English Department KS4

Unit 1: Non-Fiction

1

Read Source 1, the article Felix Baumgartner’s skydive pales in comparison with the moon landings. 1 What do you learn from the article about Felix Baumgartner’s skydive?

(8 marks) Now read Source 2, the article Faster than a Speeding Bullet: Austrian skydiver leaps into the history books. 2 Explain how the headline and picture are effective and how they link to the text.

(8 marks)

Now read Source 3, which is an extract from a non-fiction book.

3 Explain some of the thoughts and feelings Usain Bolt has about his chosen career. (8 marks)

Now you need to refer to Source 3, Being the World’s Fastest Man and either Source 1 or Source 2. 4 You are going to compare two texts, one of which you have chosen. Compare the

different ways in which language is used for effect in the two texts. Give some examples and analyse what the effects are.

(16 marks)

* * *

Section A: Reading Answer all questions in this section. You are advised to spend about one hour and

fifteen minutes on this section.

English Department KS4

Unit 1: Non-Fiction

2

Source 1

English Department KS4

Unit 1: Non-Fiction

Source 1

Felix Baumgartner's skydive pales in comparison with the moon landings The Austrian's jump used the images of space exploration but this pseudo astronaut achieved only a daredevil publicity stunt by Jonathon Jones

When I was four and five and six years old we watched the moon landings on TV then waited nervously for the splashdown and the astronauts' release from their seared capsule with its orange flotation bags bobbing on a white and blue sea. In the same way millions of people watched Felix Baumgartner's astonishing fall through the empty sky on YouTube. In his protective suit the Austrian daredevil looked for all the world like some Apollo astronaut of the 1960s. But did this daring deed truly recreate the images of the space age, or only an empty pastiche of them?

History always repeats itself, said Hegel. He forgot to add, said Marx – the first time as tragedy, the second as farce. Not that Baumgartner's dive was farce. It was heroic, if not foolhardy. In terms of sheer mad bravery it was stupendous. But surely those seductive, glorious, beautiful images with their evocation of the great moments of space exploration are so appealing because they fill a void in our collective heart, a void of aspiration and the belief in progress that a daredevil's leap, however gallant, cannot ever really match.

In the end, Baumgartner's achievement is just a great stunt, with a commercial sponsor. It is in essence the same as tumbling over Niagara Falls in a barrel. People have always done brave things, and in the early 20th century going over Niagara Falls in

a barrel became the leap of choice for publicity-conscious stunt people (first over the top was a woman, in 1901). Yet amazing as such jumps were, did they add to human knowledge and capacity? No – the first powered flight by the Wright brothers, which was much less spectacular, just off the ground in fact, changed the world in a way stunts do not. The images of this leap look like exploration but actually are mere entertainment.

The visual similarity between Baumgartner's record-breaking publicity stunt and the feats of engineering audacity that took human beings on to the surface of the moon and then, even in the cash-strapped 1970s, built a landable and reusable spacecraft is cruelly deceptive and fully intended by the sponsor. Baumgartner's freefall is not the same as the public-funded, state-sponsored efforts of an entire scientific generation that not so long ago sent Neil Armstrong on to the silver dust of the lunar surface. Look closer and the visual image of this 21st century hero is not so 20th century, after all. His helmet has the words Red Bull on it, not a stars and stripes. Indeed, Red Bull logos and inscriptions are all over his space suit.

Seeing the earth from Baumgartner's helmet is spectacular and sad: wondrous to see this orb as the astronauts saw it, amazing that he is so high he can see the planet as a planet, but sad because he is plummeting back. All he has done is stretch gravity's elastic a bit further. What happened to breaking it entirely?

The epic state spending that sent serious missions to the moon is a thing of the past. As Baumgartner prepared for his stunt, the space shuttle, relic of an age when in Apollo's wake space exploration seemed destined to become ever better, was being ferried to its final resting place in a Los Angeles museum. Today, private money pays for record-breaking achievements that come nowhere near the optimism of Nasa's golden age. Is exploration still a marvel when James Cameron can buy his way into the record books?

The digital age is not an age for astronauts. Google the words "Moon landings" and one of the most popular search phrases offered is "moon landings faked".

So in place of true exploration we idolise this pseudo-astronaut: the man who fell to earth, with style.

