you know the name of the highest

ntain peak in the world?

expeditions had tried to scale Mt. Everest

but failed .

s Mt. Everest. It is in Nepal. Its height is

11 , S48 metres.

Bachendri Pal was the first Indian woman

to climb Mt. Everest.

Bacbendri Pal

Mt. Everest

Mountaineering requires a lot of preparation.

Mountaineers have to train very hard before
starting a climb. It is very important that one
is in fully fit condition before the climb.

first persons to climb Mt. Everest were

E~mund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. They
..1 anted the National Flags of their countries
the summit. Before them, many
-

To stay in shape, mountaineers train to build

up stamina. The most efficient exerc_
ise for
mountaineering is either mountaineering
itself, or exercises that develop key muscle
groups. The main muscle group that will be
used in the climb is in the thigh.
Running , swimming , cycling, rowing are
excellent exercises. One should consult a
doctor before starting the training programme.
Let us read how Bachendri Pal trained before
climbing Mt. Everest in her own words.

Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay

97

"Brig. Gyan Singh had been confident that

Chandra Didi and I would be chosen for the
"Everest 84" team and had prepared a preEverest self-training programme which we
started as soon as the selection was
announced . Briefly, the training entailed
climbing nearly 600 m everyday with a load
of 12 to 15 kilograms on our backs and
jogging eight to ten kilometres.
"To match the very hard physical work, we
had to eat special protein-rich food plenty of milk, greens and, of course,
sugar. Our daily intake had to consist of
3,500 to 4,000 calories.
"People in Nakuri were amused to see me
climbing up from the bottom of the hill to
the top of the ridge with a rucksack full of
stones every morning. Someone remarked
that I was perhaps trying to restore the
height of the eroded hills. My father would
join in the fun. "Bachendri has found no
job to her liking after her big degrees," he
would explain . "She is now preparing

We reported to the IMF in New Delhi at tr:beginning of December 1983. For near
five weeks, the seven female mountaineers
were put through a gruelling traini n:
programme. We spent hours in the gymnasium in toughening up our abdomina.
dorsal and other climbing muscle s
There was also plenty of bendin g
and stretching with rhythmic breathing
exercises.
Prolonged swimming and jogging helped
build up our stamina and improved lung
functioning for the maximum use of oxygen
under physiological stress.
"Then at the height of winter in January
1984, Lt. Col. Prem Chand, an uncompromising trainer, took us to Gulmarg and for
a month he made us climb up and down
steep slopes covered with deep snow."

Ride on a Spacecraft

The Night Sky

If we travel in a spacecraft, we will find that

the earth looks like a blue jewel.

After sunset, the night sky is full of bright

stars. On a clear night, one can see 3,000
stars with the naked eye. However, if the
sky is viewed with a good telescope, many
more stars are visible. If you look carefully
you will find interesting patterns of
stars. These groups of stars which form
an interesting pattern are called constellations. Some of the most well-known
constellations are :

The earth looks blue because of the

presence of water on it. Hence, it is called
the Blue Planet.

herself to be construction labourer."

would chuckle and repeat this joke
anyone he met. My simple mother, on eother hand, shed worried tears to see h-=daughter lugging stones to the mountain to::

Ursa Minor

Ursa Major

Scorpio

Orion

STAR FACT
Space touri~m i~ becoming popular
nowaday~. Denni~ Tito, an American
became the ti~t ~pace touri~t in 2001.
Another main object visible at night is the
moon. In addition to it, there are star-like

Ursa .Major

Ursa M\nor

objects which do not appear to twink\e.

They are planets. Then there are shooting
stars (meteors). They appear to fall from
the sky with a long, bright streak of light.

Indians in Space
Rakesh Sharma was born on 14 January,
1949, at Patiala, Punjab. When he grew up,
Scorpio

Orion

The stars appear to twinkle. The twinkling

takes place due to the atmosphere of the
earth .. However, if the stars are viewed
from above the atmosphere, as in case of
a spacecraft, they do not twinkle , but
appear to shine more. The sun, if seen
from a spacecraft, would look very bright
but there would be no sunlight!
Rakesh Sharma

he joined Indian Air Force. On 2 April,

1984, he went into space with two Soviet
Cosmonauts in a spacecraft named Soyuz
T-11. When he was asked by the then Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi how India looked
from space, he replied, "Saare Jahan se
Achcha."
r-----------------------------~

STAR FACT

METSAT, India~ fir~t meteorological

~atellite, wa~ launched in 2002.
A meteor

...

99.

( DO YOU KNOW ?)'\--------,_...,

alpana Chawla

Kalpana Chawla was

born on 1 July 1961 at
Karnal, Haryana. She
was the first Indian
woman to go into space.
Her first space mission
began on 19 November
1997 as part of the six
astronaut crew that flew
Kalpana Chawla
the space shuttle Columbia flight ST5-87.
She died in 2003, when the space shuttle
Columbia burnt up on entry into the earth's
atmosphere.

Sunita William is an
American astronaut
and United States
Navy officer. She is of
Indian origin. She
holds the record of
the longest space
flight (195 days) among female space
travellers. She also held two other
records for women space travellers most number of spacewalks (4 as
of 15th July 2012) and total time
spent on spacewalks (29 hours
and 17 minutes) - until these records
. surpassed by Peggy Whitson.

Mt. Everest is the highest mountain peak in the world .

Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay were the first persons to climb Mt. Everest.
Bachendri Pal was the first Indian woman to climb Mt. Everest.
Running, swimming, cycling , etc. , are excellent exercises for mountaineers.
The earth looks blue because of the presence of water on it.
In the night sky, we can see stars, the moon, meteors and planets.

FOR SCHOLASTIC ASSESSMENT

I QUES110'N !.ME
t

Tasks for SA

I. Tick (I') the right answer.

1. Which is the highest mountain peak in the world?
(a) Mt. Blanco

(b) Mt. Fuji

(c) Mt. Everest

(c) Bachendri Pal

(c) Rasmond and Hillary

2. Who was the first Indian woman to climb Mt. Everest?

(a) P.T. Usha

(b) Santosh Yadav

3. Who were the first persons to climb Mt. Everest?

(a)Tenzing and Hillary

(b) Tenzing and Hilton

10

Tasks for FA

..
Identify the countries to which the following flags belong .
* * + * .. ~ .. *
.. * ..
* ... * * *
,.. '* * .. + .. * * * .. *
* * ,.. ... .. * *
* * * * * ...

1t

... .

Collect pictures and information about five adventure sports.

Imagine you are on a mountain trip. How do you feel there? What all did you carry
with you and why? Write about your imaginary experience.
Suppose you were given a chance to become a space tourist, how would you
prepare for the journey.

1. "Saare Jahan se Achcha," who said these words from space?

2. Who was the first Indian woman to go into space?

3. How many Indian women astronauts have successfully reached the outer
space?

jlf&; SKI 1Ll Ji

FOR CO-SCHOLASTIC ASSESSMENT

i:T'til

-='

"-!1.~

f ,,

One Trip a Year

Planet earth is not just rotating. It is also moving in a
giant circle, or revolving around the sun. It takes 365
days for the earth to make one complete trip around
the sun . That's why 365 days make one year.

,. ,
N

--

--

.,

...

SUN

Round Trips
How many trips around the sun has the earth made
...
-since you were born? It is easy to figure out. Your
birthday is the day that the earth is back at the same
place it was on the day you were born. If you are ten years old, you have been on
ten complete trips around the sun. How many trips around the sun have your
parents made?

.. - --

- ,.,