Dawn of the Space Age: Teacher Packet

Dawn of the Space Age: Teacher Packet

Compiled by:

Morehead State University Star Theatre

with help from Bethany DeMoss

Table of Contents

Table of Contents 1

Correspond Standards 2

Vocabulary 3

Space Travel Timeline (Primary) 6

NASA Web-Quest on Space Shuttle Missions (Middle Grades) 9

References 20

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Corresponding Standards

Kentucky Department of Education, Social Studies Standards

S.S 2.20 Students understand, analyze, and interpret historical events, conditions,

trends, and issues to develop historical perspective.

S.S 2.20 (4th

) Students understand, analyze, and interpret historical events, conditions,


S.S 2.20 (5th



S.S 2.20 (6th



S.S 2.20 (8th



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Dawn of Space Age Vocabulary

Older

Vocabulary Word Definition

America Luna Program

Known as the Apollo Program was the third human spaceflight program carried out by the NASA, responsible for the landing of the first humans on Earth's Moon. The program consisted of 5 unmanned test flights, 4 manned test flights and 7 manned lunar landing flights.

Saturn V A multi-staged heavy lift man-rated expendable rocket built by NASA to send Astronauts to the moon and return them to Earth.

Apollo 8 First manned flight to Moon; it made 10 lunar orbits in 20 hours. Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders crewed the flight.

Commander David Scott first astronaut to drive on the moon, flew in space three times (Gemini 8, Apollo 10, and Apollo 15)

Gravity A natural force that causes two objects to move towards each other. It is dependent on the mass of the two objects and the separation distance between them.

Sputnik World’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik a 23 inch diameter polished metal sphere launched by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957.

Satellite

An object that orbits another body in space. Satellites can be classified as “Natural” or “Artificial”. Natural refers to a naturally occurring physical object in orbit around another body. Artificial refers to a man-made object which has been intentionally placed into orbit around another body.

Vostok 1

First spacecraft to carry a human into space. Launched by the Soviet Union in 1961 it carried Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gargarin in to orbit as the first human to reach outer space and the first human to orbit the earth.

Alexey Lonov A Soviet Cosmonaut, was the first man to walk in space (leave his spacecraft in a spacesuit for an extra-vehicular activity).

US Gemini Program

The Gemini program was a manned spaceflight program with ten flights conducted between 1965 and 1966. The goal was to develop spaceflight techniques critical to support the Apollo Lunar Missions. The Gemini missions

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practiced long durations flights simulating a trip to the Moon and back, perfected procedures for extra-vehicular activity (working outside a spacecraft in a spacesuit), orbital spacecraft maneuvering, and rendezvous and docking techniques.

Mars

Fourth planet from the sun, Mars is one of the terrestrial (earth-like) planets. It has a thin carbon-dioxide atmosphere, seasons, polar ice caps valleys, mountains volcanoes, and impact craters. Mars has a rotational period (day/night) approximately 40 minutes longer than Earth and a revolutionary period (Year) equal to approximately 687 earth days.

Vikings 1 & 2

Consisted of a pair of robotic space probes built by the United States to explore Mars. Each probe consisted of an orbiter and lander. The orbiters were designed to photograph the surface of Mars from orbit and to act as a communications relay for the Landers between the surface of Mars and Earth. The lander carried instruments to study the biology, chemical composition, meteorology, seismology, magnetic properties, appearance, and physical properties of the Martian surface and atmosphere.

Space Station

A spacecraft (typically in orbit around another body) designed for long durationhabitation by a crew and is capable of docking with other spacecraft for resupply and crew transfer.

Ground Radio Antennas

An earth-based terminal station designed for extra planetary telecommunication with spacecraft, or reception of radio waves from an astronomical radio source.

Space Ship One Retired suborbital air-launched space-plane design that completed the first manned private spaceflight in 2004

International Space Station

a habitable, modular structure spacecraft/artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. Consisting of pressurized modules, external trusses, solar arrays and other components, the ISS serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in where crew members conduct micro gravity experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology and other fields.

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Younger

Vocabulary Word Definition

America Luna Program Third human spaceflight program carried out by NASA ( Apollo Program)

Apollo 8 First manned flight to Moon

Commander David Scott first astronaut to drive on the moon

Gravity Force of attraction between two bodies

Sputnik World’s first artificial satellite

Satellite An object that orbits another body in space. Satellites can be classified as “Natural” or “Artificial”.

US Gemini Program

The Gemini program was a manned spaceflight program with ten flights conducted between 1965 and 1966.