English Department KS4

Unit 1: Non-Fiction

3

Source 2

English Department KS4

Unit 1: Non-Fiction

Source 2

Faster than a speeding bullet: Austrian skydiver leaps into the history books

Supersonic skydiver Felix Baumgartner took to the skies on Sunday afternoon in a historic bid that saw him become the first human being to travel faster than the speed of sound in freefall.

More than 8 million people watched the 43-year-old Austrian – known as Fearless Felix – jump from a balloon 24 miles above the New Mexico desert and freefall from the edge of space. After a two hour journey up, it took Mr Baumgartner just under ten minutes to land back on Earth, reaching speeds of up to 725mph, breaking the sound barrier at Mach 1.24 and smashing three world records in the process. The records he achieved were: The fastest freefall after reaching a top speed of 834mph (1,342km/h); becoming the first human being to break the sound barrier in freefall; in reaching 128,100ft above Earth, he exceeded the altitude for the highest ever manned balloon flight – the previous record was held by Victor Prather and Malcolm Ross, who made it to 113,720ft in 1961. When he landed in Roswell – famed for its UFO sightings – Mr Baumgartner dropped to his knees and raised his arms in victory. There were tense moments in the control room early in the dive as Mr Baumgartner began to spin laterally out of control, free-

falling head-over-heels. Speaking afterwards at a press conference, Mr Baumgartner said: “In that situation, when you spin around, it's like hell and you don't know if you can get out of that spin or not.” To the relief of everyone watching, including his mother, Ava, Mr Baumgartner was able to use his considerable skydiving experience and regain control before releasing his parachute. Mr Baumgartner wore a specially designed survival suit, similar to those worn by astronauts, to keep his body intact against the varying atmospheric pressures, with three cameras attached to record his descent. The risks in making such a jump included the possibility of his blood boiling and his organs exploding. Although the jump was thought by many to be a daredevil stunt, Mr Baumgartner’s team were keen to stress its high scientific relevance. Its success will help to inform the development of new ideas for emergency evacuation from airborne vehicles, such as spacecraft, passing through the stratosphere. Baumgartner’s mentor, Joe Kittinger, now in his eighties, was the previous world record holder of the highest freefall jump. He provided the younger man with advice and encouragement during the seven-year build-up to his daring adventure. Mr Kittinger’s was the only voice Baumgartner heard in the control room. “Felix did a great job and it was a great honour to work with this brave guy,” Mr Kittinger said. Mr Baumgartner said in the end all his thoughts were about getting back alive: “When I was standing there on top of the world, you become so humble, you don't think about breaking records. Sometimes you have to go up really high to see how small you are.”

English Department KS4

Unit 1: Non-Fiction

4

Source 3

English Department KS4

Unit 1: Non-Fiction

Source 3

USAIN BOLT – THE FASTEST MAN in the world. Never, ever do I get tired of hearing that. If you lined up a hundred people and asked them who the best basketball player in the world is, the best footballer, or the best cricketer, it is unlikely they would provide the same answer. But ask any of them, ‘Who is the best sprinter in the world?’ and there is only one answer – Usain Bolt. Why? Because that is what it says on the clock. There can be no dispute or argument. The record book say that over 100 metres flat race, the true measure of human speed, I’m the fastest person that ever lived, completing the distance, as I did at the World Championships in Berlin, in 9.58 seconds. It is said that the population of the earth is 6.8 billion and that approximately 107 billion have lived on this planet since man came into being. It doesn’t get any cooler than knowing you are the fastest of them all. I chose to be a sprinter, not only because I was the fastest kid in school, but also because I knew that politics couldn’t interfere. In team sports it can be down to opinion whether you are the best. One coach might think you’re good enough for his team, another might not, or the side could be picked on friendship or family ties. But in athletics you are either the fastest or you aren’t – opinion doesn’t come into it. We had a grass track at the front of Waldensia Primary School, which is still there, exactly as it was, with a two-foot dip at the end of the straight, and when I first raced on it a guy called Ricardo Geddes would beat me. One day the sports coach, Devere Nugent, bet me a lunch that I could beat Ricardo. I like my food, so it was a big incentive. I won, enjoyed a nice meal, and never lost to Ricardo again. Winning that race was my first experience of the thrill of beating your closest rival, and from that day my motto has always been ‘Once I’ve beaten you, you won’t beat me again.’

Usain Bolt: Being the World’s Fastest Man

From the autobiography of Usain Bolt, the first man to hold both the 100 metres and 200 metres world records.