Space Shuttle Endeavour Will Rocket Into History
4/29/2011
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/science/jan-june11/endeavour_04-29.html
Estimated Time: One 45-minute class period with possible extension
Student Worksheet (reading comprehension and discussion questions without answers)
PROCEDURE
1. WARM UP
Use initiating questions to introduce the topic and find out how much your students
know.
2. MAIN ACTIVITY
Have students read NewsHour Extra's feature story and answer the reading
comprehension and discussion questions on the student handout.
3. DISCUSSION
Use discussion questions to encourage students to think about how the issues outlined in the
story affect their lives and express and debate different opinions
INITIATING QUESTIONS
1. How do astronauts reach space?
2. How does a space shuttle work? How is it different from prior space vehicles?
3. Which U.S. government agency oversees space travel?
READING COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
1. Who will pilot the Endeavour on this mission and how is he related to a recent news event?
The shuttle will be piloted by astronaut Mark Kelly, whose wife, Congresswoman Gabrielle
Giffords (D-Ariz.), was shot in the head in January by a lone gunman at a community event.
Giffords, who is recovering from her brain injury at a Houston rehabilitation center, will be in
attendance at the launch.
2. What is the Endeavour transporting into space?
Endeavour’s final mission will transport three tiny satellites to be mounted on the International
Space Station for a brief time to see how they hold up in the harsh conditions of space. Endeavor
will also bring a historic artifact into space: a three-inch wooden ball called a “parrel” that was
used by sailors to raise sails up masts.
3. What is solar wind?
A stream of charged particles emitted by the sun
4. What is the historical value of the artifact being brought aboard Endeavour?
Endeavor will also bring a historic artifact into space: a three-inch wooden ball called a “parrel”
that was used by sailors to raise sails up masts. The parrel aboard the Endeavour is more than 500
years old and was used on the Mary Rose, the main ship of England’s King Henry VIII.
5. Where will Endeavour go after its final mission?
On display at the California Space Center in Los Angeles.
6. Which president started the space shuttle program, and when?
President Richard Nixon in 1972.
7. How did astronauts get into space before space shuttles?
Before the shuttle program, astronauts were transported into space by rockets in capsules that
could not land like planes but had to drop in the ocean and be recovered, making the operation
extremely expensive. Many people think the shuttle program did not achieve its goal because
sending a shuttle into space is still very expensive - about $1.5 billion today.
8. How will NASA make deliveries to the International Space Station after the shuttle program ends?
Once the space shuttle program is retired, NASA plans to rely on privately owned spacecraft to
transport astronauts into space and fly delivery missions to the International Space Staton. One
private company called SpaceX has already signed a $1.6 billion contract with NASA for 12
unmanned delivery missions.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Do you think funding space travel is important? Why or why not?
2. Do you think it’s a good thing that the space shuttle program is ending? Why or why not?
3. Why do you think people are less enamored with space travel today than they were at the time of the
first moon landing?
4. What do you think humans’ next big space mission should be? Why?
Space Shuttle Endeavour Will Rocket Into History
4/29/2011
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/science/jan-june11/endeavour_04-29.html
READING COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
1. Who will pilot the Endeavour on this mission and how is he related to a recent news event?
2. What is the Endeavour transporting into space?
3. What is solar wind?
4. What is the historical value of the artifact being brought aboard Endeavour?
5. Where will Endeavour go after its final mission?
6. Which president started the space shuttle program, and when?
7. How did astronauts get into space before space shuttles?
8. How will NASA make deliveries to the International Space Station after the shuttle program ends?
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. Do you think funding space travel is important? Why or why not?
2. Do you think it’s a good thing that the space shuttle program is ending? Why or why not?
3. Why do you think people are less enamored with space travel today than they were at the time of the
first moon landing?
4. What do you think humans’ next big space mission should be? Why?