History of Science: Astronauts

Teacher's Lesson Plan:

History of Science: Astronauts

A history lesson about those men and women who pioneered space exploration and travel, with an included worksheet

Group size:

One or many students

Objectives:

• To become aware that there were pioneers of space exploration and travel
• To identify some of the early astronauts who prepared the way for others
• To comprehend social and political conditions at the dawn of the Space Age
• To appreciate the degree of difficulty in researching and traveling in space
• To understand why men and women developed space science
• To differentiate among space practices at different places on the globe

Activities:

Reading about men and women who carried out the early exploratory work in space

Class or group discussion about:


• The social and political conditions at the beginning of the Space Age
• The reasons humans developed space science
• The people who were the pioneers of space science
• The locations of early space science practitioners around the world
• The difficulty in conducting space research and travel

After discussion and reading, individuals should complete a worksheet

Materials:

For each student:


• Access to the Internet via ISP and web browser
• Access to a world map or globe
• Worksheet (print the worksheet at the bottom of this worksheet)
• Pencils, pens or markers

For lesson:


• Information and pictures of space exploration and travel at Space Today Online

Procedure:

Have each student:


• Visit Space Today Online at www.spacetoday.org
  
  
• Read "Man-In-Space Firsts" at
  www.spacetoday.org/History/ManInSpaceFirsts/ManInSpaceFirsts.html
  
  
• For background, see NASA -- European Space Agency -- other space agencies

In class or group discussion:


• Ask why humans developed space science
• Ask students to describe the social and political environment at the opening of the Space Age
• Ask who the people were who pioneered space science
• Ask about the difficulty in conducting space research and travel

Have a student or students show:


• Where early space science practitioners were around the world
• Who the most important individual space science pioneers were
• How the engineers overcame the barriers to space travel
• How space science benefits the ordinary resident of our planet

Explain:


• Why flying to and through space is a greater feat than flying through the air
• How today's space exploration challenges compare with challenges at the dawn of the space age

Have the students identify the names on their worksheets and mark geographic locations on their maps.

Worksheet
Name	Kind of Work	Best Noted For	Other Interesting Information
Valentina Tereshkova
Jake Garn
Buzz Aldrin
Enterprise
Mohammed Faris
Yuri Gagarin
Story Musgrave
Sally Ride
Gus Grissom
Valery Polyakov
Frank Borman
John Glenn
Christa McAuliffe
Neil Armstrong
Molly Brown
Alan Shepard
Guion Bluford
Jean-Loup Chretien
Gherman Titov
Deke Slayton
Sputnik
Wally Schirra
Alexei Leonov
Challenger Seven
Pete Conrad
Mae Jemison
Salyut

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