STAAR Blitz - Day 7

What is the central idea of paragraphs 1-3?

• President Eisenhower set firm requirements for the first astronauts at NASA, and the program struggled to find qualified candidates.

• NASA was formed in 1958, and its first task was to plan spacecraft missions where the focus was on building a quality space capsule.

• Tom Wolfe wrote a book titled The Right Stuff, and it provided information about the first astronauts NASA selected for the space program.

• After NASA was formed in 1958, it worked on planning and choosing the right astronauts for its first mission, Project Mercury.

What is the most likely reason the author includes the information in paragraph 2?

• To explain the requirements for the astronauts
• To provide information about the astronauts’ job
• To inform the reader of the process the astronauts went through after they were accepted
• To tell the reader how NASA encouraged people to apply to be astronauts

How does the author mainly organize paragraphs 1 and 2?

• By comparing NASA’s requirements in 1958 to NASA’s requirements today
• By identifying the problem of not finding qualified astronauts and the solution to that problem
• By describing the steps NASA took after it was first formed
• By describing the features of the first space capsule

Which highlighted detail from the selection best explains why Project Mercury was important?

• and the American space program proceeded under the leadership of NASA
• Out of a field of hundreds of candidates, seven astronauts were finally chosen
• Project Mercury, which was the first human space-flight program created by NASA
• Tom Wolfe wrote a book about the Mercury Seven called The Right Stuff

The details in paragraph 6 support the key idea that President John Kennedy -

• was angry that the Soviet space program was ahead of the American space program
• wanted the American space program to quickly send astronauts to the moon
• did not believe the American space program would be able to send astronauts to the moon
• was worried about the safety of the astronauts

What is the most likely reason the author wrote this selection?

• To inform the reader of the number of scientists and astronauts who worked for NASA
• To describe the first steps NASA took after it was formed
• To explain why President Eisenhower set strict requirements for the astronauts
• To prove that going into space is not an easy task

What change needs to be made to sentence 4?

• Change NASA to nasa

• Remove the comma after scientists

• Change needed to needing

• Change their to there