Mars

Fourth planet from the sun, Mars is one of the terrestrial (earth-like) planets.

Space Station

A spacecraft that orbits the Earth, where astronauts can live for up to 6 months

Space Ship One Retired space-plane design that completed the first manned private spaceflight in 2004

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Space Travel Timeline From: KB Teachers

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NASA: Web-Quest on Space Shuttle Missions From: Bethany DeMoss

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Created by: Bethany DeMoss

Space Travel Exploration An interactive computer activity crossing curriculum between

Social Studies, Math, and Science

In the activity students will be actively engaged using multiple senses. Students will use computer

NASA’s website to explore the number of space missions and the years in which they occurred. They will

compile a list of information using the NASA website to then create a graph to see the trend in space

travel, past to present. Student will answer questions to better understand the trends in the graph.

Lastly students will form groups and create a small presentation providing information on one specific

space mission to the class.

Materials:

Computers Student Packets (p. 2-5) Teacher Packet (p. 6-10) Coloring Pencils

Teacher Instruction: Students will work individually or in pairs to complete the activity. While students

search on the NASA website to acquire their information, have them read through some of the

information as well. Click on view under a specific year, each year has clickable information. This will

familiarize the students with the missions. When all students complete through question 6, work

through question 7 with them. The teacher packet provides the graph to answer the remaining

questions. Display the graph on the board or give the students print outs so that they can compare both

graphs and complete their packet.

Lastly, assign your students into groups of 3 or 4 depending on class size. Pick several space missions,

just giving them the name (ex: STS-66), have each group explore the website again acquiring enough

information at the particular space mission to present to the class their space mission. All can be found

on the same NASA website. Information for their presentation can be pictures, dates, names, launch and

landing dates, the purpose of the mission, etc.

Happy Exploring!

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2


Name: _______________________________________ Date:_______________

Space Travel Exploration

1. Access the webpage: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/index.html

2. Using the webpage fill in your chart below. Years to use are listed below. Chart does not

use every year listed on the webpage.

NASA Missions 1981-2011

Year (Past to Present) Number of Missions

Total Pick 1 Mission

Launch Date

Landing Date

1981

1983

1985

1988

1990

1991

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http://www.nasa.gov/

3


1993

1995

1997

1999

2001

2003

2005

2007

2009

2011

12

4


3. After completing your table, use your data to create a line graph that shows how many

space missions occurred in each year above. Use the graph paper below. Make sure to

label both X & Y axis and give your graph a title. Use colored pencils to enhance your

line graph.

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5


4. What year has the largest peak in space missions?

5. What year has the largest peak in missions? __ _______________

6. The lowest peak? ___ ______________________

7. There are several more years when NASA had space missions according to their website,

we only used every other year for data. If we add in the other years, how much do you

think the graph will change?

8. In the graph on the board, there are two years with zero missions. Why might there

have been no missions for those particular years? _____

________________________________________________________________.

9. Using the graph on the board, in which years did the graph stabilize? _

____________

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Name:TEACHER PACKET Date:_______________

Space Travel Exploration

1. Access the webpage: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/index.html

2. Using the webpage fill in your chart below. Years to use are listed below. Chart does not

use every year listed on the webpage.

NASA Missions 1981-2011

Year (Past to Present) Number of Missions

Total Pick 1 Mission

Launch Date

Landing Date

1981 2 STS-2 11/12/1981 11/14/1981

STS-1 4/12/1981 4/14/1981

1983 4

STS-9 11/28/1983 12/08/1983

STS-8 8/30/1983 9/5/1983

STS-7 6/18/1983 6/24/1983

STS-6 4/4/1983 4/9/1983

1985

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STS-61B 11/25/1985 12/3/1985

