The man who fell to Earth

1. Look at the photo and try to answer the questions:

a. Where is this man?
b. What is he doing?
c. What do you think he’s thinking about?
d. When did this happen?
e. Where did he land?

2. Listen to a radio programme and put sentences a-h in the order they happened:
a. Everybody shouted and jumped up and down.
b. He moved slowly out of the capsule.
c. A large balloon took him up into space.
d. He got down on his knees.
e. He made the jump.
f. He fell too fast and he suddenly began to turn round.
g. He landed safely
h. He parachuted down towards the desert.

3. Which of these verbs mean going up? Which mean going down?
drop land jump dive fall lift rise raise climb take off

4. Match words 1-9 to pictures a-i:

1. over 4. out of 7. backwards
2. towards 5. round and round 8. through
3. along 6. forwards 9. into

5. Complete the sentences with the correct form of a verb from the previous exercises:
a. If you _______________ your phone ______________ liquid, put it in a bowl of uncooked rice
to dry it out.
b. Oh no! I haven’t got my key. I know – I’ll _____________ in ____________ that open window.
c. Why do scuba divers ____________ _____________ and not forwards out of a boat?
d. Watch out! That tree is _____________ ____________ us!
e. Can you help me to ___________ the new TV ___________ its box? It’s really heavy.
Listen to a radio programme and fill in the gaps with one word each:

1. Making History is a __________________ about _________________ that have changed history.

2. Felix Baumgartner is a _______________ from ________________ and he was the __________ person to
_______ ___________ than the __________ ___________ .

3. Baumgartner jump was seen by __________ _____________ people on __________________ .

4. He jumped out of a _______________ from a ____________ of ___________ kilometres above the Earth.

5. He was lifted into space by a ______________ .

6. When it was time jump, he first moved his seat _____________ out of his _____________ and then sat
_________ and ___________ __________ for a few seconds.

7. Even though the view was _______________ , he just wanted to _________ __________ ___________ .

8. Right after Baumgartner jumped, something __________ ____________ because he ____________ too
___________ and began to ____________ _____________ and ______________ .

9. The _______________ ______________ were watching that and they were worried Baumgartner was
_______ _____________ _____________ .

10. Fortunately, he got into the appropriate _______________ _____________ : head down and arms out
behind him, like _____________________ .

11. Baumgartner landed in the _________________ , in __________ _________________ .

12. Since he reached the surface of the Earth safe and sound, his fans were _________________ and his
mother _______________ .

13. Baumgartner was so happy that he __________ __________ on his _____________ .

14. Some days later, Baumgartner said that next he would aim to _______ faster than the ___________ of
__________ .
Hello, and welcome to Making History, the programme where we look back at human achievements that have
changed history. And it was on October the 14th 2012, that Felix Baumgartner, a pilot from Austria, made
history when he became the first person to go faster than the speed of sound. Eight million people watched
live on YouTube as Baumgartner made the amazing jump out of a balloon from a height of 38 kilometres
above the Earth.

Baumgartner’s journey started at 3.16 p.m., when the large balloon slowly lifted him up into space. As he went
up, he tweeted from his phone: ‘Live from space! World, you are beautiful!’

At 5.37 p.m. it was time to jump. He slowly moved his seat forward out of his capsule. He sat still and looked
down for a few seconds. He didn’t think about the beautiful view or breaking the speed record. He had only
one thought: ‘I want to get home alive.’ Then he jumped. But immediately something went wrong. He fell too
fast and he suddenly started to turn round and round. The rest of his skydiving team saw this on their
computer screens and were worried he was in terrible danger. Luckily, he got into the correct diving position
quickly, with head down and arms out behind him − like Superman.

When Baumgartner’s parachute finally opened and he floated down towards the desert in New Mexico,
everybody shouted and jumped up and down. They were so pleased he was safe. His mother cried with
happiness.

Baumgartner landed on his feet. He was so happy to be safe that he fell down on his knees.

A few days later, he told a TV reporter his next goal was ‘to go faster than the speed of light’. It was a joke, of
course.