The majority of astronauts from America have been men. At the start of the space programme there was strong resistance from some people against having women in space. However, some women were very keen to become astronauts and in the end they were successful. In 1978, NASA began the first training programme for women astronauts.

Judy Resnick and Christa McAuliffe were both astronauts and they were both women, but in many other ways they were very different. Both of them were on Flight STS-5L-L. Judy Resnick was born in 1949 and studied engineering at university and went on to obtain a PhD in 1977. She was a member of the first group of women selected for astronaut training in 1978, and in 1984, she became the second woman in space. During that flight, she helped to launch three new satellites and she carried out a programme of research. She was, in many ways, a professional astronaut whose whole life was devoted to space travel.

Christa McAuliffe was born in 1948 and she was an astronaut almost by accident. In 1984, NASA decided to find a teacher who could accompany astronauts into space. They hoped that she would be able to communicate with students from space and encourage every one of them to be interested in space travel. Christa was a secondary teacher in history and social studies. She was a gifted teacher and she was selected from over 11,000 applicants to go on flight STS-51-L. She was also a very good communicator and she immediately established a very good relationship with the news media(radio, television and newspapers). It was partly because of this that there was a great deal of interest and excitement about the flight. Thousands of students in schools and universities all around the country were looking forward to communicating with Christa in space. Millions of people were watching her flight with great interest. It is partly because of the excitement over McAuliffe's place in the flight that the disaster in 1986 had such an effect on people.

What are the answers to this following set of questions:

1. what gender are most atronauts
2. were people against women being in it
3. did they do it anyway
4. were they successful
5. what year did their training begin
6. who were two women astronauts
7. what flight were they on
8. who studied engineering
9. did she ever get to go to space
10. was she the first or second woman
11. what did she help launch
12. what was her life devoted to
13. who was born in 1948
14. what year did NASA find her
15. why did they want a teacher
16. what did she teach
17. how many people applied for it
18. did she make people excited about the flight
19. what year was the disaster
1. men
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Yes
5. 1978
6. Judy Resnick and Christa McAuliffe
7. STS-5L-L
8. Judy Resnick
9. Yes
10. second
11. three new satellites
12. space travel.
13. Christa McAuliffe
14. 1984
15. They hoped that she would be able to communicate with students from space and encourage every one of them to be interested in space travel.
16. history and social studies.
17. 11,000
18. Yes
19. 1986