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English Language the Latest Casualty of Space Race Published October 05, 2011 | FoxNews.com http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/10/05/why-is-nasa-teaching-us-astronautsrussian/
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Along with training in spacewalks, robotics, and piloting a spaceship, NASA is requiring that all future astronauts learn to speak and read Russian. The rules are plain and simple: If you flunk the foreign language requirement, you can't go into space. A handful of NASA astronauts have taken Russian language training since the U.S. and the Soviet Union began work on the Mir space station in the '80s, Duane Ross, manager for astronaut candidate training, told FoxNews.com. But in 2009, the space agency revamped its rules -- and now all U.S. astronauts will have to learn Russian. "English is the agreed-to language in space," Ross explained. But due to the close collaboration with the Russian space agency, it's now mandatory for America's astronauts to speak Russian, he said. NASA retired its fleet of space shuttles in July, leaving Russia's Soyuz rockets as the sole means of transporting astronauts to and from the International Space Station, a sign to many that the Russians have "won" the space race.

U.S. astronaut Dan Burbank, right, with Russian cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov, center, and Anatoly Ivanishin
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Many former astronauts, NASA administrators and government officials view conceding the space race as simply unacceptable.

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"When China can reach the moon and we cannot, I don't see why any other nation would regard us as a world leader," former NASA administrator Mike Griffin told members of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology on Sept. 22 "Get the shuttle out of the garage," famous moonwalker Gene Cernan said. "It's in its prime of its life. How could we just put it away?" With the demise of Constellation -- an overbudget program to develop a space shuttle replacement that President Obama cancelled in 2010 -- NASA realized how heavily it would be forced to rely upon Russia. Around the same time, the space agency instituted the new proficiency requirement for all astronaut candidates, Ross told FoxNews.com. "In 2009, we knew those folks would all be travelling to the space station so we made that a requirement," he said. "There's a certain level of proficiency they have to attain to pass." Russia clearly realizes the extent to which the U.S. space program relies upon it. Within months of the January 2010 news that Constellation was being cancelled, Russia announced plans to more than double the cost of seats on its Soyuz rockets, from $26.3 million per astronaut to as much as $55.8 million in 2013 and 2014. And three months ago, immediately following the safe touchdown of the shuttle Atlantis (the final flight of America's shuttle program), Russia's space agency noted the historic accomplishments of the U.S. space program -- and proclaimed the start of Russian domination in space. "From today, the era of the Soyuz has started in manned space flight, the era of reliability," the Russian space agency Roskosmos said on July 21. So long -- and thanks for all the help, the statement seemed to read. NASA seems to realize how awkward its Russian-language training must seem: The most recent brochure for the Astronaut Selection and Training program makes no mention whatsoever of the Russian-language requirement, despite pages of copious details about the other aspects of training. Ross told FoxNews.com that the space agency plans to revamp the brochure soon. On Monday, the space agency announced it would be seeking around 8 to 12 new astronauts to bolster its roster, following a National Research Council report that warned the U.S. astronaut corps was dwindling.

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To learn more about astronaut visit astronauts.nasa.gov. It'll help if you can speak Russian.

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English Language the Latest Casualty of Space Race Warm Up A) Make Predictions Read only the title of this article and complete the following exercises: After reading, check your predictions against the information in the text. 1. Write down five things you think this article could possibly be about. Why do you think so? 2. What do you think the authors opinion is about this topic? Why clues do you have for thinking this? B) Journal Entry 1. Take 5 to 10 minutes to write down the reasons you study at KAIST in English. a. What is the benefit to you? b. What is the benefit to the school? c. What other domains could benefit from a unified standard language, and why?

Word Power casualty (title) flunk (3) revamped (8) revamp (45) mandatory (10) conceding (15) proficiency (25 adjective) (28 noun) extent (30) awkward (41) copious (43) roster (47) candidate (7) collaboration (10) sole (13) instituted (25) attain (28) domination (37) brochure (42) bolster (47) dwindling (48)

Choose 4 or 5 of the words above that you dont know. Look them up in your dictionary, and then use them correctly in a short (1-3 paragraph) story.

Pre-Reading A) KWL Chart Fill in the first two boxes of the following chart with the requested information about the space race, and language in space. After reading the article, complete the third box. What I know: What I want to know: What I learned:

B)

Discussion, Analysis & Negotiation Form groups with 3-5 of your classmates, then discuss one of the following propositions and formulate a pro or con position. After 5-10 minutes of discussion, each group will take 5 minutes to present its conclusions to the class. 1. The official language of global scholarship is English, but his is only informal. This should be formalized by an international agency. 2. The United Sates government recently retired their space shuttle program and cut funding to its replacement project. This was a good decision in the face of Americas growing financial troubles, unemployment rate, and deficit. 3. Only a handful of nations have the ability to put their own satellites in orbit, and other countries had to rely on one of these nations to launch their devices. This position is inadvisable, and any emerging world power should develop its own space program. 4. The global use of one language as a field standard demonstrates a form of victory or dominance for that country or culture.

Post-Reading A) Evaluating Bias What is the overall tone of the article, positive, negative, or neutral? What words or phrases make you think so? What is the outcome you think the writer wants from the audience? What attitudes does the writer wish to shift, or actions does s/he wish to motivate? Who is the intended audience of this news source? Why do you think so?

Understanding that you will probably be wrong, analyze the political leanings of the audience Cross-Text Comparisons Observe the following graph on Internet language dominance: http://thenextweb.com/asia/2010/12/21/chinese-the-new-dominant-language-ofthe-internet-infographic/ (also see Appendix A below). Look at the data presented over time on Internet language use. How does this information align with the article you read about the space race? What are the long-term implications of the data of both these information sources together?

B)

Writing Exercises A) Adjusting for Tone Imagine that you are a journalist for a Russian newspaper. What would you say differently and why? How would your word choices be different? Now rewrite the article to reflect your new perspective. Respond to the Article In your journal, write for 10 minutes about your thoughts on the communicative needs of the global community of science and technology. What does this article say that will benefit or detract from meeting those needs?

B)

Extension A) Proposal Propose the Korean become the standard international language for an area of your choice (even if Korean is not your first language, you should think of an arena in which it makes sense for Korean to be the dominant language). Make sure to argue clearly why Korean should be the standard language, and discuss the benefits while addressing the challenges. Outline the steps by which you intend to achieve this goal. Further Research Think about history, and research how a certain languages have dominated areas of scholarship, business, or politics (for example, Chinese, Arabic, Latin, or French). Write up your findings about language domination in 2-5 paragraphs, giving special emphasis as to what the choice of language shows about the culture, and what the positive and negative outcomes were.

B)

Appendix A