Space Transportation: Reshooting the Moon

The “Big Idea” of this standards-based unit is transportation systems move people and goods. Transportation vehicles consist of subsystems that must function together for a system to work effectively. Students will become familiar with NASA’s plan for human space exploration. The following are some of the objectives of the 5E (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate/Extend, Evaluate) lessons:

• Describe how a system may lose efficiency or fail if one of its subsystems is missing or malfunctioning.
• Design a space transportation system that will complete a lunar mission and identify the processes it would require.
• Identify the subsystems that must function together for a transportation system to work effectively.

At the conclusion of the unit, students develop a subsystem for a manned spacecraft bound for the moon. Student sheets and rubrics are included.
Space Transportation: Reshooting the Moon [1MB PDF file]
More Guides in the Human Exploration Project Series
Elementary
Moon Munchies – Lunar Plant Growth Chamber (Grades K-4)
Moon Power – Energy and Power (Grades 1-5)
Middle School
Lunar Colonization – Energy and Power (Grade 6)
Packing Up for the Moon – Lunar Plant Growth Chamber (Grades 5-8)
Creating a Space Exploration Infrastructure – Transportation (Grade 7)
High School
Engineering Design for Human Exploration – Energy and Power (Grades 9-12)
Lunar Plant Growth Chamber (Grades 9-12)
NASA: Moving Cargo – Transportation (Grade 9)
Transportation and Space: Reuse and Recycle – Transportation (Grades 10-12)