STS-61A 10/30/1985 12/6/1985

STS-51J 10/3/1985 10/7/1985

STS-51I 8/27/1985 9/3/1985

STS-51F 7/29/1985 8/6/1985

STS-51G 6/17/1985 6/24/1985

STS-51B 4/29/1985 5/6/1985

STS-51D 4/12/1985 4/19/1985

STS-51C 1/24/1985 1/27/1985

1988 2 STS-27 12/2/1988 12/16/1988

STS-26 9/29/1988 10/3/1988

1990 6

STS-35 12/2/1990 12/10/1990

STS-38 11/15/1990 11/20/1990

STS-41 10/6/1990 10/10/1990

STS-31 4/24/1990 4/29/1990

STS-36 2/28/1990 3/4/1990

STS-32 1/9/1990 1/20/1990

1991 6

STS-44 11/24/1991 12/1/19991

STS-48 9/12/1991 9/18/1991

STS-43 8/2/1991 8/11/1991

STS-40 6/5/1991 6/14/1991

STS-39 4/28/1991 5/6/1991

STS-37 4/5/1991 4/11/1991

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http://www.nasa.gov/

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1993 7

STS-61 12/2/1993 12/13/1993

STS-58 10/18/1993 11/1/1993

STS-5 9/12/1993 9/22/1993

STS-57 6/21/1993 7/1/1993

STS-55 4/26/1993 5/6/1993

STS-56 4/8/1993 4/17/1993

STS-54 1/13/1993 1/19/1993

1995 7

STS-74 11/12/1995 11/20/1995

STS-73 10/20/95 11/5/1995

STS-69 9/7/1995 9/18/1995

STS-70 7/13/1995 7/22/1995

STS-71 6/27/1995 7/7/1995

STS-67 3/2/1995 3/18/1995

STS-63 2/3/1995 2/11/1995

1997 8

STS-87 11/19/1997 12/5/1997

STS-86 9/25/1997 10/6/1997

STS-85 8/7/1997 8/19/1997

STS-94 7/1/1997 7/17/1997

STS-84 5/15/1997 5/24/1997

STS-83 4/4/1997 4/8/1997

STS-82 2/11/1997 2/21/1997

STS-81 1/12/1997 1/22/1997

1999 3

STS-103 12/19/1999 12/27/1999

STS-93 7/23/1999 7/27/1999

STS-96 5/27/1999 6/6/1999

2001 6

STS-108 12/5/2001 12/17/2001

STS-105 8/10/2001 8/22/2001

STS-104 7/12/2001 7/24/20001

STS-100 4/19/2001 5/1/2001

STS-102 3/8/2001 3/31/2001

STS-98 2/7/2001 2/20/2001

2003 1 STS-107 1/16/2003 2/1/2003

2005 1 STS-114 7/26/2005 8/9/2005

2007 3

STS-120 10/23/2007 11/7/2007

STS-118 8/8/2007 8/21/2007

STS-117 6/8/2007 6/22/2007

2009 5

STS-129 11/16/2009 11/27/2009

STS-128 8/28/2009 9/11/2009

STS-127 7/15/2009 7/31/2009

STS-125 5/11/2009 5/24/2009

STS-119 3/15/2009 3/28/2009

2011 3

STS-135 7/8/2011 7/21/2011

STS-134 5/16/2011/ 6/1/2011

STS-133 2/24/2011 3/9/2011

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***Students should only have information for one mission per year. All information is listed for each mission for

teacher use***

3. After completing your table, use your data to create a line graph that shows how many

space missions occurred in each year above. Use the graph paper below. Make sure to

label both X & Y axis and give your graph a title. Use colored pencils to enhance your

graph.

Use your chart and graph to answer the following questions.

4. What year has the largest peak in missions? __1985 – 9 missions_________________

5. The lowest peak?___2003 and 2005 both have a peak of 1______________________

6. There are several more years when NASA had space missions according to their website,

we only used every other year for data. If we add in the other years, how much do you

think the graph will change?

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011

Number of Space Missions Between 1981 - 2011

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The graph below contains all data acquired from the NASA website, in 1987 and 2004 no

missions were performed by NASA bringing a mission total at 0 for that year. Use this

chart to guide your students.

7. In the graph on the board, there are two years with zero missions. Why might there

have been no missions for those particular years? _____Answers will vary; could be

insufficient funds, not enough man power (astronauts, mission specialists, etc.),

mechanical work on space shuttle. There are a wide variety of potential answers for this

question.________________________________________________________________.

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

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81

19

82

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83

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84

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85

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86

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87

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88

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89

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90

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91

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92

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93

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94

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95

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96

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97

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98

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99

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00

20

01

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02

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03

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04

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05

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06

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07

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08

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09

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Number of Space Missions Between 1981 - 2011

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8. Using the graph on the board, in which years did the graph stabilize? _1993.1994, 1995,

and 1996________________

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References for Activities

Space Travel Timeline

"Space Travel History." Free Worksheets and Printable Activities. KB Teachers, n.d. Web. 1

July 2014. <http://www.kbteachers.com/>.

NASA Web Quest on Space Shuttle Missions

DeMoss, Anna B. “NASA Web-Quest on Space Shuttle Missions.” Morehead State University

Star Theatre. NASA. 1 July 2014. <www.nasa.gov./>

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Dawn of the Space Age: Teacher Packet

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