READY FOR LIFT - OFF

 What personality traits should an astronaut have in your

opinion?

 Do you think women can be successful astronauts?

 Would you like to be an astronaut? Why / Why not?

When NASA (National Aeronautics

The Right Stuff
and Space Administration) was
about to pick its first ever astronauts
Our job is to select people –
for Project Mercury in 1958, it
men or women – with the
decided that the sort of men most
right personality traits to
likely to survive a journey into
make a good astronaut. We’re
space were those involved in
not looking for “super”
dangerous activities like scuba
people.
diving, tightrope walking and But they need to be
mountain climbing. But president emotionally stable, honest
Dwight Eisenhower disagreed and and highly committed.”
demanded that the first astronauts
should be fully – trained male pilots. In addition to this, they need
Once the pilots were chosen to to be extremely sociable. “If
qualify as astronauts, they then went you meet an astronaut at a
through a number of gruelling party, you will notice how
physical and psychological tests. good they are at social
Today it’s a different story. interaction,” says British –
Women can be astronauts too. born astronaut Helen
Trainee astronauts still have Sharman. “They get on with
rigorous physical tests, but instead everyone.”
of a week of psychological tests,
they have one and a half days.
However, the questionnaires and
interviews are much more
searching. This is very important
because, according to Dr Holland, a
psychologist at NASA: “We know
people can get really depressed and
anxious when they are in space so
we won’t select people who are
inclined this way.
I. Decide whether the following statements are “true” or “false”:

1) In 1958 NASA experts believed that astronauts didn’t need special flying experience.
_____________________________________________________________________
2) Eisenhower insisted that pilots’ skills were essential.
_____________________________________________________________________
3) There were fewer tests for astronauts in the 1950s.
_____________________________________________________________________
4) The sort of people NASA selects often get anxious and depressed in space.
_____________________________________________________________________
5) Women astronauts are usually more stable and committed than men.
_____________________________________________________________________
6) Astronauts should be able to communicate well.
_____________________________________________________________________

II. Match each positive adjective below with a negative one:

Example 1 happy d) depressed

Positive adjectives Negative adjectives
1) happy ----- a) dishonest
2) relaxed ----- b) unsociable
3) stable ----- c) unreliable
4) honest ----- d) depressed
5) committed ----- e) indecisive
6) sociable ----- f) arrogant
7) organized ----- g) unpleasant
8) decisive ----- h) lazy
9) humble ----- i) disorganised
10) efficient ----- j) inefficient
11) effective ----- k) uncommitted
12) strong ----- l) ineffective
13) reliable ----- m) anxious
14) pleasant ----- n) unstable
15) hardworking ----- o) weak

III. List the adjectives having a negative prefix (in the above exercise) under the
right headings in the table:

dis - in - un -