The New Frontier
Learn how the United States has been able to explore space.
Embedded Files
About
About
Humans have long dreamed of exploring what’s beyond planet Earth. But it was until the mid-1900s that technology allowed us to start really exploring the final frontier: space. Locked in a highly tense conflict called the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union saw space travel as a way to gain an advantage over the other. The race to explore the moon and the solar system began in earnest in 1957 when the Soviet Union sent a dog named Laika to orbit the Earth.
Essential Questions
Essential Questions
What were the most important events in the history of 20th-century space exploration?
Why is space exploration important?
What challenges lie ahead for space travel?
Choose a Focus
Choose a Focus
Use the Suggested Activity to learn about your chosen focus in a fun way. Or visit the Activity Library to pick another interactive activity.
Note: Britannica School, BrainPOP, and Kids Discover are provided by Prenda. Make sure you are logged in via Clever.
Use the Suggested Activity to learn about your chosen focus in a fun way. Or visit the Activity Library to pick another interactive activity.
Note: Britannica School, BrainPOP, and Kids Discover are provided by Prenda. Make sure you are logged in via Clever.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) 🕰
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) 🕰
After the Soviets launched Sputnik 1 into orbit in 1957, the United States quickly created NASA, an entire government program dedicated to keeping the United States ahead in the space race. NASA’s shuttles have completed over 100 missions and taken more than 350 people into space.
Essential questions:
When and why was NASA created?
What are some key accomplishments of NASA?
How have NASA's innovations impacted people’s lives?
Suggested Activity: A Different Point of View
Katherine Johnson ⚒️
Katherine Johnson ⚒️
Katherine Johnson was a mathematician at a time when not many women, and especially not many Black women, held that job. But Johnson went on to work for NASA and was key in helping get the first American to the moon.
Essential questions:
What job did Johnson have at NASA?
Why was this an unusual job for her at the time?
In what ways is Johnson a Changemaker?
Suggested Activity: Act It Out
The Moon Landing
The Moon Landing
On July 20, 1969, Americans gathered around their television sets to watch two men walk on the moon for the first time. Nine years earlier, President John F. Kennedy had challenged NASA to get an American to the moon within that decade. NASA got to work . . . and the rest is history.
Essential questions:
Who were the first people to walk on the moon?
Why was this such an important event in history?
How did this event change space exploration?
Suggested Activity: Picture It!
Curricular Connections
Curricular Connections
Continue your learning by choosing one of these related activities.
Continue your learning by choosing one of these related activities.
Related Social Studies Topics
Timeline Challenge
Start a class timeline (or add to an existing timeline) showing important events in America's early space exploration.
Socratic Discussion
Read JFK’s “We Choose the Moon” speech and discuss.
Create
Design a Solar System (in Prenda World)
(Not sure what to do? Watch a video of the moon landing and then interview someone who was alive when it happened!)
STEM
Interview with Apollo 11 Astronauts (1969)
Choose a math problem that relates to space travel and try to solve it!
Image Attributions
The Final Frontier banner: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsNASA: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsKatherine Johnson: NASA, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsThe Moon Landing: Neil A. Armstrong, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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