Worksheets and No Prep Teaching Resources Reading Comprehension Worksheets Cold War (1947-1991)

The Space Race Cold War (1947-1991)

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The Space Race
Print The Space Race Reading Comprehension with Sixth Grade Work

Print The Space Race Reading Comprehension


Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 6 to 8
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	8.04

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		earth-orbiting, republic, mistrust, nuclear, launched, situation, military, spacecraft, teaching, outbreak, original, provided, orbit, satellite, technology, so-called
	content words:		Cold War, United States, Soviet Union, By January, Space Act, National Aeronautics, Space Administration, Yuri Gagarin

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The Space Race By Sharon Fabian

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¹     Sometimes a bad situation can have surprisingly good results. The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union was a bad situation - and a very dangerous one. For years, citizens of both countries feared the outbreak of a terrible war between their countries. However, there were good results of the Cold War, at least in one area. In the area of space exploration, the Cold War spurred both the United States and the Soviet Union on to more and more discoveries. This so-called "Space Race" would never have happened if it hadn't been for the Cold War.
 
²     The Space Race resulted in great scientific discoveries for both countries. In the end, after the Cold War was finished, it also provided a project for both the United States and the Soviet Union to work on together.
 
³     It began in the 1950s, soon after the beginning of the Cold War. The United States was working on its first Earth-orbiting satellite. At the time we didn't know it, but so was the Soviet Union.
 
⁴     We found out on October 4, 1957, the day when the Soviet Union launched its first satellite, Sputnik I, into space. An A-1 rocket boosted Sputnik into space from its base in the Soviet republic of Kazakhstan. Its first orbit of the Earth took about 95 minutes, traveling at a speed of 18,000 miles per hour. Sputnik stayed in space for 57 days.
 
⁵     This must have been a day to celebrate for the Soviet people, but in the United States, it was a day of panic. If the Soviet Union could launch a scientific rocket, then it could also launch a military rocket. The big fear was that the Soviet Union would be able to launch a nuclear bomb all the way to the United States with this new technology.

Paragraphs 6 to 11:
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Cold War
(1947-1991)

Cold War (1947-1991)

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United States

United States

American Government         Black History and Blacks in U.S. History         Children in History         Government Careers         Hispanic Heritage         How Can I Help?

Immigration         National Parks and Monuments         Native Americans         Presidents of the United States         Women's History

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United States History

A Nation Divided (1840-1861)         A New Nation (1776-1830)         After the Civil War (1865-1870)         American Revolution         Cold War (1947-1991)         Colonial America (1492-1776)         Lewis and Clark (1804-1806)         Pearl Harbor         Spanish American War (1898)         The 1890's         The 1900's         The 1910's         The 1920's         The 1930's

The 1940's         The 1950's         The 1960's         The 1970's         The 1980's         The 1990's         The 2000's         The Civil War (1861-1865)         The Great Depression (1929-1945)         The United States Grows (1865-1900)         The War of 1812         Wild, Wild West         World War I (1914-1918)         World War II

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50 States

Fifty States Theme Unit

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