to see who arrives to Mars first.

• They are creating a fake space race to get people to pay attention to them.

• They could lead to significant contributions to planetary science.

• They could bump into one another because they all left at the same time.

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