Space Day 2008

Friday, May 2 is Space Day!

Launched in 1997, this educational initiative promotes math, science, technology, and engineering.

Celebrate Space Day this year with the Space Day Toolkit with Lesson Plans, or the following resources.

Video Clips

Dr. Robert H. Goddard -- Bob the Vid Tech visits the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The center is named for Dr. Robert H. Goddard, who is considered the father of space rocketry. In this piece, learn all about Goddard’s first small liquid-fueled rocket.

Dr. Ron Parise, Astronaut -- Bob the Vid Tech visits the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and talks with astronaut, Dr. Ron Parise. Learn what it’s like to travel into outer space as Dr. Parise recounts his own flight experience. Get a glimpse into the life of an astronaut.

Earth Watch: Water 1 (RealVideo) and (Windows Media) -- This clip explores the nature of water and the ways in which becomes contaminated, explaining why you can’t always trust that water that looks clean really is clean.

Earth Watch: Water 2 (RealVideo) and (Windows Media) -- In this segment, learn how water is cleaned at a water treatment plant. The process includes aeration, the addition of chlorine and alum, sedimentation, and filtration.

Earth Watch: Water 3 (RealVideo) and (Windows Media) -- This clip explains the stages in the endless water cycle through which all the water available on Earth passes. Learn how water travels throughout our environment in a continuous cycle.

FUSE Satellite -- Join Bob the Vid Tech as he visits the Maryland Science Center and discovers the FUSE (Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer) satellite replica. In this clip, learn about the different classifications of light and how the FUSE satellite works.

Gemini Spacecraft -- This segment features the Gemini capsule, the first spacecraft to house two astronauts in space. Join Bob the Vid Tech at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Station in Greenbelt, Maryland and learn important facts about early Gemini spaceflight.

Hubble Space Telescope -- At the Maryland Science Center, Bob the Vid Tech learns all about the Hubble Space Telescope, deployed in 1990 to take new pictures of the universe. In this piece, learn how big the space telescope is, why it is used, and the kinds of things it sees.

International Space Station -- Featured in this segment is the International Space Station (ISS), the largest and most complex international scientific project in history. Explore this project with Bob the Vid Tech, finding out how parts are transported to ISS from earth.

Mission to Pluto (Windows Media) -- A new mission to Pluto has scientists excited. In only ten years, new exciting data may be available on the solar system's outer most planet.

Space Interstitial (RealVideo) and (Windows Media)-- Difficulty finding resources for your classroom? Thinkport's online resources combine technology with state standards.

Space Suit -- Bob the Vid Tech is on a mission to rescue his brother Biff from outer space. He talks a Science Specialist at the Maryland Science Center and learns about space suits. Together, they find out how heavy a space suit is on earth.

US Astronaut Hall of Fame -- Join Bob the Vid Tech at the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in Florida. Bob is on a mission to rescue Biff from outer space and undergoes spaceflight training. Learn about assimilation training machines, including the G-Force Trainer and the Zero-G Wall.

Lessons and Activities

Amazing Space -- consists of web-based educational presentations for young children about space, which were developed at the Space Telescope Science Institute.

Ask an Astronomer for Kids -- provides answers and photos for 200 common questions about astronomy and objects in space. Topics include planets, stars, the solar system, comets, asteroids, galaxies, and the night sky.

Cyberchase - Space Coupe -- Students will use positive and negative numbers to move their space coupe on an axis and retrieve 8 pods that Hacker has dropped into Oceania.

Designing a Space Station -- In this Science NetLinks lesson, students assess and evaluate a winning design plan that was submitted by students to NASA as part of the Space Settlement Design Contest.

Gravity Launch -- In this Science NetLinks lesson, students explore how the Earth's and moon's gravity affects the path of a rocket launched into space. The focus of this lesson is on Earth's gravitational pull, as well as forces and how the motion of an object changes.

Looking into Space -- In this Science NetLinks lesson, students learn how telescopes work, build a model of their own, and consider how real telescopes can be used to ask--and help answer--questions about the universe.

MATHLINE - Space Odyssey 2000: How Much Do You Weigh In Space? -- Students learn about the relationship between mass, weight, and gravity, and apply their knowledge to determine their weight on other planets.

MATHLINE - Space: Solar System -- Students learn about scale, radius, and proportion as they build a model of the solar system.

MATHLINE - Space: We Have Liftoff -- Students explore past space missions using volume, rate, and proportion.

NOVA - Stationed in the Stars -- When you're in orbit around Earth in a space station or some other spacecraft, you float around because you've escaped Earth's gravity, right? Wrong! The force of gravity for something in low Earth orbit is virtually the same as it is at ground level.

Space Chase Scavenger Hunt -- Take your students on a ride on the Magic School Bus using this activity! Students will learn about the solar system as they play educational games and complete a scavenger hunt.

Space Food -- In this Science Update, from Science NetLinks, you'll hear about the challenges involved in providing nourishment to astronauts involved in long-term activity in space.

Spaceship Earth -- In this lesson, from Science NetLinks, students develop an understanding of our planet as a system by designing a very-long-duration space mission in which the life-support system is patterned after that of Earth.

StarChild: A Learning Center for Young Astronomers -- helps elementary school students learn about the sun and moon, planets, the asteroid belt, meteoroids and comets, astronauts and space suits, space travel and space probes, the Hubble space telescope, the Columbia accident, galaxies, the Milky Way, and stars.

The Living Edens - Namib: Namib From Space -- In this lesson, students study Namib through the use of satellite photographs. Students will: - view photos from space of the Namib Desert through the World Wide Web - analyze the photos from Namib and identify the landmarks from space.

The Space Place -- is a place where kids can learn how to make balloon-powered nano-rovers and pop rockets, discover what it's like to be a space engineer, and conduct experiments to identify the best materials for use in space

The Sun and Moon in Space and Art -- This ARTSEDGE lesson is based on people's age-old interest in and need to observe the heavens. In this lesson, students learn about properties of the sun and the moon, then create their own drawings based on their knowledge.

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