Question

[chanh]

X   Read the passage. Fill in the blank with a suitable word.

      Space tourism (61) ........................ ordinary members of the public buying tickets to travel to space and back. Many people find this idea futuristic. But over the (62) ........................ few years a growing volume of professional work has been (63) ........................ on the subject, and it’s now clear that setting up commercial space tourism services is a realistic target for business today.

      The first steps will just be short sub-orbital flights, since these are easier than getting to orbit. But the technical know-how to make passenger launch vehicles and orbiting hotel accommodation is available, and there is enormous unsatisfied demand - market research has revealed that most people, at (64) ........................ in the industrialized countries, would like to (65) ........................ a trip to space if it was possible. This gives huge scope for reducing the (66) ........................ of space travel by large-scale operation like airlines.

            The main obstacle is simply the conservatism of the space industry as it is today. Since Sputnik was (67) ........................ in 1957 most space activities have been funded by governments. And this “cold war” pattern of space activities has created an image of space that colours everyone’s thinking (68) ........................ it - writers, journalists, politicians, scientists and engineers, and the general public