This is an extremely interesting podcast about space! I have created some questions which you can answer after listening to it. This exercise is great for students to practice their listening skills with and at the same time, be engaged in an interesting topic. It’s what I would call “Real World English”.

This podcast also comes with a transcript for those students who can’t quit pick up what the speaker is saying yet but still want to try and answer the questions. These students can listen and read at the same time.

The answers are at the bottom.

Here is the podcast:

Click here for the transcript!

Questions for the podcast:

1. What destination is popular according to the podcast?
2. What countries have sent successful missions to Mars?
3. What’s another name for Mars?
4. What happens once every two years? How does that affect the space mission?
5. Which country’s mission are they talking about first? What’s the name of that country’s probe?
6. Why is the year 2021 special for the UAE?
7. What does the UAE’s probe look like?
8. Afterwards, they talk about the Chinese probe. What does it consist of?
9. Finally, they talk about Nasa’s probe. What’s its name and why did they call it that?
10. Where is Perseverance going and what is it looking for?
11. What is the man talking excited about?

Extra Discussion Questions:

1. In your opinion, is going to space important or a waste of time?
2. If you could choose, would you go to space or to the beach? Why?
3. Would you like to be an astronaut? Why, why not?
4. If you could name a space probe, what would name it?
5. Do you think your country should focus on space travel? Why, why not?

Answers to the podcast:

1. The destination that is immensely popular according to the podcast is Mars.
2. Only the United States, the Soviet Union, Europe, and India have actually had successful missions to the red planet.
3. Another name for Mars is “The Red Planet”.
4. Once every two years, the orbits of the Earth and Mars line up. This means that it’s economically efficient to send a probe to Mars.
5. They are talking about the UAE’s mission first and the probe is called Hope.
6. It’s special because it is the 50^th anniversary of its foundation.
7. The probe is about the size of a small car and weighs about half a ton. It also has solar panels that look like wings.
8. The Chinese probe consists of an orbiter, a lander, and a rover so it can orbit a planet, it can land on it and it can move across the surface.
9. The probe is called perseverance and the name came from a seventh-grade student in Virginia who won a NASA essay contest.
10. Perseverance is going to Jezero crater which scientists think was once a lake. It is looking for microorganisms or any other form of life.
11. Mr. Joe Palca is excited about flying a helicopter or driving a remote-control rover on Mars.

Downloadable Questions and Answers for the Podcast:

Let me know if you tried it out by leaving a comment and tell me what you think!

If you want more podcasts and videos questions like this click here!