BEST IELTS Academic Reading Test 516

Table of Contents

IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST 516 – PASSAGE – 3

IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST – 516

READING PASSAGE – 3

MISSION OUT OF CONTROL

It’s not just physical dangers astronauts have to contend with-psychological friction is a big problem, says Raj Persaud

On space missions, weightlessness and radiation are often seen as being the key dangers. But there is increasing evidence to show that one of the greatest hazards lies in the crew itself. The hostile space environments and the hardware are, of course, crucial factors in any space mission. But so is the software of the human brain.

During long missions, space travelers have shown signs of increased territoriality, withdrawal and need for privacy. As a result of these sorts of psychological difficulties, one cosmonaut had a religious experience that led him to make a dangerous, unauthorized spacewalk. Nasa’s Sky lab missions in 1973 and 1974 almost immediately ran into trouble. One astronaut erroneously changed the control systems while suffering from psychological problems. Crew members began the third mission with a schedule that was too strenuous.

IELTS Academic Reading Test

They fell behind in their work and became demoralized. On their 45th day in space, the crew went on strike, struggling to perform scheduled tasks. Disregarding orders was an unusual and dangerous response for astronauts. After concessions from mission control, the crew settled down and eventually completed an 84-day mission.

The Russians have identified three phases in adaptation to space. The first lasts up to two months and is dominated by adjustments to the new environment. This is followed by increasing fatigue and decreasing motivation, ‘asthenia’. What once seemed exciting becomes boring and repetitive. Next comes a lengthy period during which the asthenia, which can include depression and anxiety, worsens. The spacefarers are unusually upset by loud noises or unexpected information.

IELTS Academic Reading Test

This is the period when crew members get tested with one another and with the ground crew. There have been reports describing how one crew member did not speak to another for days; there are even rumors of fist fights – one over a chess game. Tensions frequently spill over to mission control, as they did in the Skylab of strike. One Russian crew aboard a Salyut space station reported got so cross with mission a control that they shut down communications for 24 hours.

According to Henry Cooper, who wrote a book, A House in Space, on the loneliness of the long distance astronaut, at least three missions have been aborted for reasons that were in part psychological. In the 1976 Soyuz-21 mission to the Salyut-5 space station, the crew was brought home early after the cosmonauts complaining fiercely of an acrid odour in the space station’s environmental control system. No cause was ever found, nor did other crews smell it; conceivably, it was a hallucination. Coincidentally, the crew had not been getting along.

IELTS Academic Reading Test

The crew of the Soyuz T-14 mission to Salyut-7 in 1985 was brought home after 65 days after Vladimir Vasyutin complaining that he had a prostate infection. Later, the doctors believed that the problem was partly psychological. Vasyutin had been getting behind in his work and was under pressure, having been passed over for a flight several times before. Alexander Laveikin returned early from the Soyuz TM-2 mission to the Mir space station in 1987 because he complained of a cardiac irregularity. Flight surgeons could find no sign of it. The cosmonaut had been under stress – he had made a couple of potentially serious errors. And he had not been getting along with his partner, Yuri Romanenko.

The same psychological phenomena curse men and women on expeditions to remote places. Isolation and sensory deprivation are the common denominators, whether the mission is in the Arctic wastes or the realm of the deep, causing a series of symptoms – heightened anxiety, boredom, depression, loneliness, excessive fear of danger and homesickness.

IELTS Academic Reading Test

The scientists and support staff who work in Antarctica have been studied by Dr Joanna Wood of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute in Houston, who also studied how crews behave in a special test chamber. ‘After a few months, you get tired of looking at the same faces. People frequently have behaviors that might be endearing in the larger society, but when you’re living with it day after day it’s an annoyance.’

This continent, the last to be explored by humans, is the coldest, windiest and driest land mass. Because of the extreme environment, researchers have to ‘winter over’ for six months out of the year. During this period, there is little contact with the outside world and groups tend to be confined by the extreme temperatures. Antarctica has served as one of the primary means of gathering psychometric data for space missions, according to Dr John Annexstad, a space scientist and ten-time veteran of scientific missions to Antarctica.

IELTS Academic Reading Test

During the first few months of an Antarctic mission, interpersonal problems don’t play a major part. The problem arises, says Dr Annexstad, after the initial shock and awe of the environment wear off, and crew members get to know their surroundings a little better. Then they began to rebel against authority and each other. In one ice base, anxiety episodes increased from 3 during the first four months to 19 during the last four.

In a study of personnel who wintered over in the Antarctic, 85 per cent reported periods of significant depression, 65 per cent had periods of anger or hostility, 60 per cent suffered from sleep disturbance, and 53 per cent had impaired cognition. During the 1977 International Biomedical Expedition to Antarctica, a 12-man adventure lasting 72 days, bickering became such a problem that psychologists accompanying the expedition had to intervene. Antarctic literature is full of stories about teammates who stopped talking to another or even fighting – one concerns a cook with a meat cleaver facing off against an engineer branding a fire axe.

IELTS Academic Reading Test

Questions 27-29

Use NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS for each answer.

27. Space travelers on long missions demonstrate the desire to have some………………………… .

28. Astronauts can get into a state called …………………………. after two months in space.

29. The causes of psychological problems on both space missions and expeditions to remote places are ……………………… together with …………………….. .

IELTS Academic Reading Test

Questions 30-35

Look at the statements (Questions 30-35) and the list of space missions below.

Match each statement with the space mission it refers to.

Write the correct letter A-D.

NB You may use any letter more than once.

30. Two of the astronauts had a bad relationship with each other.

31. The astronauts decided not to carry out their duties.

32. One of the astronauts did not complete the mission.

33. One of the astronauts had failed to be selected for previous missions.

34. One of the astronauts made a mistake with the equipment.

35. The astronauts perceive something that may not have existed.

IELTS Academic Reading Test

List of Space Missions

A. Skylab

B. Soyuz-21

C. Soyuz T-14

D. Soyuz TM-2

IELTS Academic Reading Test

Questions 36-40

Complete the summary below using words from the box.

Antarctic missions

According to Dr John Annexstad, relationships are not an important factor during the first part of a mission because crew members lack 36…………… with their environment and have a feeling of 37…………… After this, there is less 38…………… from crew members and the number of events caused by 39…………… increases enormously as the mission continues. According to some stories, relationships can even result in 40………… involving crew members.

IELTS Academic Reading Test

Expectation	Boredom	Cooperation	Improvement
Discussion	Familiar	Familiarity	Error
Determination	Carelessness	Disappointed	Violence
Amazement	Involvement	Misunderstanding	Confidence
Failure	Tension	Competition	Envy