"Imagine being at MIT, dreaming of becoming an astronaut and applying to NASA. You fill out your application, but receive a letter saying they're not interested. You don't give up, wait a couple of years, and send in another application. The response? Pretty much the same. But you're not one to back down. You apply a third time, and this time, you get an interview! They finally get to know who you are. But then, they tell you no." (A View of the Earth, Page 56)

Can you spot the phrase or sentence that best shows that our protagonist, Michael Massimino, was a person of determination?

• 1. He started applying to NASA.

• 1. He filled out his application, and received a letter that said 

  they weren’t quite interested.

• He applied a third time, and this time he got an interview, so they got to know who he was.

• 1. And then they told him no.

Hey there, word wizard! Do you think writers can skip the quotation marks when they're copying words directly from a text?

• Oh, absolutely!

• No way, Jose!

Imagine this, you're an astronaut and you're about to leave the airlock. Your mission? To get to the telescope. But there's a catch, the path is along the side of the space shuttle. If you dare to look over the edge, it's like peering down a 350-mile high cliff. And guess what? There are no good handrails. Scary, right?

Can you identify the sentence or phrase that suggests you might be a tad worried about this journey?

• 1. The thing I was most worried about when leaving the airlock that day was my path to get to the telescope.

• 1. It was along the side.

• It’s like looking over a cliff, with 350 miles to go down to the planet.

• And there are no good handrails.

"Imagine this, you're floating in space, surrounded by nothing but the vast emptiness. You feel a deep sense of loneliness, not the kind you feel on a lazy Saturday afternoon with a book. You feel...detached, like you're on your own, and everything you know, love, and find comfort in is miles away. Then, the darkness creeps in, and the cold starts to bite."

(A View of the Earth, Page 60)

Can you put the above paragraph in your own words?

• 1. I think the author is trying to convey a deep sadness, almost like he didn't want to be in the spaceship anymore.

• The author seems to be describing an intense feeling of loneliness, like he's cut off from the world. As night falls, the cold intensifies.

• From what I understand, the author felt a profound sense of loneliness, like he was cut off from the world. But as time passed, he started to feel better.

• 1. I think the author should consider returning to Earth. He seems to be feeling lonely, sad, and detached from his loved ones due to the distance.

Imagine this: You're floating in space, tasked with fixing a telescope. You've got to remove a handrail blocking an access panel. The first two screws on top? No problem. The one on the bottom right? Piece of cake. But the fourth screw? It's not budging. Your tool is moving, but the screw isn't. It's stripped. Suddenly, you realize the handrail isn't coming off, which means you can't get to the access panel with its 117 screws that you've been stressing over for five years. That means you can't get to the failed power supply, which means you can't fix the instrument today, which means all those brilliant scientists back on Earth can't continue their search for extraterrestrial life. (A View of the Earth, Page 59)

Can you summarize this space-age predicament in the BEST possible way?

• Your biggest worry when leaving the airlock that day was the path to the telescope, because it was along the side of the space shuttle.

• They sent you back pretty much the same letter. So you applied a third time, and this time you got an interview, so they got to know who you were. And then they told you no.

• 1. Perhaps the author should consider returning to Earth since he was feeling lonely, sad, and detached from his family because of the distance.

• As per the paragraph on page 58, the author tries to remove a handrail from a telescope to access a crucial panel. They manage to remove three screws but hit a snag with the fourth, which is stripped. This obstacle prevents them from fixing the instrument, thereby stalling scientists' efforts to search for life on other planets.