Website
NASA

Nasa: Orion: Nasa's New Spacecraft on the Journey to Mars

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn all about the spacecraft Orion, which took its first flight to space in December 2014. A trip to Mars is planned next. Learn how its design compares to that of the Apollo, what new technology it has, and what has been done to...
Interactive
Smithsonian Institution

National Air and Space Museum: Wright Brothers: Interactive Experiments

For Students 9th - 10th
Three interactives in an online exhibition about the Wright Brothers. The first is an engineering activity on the forces of flight, and is accompanied by a lesson plan for Grades 6-8. The second is a gallery of original artifacts related...
Lesson Plan
NASA

Nasa: Solar Energy for Space Exploration

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This activity book includes lessons and objectives for students to explore solar energy for space exploration. Students will play an active part in decision making for space exploration.
Website
NASA

Marshall Space Flight Center: Timeline of Rocket History

For Students 9th - 10th
This graphical presentation includes a collection of more than 50 images and descriptions tracing rocketry from ancient times to the present day.
Website
NASA

Nasa: Gemini: Stepping Stone to the Moon: 40 Years Later

For Students 9th - 10th
On the 40th anniversary of the launch of Gemini XII, NASA offers a comprehensive overview of the manned space flight program that was the first to include two-man spacecraft and was designated Gemini in 1962.
Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Flight to Mars: How Long? Along What Path?

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Demonstrate how, with the use of orbital mechanics, a space mission to Mars can be planned. Using no more than algebra, Kepler's laws and the formula for the energy of an object in a Kepler orbit, the exercise derives the time for an...
Handout
NASA

Nasa: Astronaut Biography: m.lopez Alegria

For Students 9th - 10th
Read biographical facts about this Spanish-born astronaut who is the veteran of three space flights including the Columbia, the Discovery, and the Endeavour.
Interactive
Texas A&M University

Human Physiology in Space

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about some of the environmental challenges facing humans in space.
Handout
NASA

Nasa: Tests Versus Time in the Race for Space

For Students 9th - 10th
This NASA site offers a good description of the ongoing space race during the Kennedy administration, discussing the "nip and tuck" of the Soviet-U.S. race. Also includes a description of Kennedy's new special assistant for science and...
Lesson Plan
Science Buddies

Science Buddies: Two Stage Balloon Rocket

For Teachers 6th - 8th
Students will build a multi-stage balloon rocket that they can launch across the classroom while learning about real space flight and Newton's laws of motion.
Website
NASA

Nasa: White Sands Test Facility

For Students 9th - 10th
The White Sands Research Facility is a main research and testing area for the Department of Defense, NASA, and commercial industry. White Sands works with rocket propulsion, properties of materials, hazards assessment, oxygen systems,...
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Air and Space Museum: America by Air: Early Commercial Aviation

For Students 9th - 10th
Commercial airlines took flight soon after the Wright brothers' famous first flights. Read about how the U.S. government encouraged the development of air travel.
Website
NASA

Nasa: Upcoming Space Shuttle Launches

For Students 9th - 10th
Updated information on details of the next scheduled shuttle launch, including mission objectives and crew biographies. A link is also included to mission reports of past Space Shuttle flights.
Website
New York Times

New York Times: The Final Flight: Disaster Strikes a Venerable Spacecraft

For Students 9th - 10th
Outstanding resource for studying the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Full illustrated explanations of the descent, the problem with foam, reports of last mission, debris, etc. Photos, audio, maps, and other graphics are available.
Unit Plan
TED Talks

Ted: Ted Ed: If Superpowers Were Real: Flight

For Students 9th - 10th
Is it scientifically possible to fly? In this series, creator Joy Lin tackles six superpowers and reveals just how scientifically realistic they can be to us mere mortals. [5:11]
Primary
US National Archives

Our Documents: Transcript of John Glenn's Official Communication

For Students 9th - 10th
The official transcription of John Glenn's in-flight communication with Mission Control during his orbit around the earth in 1962.
Unit Plan
Smithsonian Institution

National Air and Space Museum: Wright Brothers: Who Were Wilbur and Orville?

For Students 9th - 10th
Classroom activities, interactive experiments, timelines, and other artifacts that celebrate the Wright brothers' first flight.
Website
NASA

History of the Space Shuttle

For Students 9th - 10th
Entry portal to NASA's site on the background and history of the Space Shuttle.
Lesson Plan
Smithsonian Institution

National Air and Space Museum: Wright Brothers: Embracing the Impossible [Pdf]

For Teachers 5th - 8th
In this lesson, learners explore primary resources to see what people who lived in the early age of flight felt about this innovation. They then compare that response to that towards an invention of today.
Website
CNN

Cnn: Space Shuttle Columbia Special Report

For Students 9th - 10th
CNN.com provides a thorough look at the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. Here, read press releases, watch videos, view images, and use interactive programs.
Graphic
Other

Boston Globe: Space Shuttle Columbia: Final Moments

For Students 9th - 10th
A graphic explanation of the final moments of the Space Shuttle Columbia.
Website
NASA

Nasa: First Space Shuttle Mission Sts 1

For Students 9th - 10th
NASA summary of the first flight of the space shuttle Columbia in 1981.
Website
Smithsonian Institution

National Air and Space Museum: America by Air: Airline Expansion and Innovation

For Students 9th - 10th
Air travel grew in the 1920s and 1930s despite the Great Depression. Read about the new commercial airlines of the time and what it was like to fly at the dawn of commercial passenger flight.
Website
Other

Space Flight Now/air Breathing Rocket Engines

For Students 9th - 10th
Short article on a experimental air breathing rocket engine.

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