NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Online Educational Activity
Educators & Students	Grades 5-8

Objective

This online educational activity for grades 5-8 will allow students to research facts about the history of spaceflight in the 20th century and answer questions about selected events.

Test your knowledge in this online activity.

National Education Standards

National Science Standards

• History and Nature of Science
• Science as a human endeavor
• History of science

Standards for Technological Literacy

• Technology and Society
• The influence of technology on history

National Educational Technology Standards

• Basic Operations and Concepts
• Technology Research Tools

Task

How well do you know your aerospace history facts? Check the information at each of the NASA links to answer the questions about these significant events of the 20th Century. Record your answers on a piece of notebook paper.

Question 1 - Dec. 17, 1903 Solve the code to learn the names of these early aviators. Visit the second link and explain what they did on this date. Solve the code. http://quest.nasa.gov/aero/teachers/code.html What happened on this date in history? http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/rocketry/25.html

Question 2 - March 16, 1926 Visit these sites to discover who launched this first-of-its-kind rocket. Name the inventor and the type of rocket. http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/rocketry/26.html http://apod.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap990717.html http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/indepth/about_drgoddard.html

Question 3 - May 21, 1927 Name the American aviator, what he accomplished, and how long it took? http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/aerosim/LessonHS97/SpiritofStLouis.html

Question 4 - July 2, 1937 What American woman pilot was lost over the Pacific on this date? Name the navigator who died with her and the type of plane that she was flying. http://grin.hq.nasa.gov/ABSTRACTS/GPN-2002-000211.html

Question 5 - October 14, 1947 Name the pilot, the plane, and the feat that was a first for aeronautics. http://quest.nasa.gov/aero/events/regimes/3.html

Question 6 - October 4, 1957 What event on this date marked the beginning of the Space Age? http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/sputnik/index.html

Question 7 - October 1, 1958 What national agency was formed on this date and what was its purpose? http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/rocketry/39.html

Question 8 - June 8, 1959 This famous plane bridged the gap between manned flight within the atmosphere and manned flight into space. Name the plane and speed that it flew on October 3, 1967. http://history.nasa.gov/x15/cover.html

Question 9 - April 12, 1961 Name the man who became famous the world over on this date and why. http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/rocketry/42.html

Question 10 - May 5, 1961 Name the American who became a legend and what he did. http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/whos_who_level1/shepard.html

Question 11 - February 20, 1962 Who was the man who pioneered this flight and what was the event? http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/history/mercury/ma-6/ma-6.htm

Question 12 - June 3, 1965 What important space maneuver was accomplished and by whom? http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_182.html

Question 13 - July 20, 1969 What event occurred on this date as the whole world watched? http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/ap11ann/introduction.htm

Question 14 - May 14, 1973 What spacecraft was launched on this date? http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/skylab/skylab-1.html

Question 15 - April 12, 1981 The beginning of an era was marked by what event on this date? http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/rocketry/52.html

Question 16 - June 18, 1983 Who was the first American woman astronaut to orbit the Earth and what was the name of the spacecraft on which she flew? http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/shadow/whos_who_level2/ride.html http://quest.nasa.gov/women/bios/sr.html

Question 17 - November 20, 1998 This date is recorded as the launch date of the first part of the International Space Station. What is the name of the part and where did it launch from? http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/iss_assembly_1ar.html

Note to Educators: Additional NASA Resources for this Activity

NASA History Web Site
http://history.nasa.gov

Spaceflight History Page
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/history/index.html