Holiday operators are seriously investigating
space as a tourist destination. Maybe, within the next 20 years or
so, we will all have the opportunity of booking our holidays in
space!!
The object of this activity is to practise your
understanding of both listening and reading information. You will
now listen and read
the article below. You will have to do an activity after listening.
Hand in hand with the
one you love you gaze at the horizon to watch the earth rise.
Then you decide to do some zero-gravity aerobics, while your
partner goes off for a space walk.
It sounds like science fiction, but companies
around the world are working hard to make this sort of holiday a
reality. The idea of space tourism has been around for nearly
forty years now. At first NASA made plans for the ultimate in
holiday destinations, but then private companies became involved
in the mid-1980s. The Challenger shuttle disaster of 1986
postponed their plans, but now space is back as a future holiday
resort.
The Hilton hotel group has produced ambitious
and serious plans for hotels on the moon, as well as orbiting
hotels. The plans include beaches, observation decks, and
hundreds of honeymoon suites. The Hilton group thinks that many
of their space tourists will be ‘just married’ couples looking
for a totally different holiday experience. But zero-gravity
will be a little uncomfortable. ‘There will be space motion
sickness in the first few days, with headaches and nausea,’ says
Japan’s National Space Development Agency. And if you get to the
toilet in time, ‘Liquids simply float in droplets,’ says George
Turner, a hopeful space tour operator.
Hotels will try to prevent these problems by
providing areas with the sensation of gravity. This means going
to parts of the hotel that will be spinning. Centrifugal force
will push you against the wall, and give the feeling of some
weight. Since it will be possible to lie down, many people will
probably prefer to sleep in these areas. The alternative will be
to strap themselves into a sleeping bag attached to a wall with
velcro.
Sunbathing will be possible, but will require
some very strong sunscreen – protection factor 1000 will do it.
‘The sun can be hundreds of times as strong in space as on the
ground,’ explains Turner.
However the plans all depend on one thing –
cheap space travel. At the moment the only re-usable rocket is
NASA’s space shuttle. Even that has to have all its engines
removed and repaired after every flight. The cost of each
shuttle launch is US$1 billion. A space craft that only costs
US$2 million per launch is what the travel industry is looking
for. So far that remains a far off dream, but it may come a lot
closer if someone wins ‘The X-Prize’.
Launched in 1997, the X-Prize offers US$10
million to anyone who can build a re-usable space craft. All you
have to do is launch three people 100 km into space – twice within
three weeks. So far 16 companies are racing to win the prize money.
But the real prize will be the income from space tourism, estimated
to be US$12 billion per year. ‘Space tourism will come, I’m sure of
it,’ says Turner. ‘Just think what you’ll be able to tell your
friends – that you had a holiday that was really out of this world!’
Tourism in Space (II)
ACTIVITY 346:
Match each sentence (1-10) with an appropriate
ending (a-j). Then check the
correct answers.
1
After the Challenger disaster
A
then the space travel industry
will take off.
2
To help recreate the sensation
of gravity
B
they will have to solve space motion
sickness.
3
If scientists are to make space travel
comfortable
C
most people will want to sleep
in bags attached to walls.
4
When the cost of launching a
space craft comes down to 2
million dollars
D
honeymoon couples will make
up the major part of the visiting tourists.
5
Although the X-prize provides
the challenge
E
NASA delayed plans for space tourism.
6
In the Hilton hotel group's plans
F
hotels will have areas that spin.
7
Despite the attraction of zero-gravity rest
G
nobody has yet built the cheap space craft
that you can re-use.
¡¡¡ No me veo flotando en el cuarto
de baño !!!
En la última página Mr. Grammar completará su explicación acerca
del FUTURE (Part 2) ...
