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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Sagan expects both Voyager spacecrafts to continue to broadcast data through what year?
(a) 2015.
(b) 2050.
(c) 2030.
(d) 2010.

2. What hazard threatened the Voyager craft in Sagan's plan to take a distant picture of Earth?
(a) The Sun's rays.
(b) Cosmic rays.
(c) Space dust.
(d) Micrometeorites.

3. Which of the following is a major point opponents of space exploration raise?
(a) No good has ever come of space exploration.
(b) Space exploration exists for national prestige only.
(c) There is nothing of value anywhere else in the solar system.
(d) The problems on Earth should be solved first.

4. What innovation was crucial in discovering Titan?
(a) The chemical rocket engine.
(b) The telescope.
(c) The theory of general relativity.
(d) Newton's laws of motion.

5. Many of organic molecules arrived on Earth from what source?
(a) Space dust.
(b) Asteroids.
(c) Meteors.
(d) Comets.

Short Answer Questions

1. What punishment did Galileo suffer as a result of his works?

2. How does Sagan describe his reaction to the difficulties in detecting human life and intelligence on Earth from space?

3. What is unusual about Uranus's orientation?

4. What is notable about the Sun's light in Sagan's distant picture of the Earth?

5. Titan has what distinction among the moons of the planet it orbits?

Short Essay Questions

1. What questions does Sagan say he intends to address in this book?

2. When this book was written, what was known about planets in other solar systems?

3. How was Sagan involved in discoveries about Titan?

4. How could Dermott's calculations about Titan be confirmed?

5. What advantage make it more likely that the Voyager records will eventually be found?

6. How did ancient people know about the planets?

7. Why does Sagan believe that the image of the "pale blue dot" undermined the "imagined self-importance" of humanity?

8. How are the Voyager spacecraft able to travel quickly to distant planets?

9. How has the attitude of the Catholic church towards Galileo changed over time?

10. How does Saga claim that human beings expressed their desire to wander as civilization grew?

(see the answer keys)

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