Informational Text Structure

Read the major section from an informational text, then answer the question:

2 Funded by NASA’s Ames Research Center and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the 100-Year Starship project aims to develop the tools and technology necessary to build and fly a spaceship to another planetary system within the next 100 years. The program isn’t necessarily concerned with building the ship itself as much as it seeks to create innovation and interest for interstellar travel.

What does this introduction section add to the structure of the informational text?

• a. it provides background information and about the goal of the 100-Year Starship project for readers.

• b. It provides a powerful concluding statement about space travel.

• c. it gives a transition for the next idea.

• d. It states the main claim and opinion that the author supports.

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Read the major section of an informational text, then answer the question:

7 A major issue of the 100-Year Starship project is that traveling to another star takes far more time than just developing the necessary technology. Jemison compares the distance to Proxima Centauri, the nearest star, to that between New York City and Los Angeles. If NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft, which launched in 1977, was en route, it would have traveled only 1 mile in the past four decades.

8 At that rate, it would take 70,000 years to reach Proxima Centauri.

9 Speaking to the issue of such long time frames of space travel, Steltzner said, “I can’t really think of a country that’s been stable for 1,000 years.”

What is the purpose of this major section from the text?

• it provides details about important dates in NASA's history

• it provides details about the problems that the project faces

• it provides a transition to the next idea

• It compares astronauts who live in New York to astronauts in Los Angeles

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CCSS.RI.5.5

CCSS.RI.6.5

CCSS.RI.7.5

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Read the major section of an informational text, then answer the question:

10 Without the development of a method to warp or shrink space-time, or a new propulsion system—both ideas that the 100-Year Starship program is exploring—humanity would need to find a way to overcome some of its instability problems.

11 To get there, Jemison emphasized that everyone must be involved in the process.

12 “The public did not leave space,” she said while discussing the reduced enthusiasm. “The public was left out of space.”

What is the purpose of this major section from the text?

• it describes what caused so many scientist to leave their homes

• it provides details about solutions to the project's issues

• It provides chronological details about when NASA was first created

• It describes the different spaceships used by NASA

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CCSS.RI.5.5

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Informational texts include the following: (select all that apply)

• claims and opinions

• introduction section with background information

• characters

• details and explanations

• facts

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CCSS.RI.5.5

CCSS.RI.6.5

CCSS.RI.7.5

CCSS.RI.8.5

CCSS.RI.9-10.5