Level 1 Reading 4B

Ch.8 Reading 4B

LIVING IN SPACE Stephen Hawking, one of the world's most famous scientists, believed that to survive, humans will one day have to move into space. "Once we spread out into space and establish independent colonies, our future should be safe," he said. Today, the United States, Europe, Russia, China, and Japan are all planning to send astronauts back to Earth's closest neighbor: the moon. Some of these countries want to create space stations there within the next 10 years. These stations will prepare humans to visit and later live on Mars or other Earthlike planets. Robert Zubrin, a rocket scientist, thinks humans should colonize space. He wants to start with Mars. Why? He thinks sending people to Mars will allow us to learn a lot of things— for example, the ability of humans to live in a very different environment. Eventually, we could create new human societies on other planets. In addition, any advances we make in the fields of science, technology, medicine, and health will benefit people here on Earth. SpaceX is a company that builds rockets. Its founder and CEO, Elon Musk, also believes we should colonize Mars. He doesn't want to send just "one little mission," though. His long-term goal is to put one million people on the planet in case something bad happens to us here on Earth. Not everyone thinks sending humans into space is a smart idea. Many say it's too expensive. Also, most space trips are not short. A one-way trip to Mars, for example, would take at least six months. People traveling this kind of distance could face many health problems. In addition, these first people would find life extremely difficult in space. On the moon's surface, for example, the sun's rays are very dangerous. People would have to stay indoors most of the time. Despite these concerns, sending people into space seems certain. In the future, we might see lunar cities or even new human cultures on other planets. First stop: the moon.

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