Manned Space Exploration

Take a trip with the first people to land on the moon and see why the Space Shuttle changed everything about space travel. Explore our plans to go back to the moon and then on to Mars.

This Course includes the following great BONUS LESSONS:

• What on Earth is Astronomy?

• Mini-Lesson: Eclipses

• Mini-Lesson: Meteor Showers

• Mini-Lesson: Aurora

Manned Space Exploration

1. Objective

2. Warm-up activity

3. Humanity’s next steps in space

4. The Apollo Moon landings, including the political climate that led up to them

5. Exploration and the human spirit

6. The space shuttle program and reusability

7. Achievements and components of the space shuttle program

8. Failures of the shuttle program: the Challenger and Columbia disasters

9. The dangers of space flight

10. The International Space Station

11. Preparing for Mars: equipment and people

12. The effects of weightlessness on the human body

13. Living in space long-term

14. The space shuttle’s replacements: U.S. private industry and the Russian Soyuz crafts

15. The XPRIZE and private industry in space

16. Test questions

17. Cross-curricular activities

My name is Tony Ceraso and I will be your instructor. I sometimes run the planetarium and have written curriculum for the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. I have also written curriculum for NASA’s school visitation program and teach on the college level in NJ.

My goal is for you to thoroughly enjoy this lesson. I love astronomy and I want nothing more out of our time together than for you to have a greater appreciation for the universe through the understanding of this material. Besides the lesson I’m going to preview for you now, the course includes warm up activities, test questions, and cross-curricular activities for you to download as a supplement.