Comparing and Contrasting Soviet and American Space Craft

Students will identify similarities and differences between the Soviet and American spacecraft and discover why the designs impacted the success of the United States in landing a human on the moon. Students will analyze photos of Soviet and American spacecraft and complete a “What do you notice? What do you know? And What questions do you have” graphic organizer on both spacecraft photos. Students will work with a partner and share their observations with the whole class. The lesson’s discussion would hinge on a group activity using a Venn Diagram and index cards as the students make observations about what the spacecraft’s similarities and differences were. The final assessment piece would be that the students would design a newspaper article or cartoon and have the option to either 1) draw and label (cartoon) or 2) write a few sentences about (newspaper article) the Soviet and American spacecraft and include in the drawing or paragraph at least 3 differences.

Historical Background

In 1961, the United States was at “war” with the Soviet Union between government ideologies against the spread of communism. After the US exerted its prowess with the detonation of the atomic bomb at the end of WWII, it showed to be a super power. The Soviets went to work building their own arsenal of atomic weaponry in an effort to exert their own superiority to further promote their ideology of communist’s spread over the countries of the world. These hot tensions between the two super powers: the Soviet Union and the United States became known as the Cold War. With both countries vying for global supremacy, they launched a race using their technology and advancements to send a man into space and eventually to the moon. This became known as the “Space Race.”

The Communists had the first claim of success with Sputnik. Sputnik was the first successful satellite launched into space. In response, the United States government forms their own space program under the newly-created NASA. The Communists claim another groundbreaking victory when they send the first human being into space, Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, on April 12, 1961 aboard the rocket Vostok 1. Less than a month later, the US responded by launching their own American astronaut into space, Alan Shepard, aboard Mercury rocket, Freedom 7. Differences between the Soviet and American rockets, capsules, landings, and engine boosters all point toward design benefits and disadvantages that led the US to developing a consistently more effective spacecraft, which led them to victory over the Soviets with more space missions and eventually a successful American man landing on the moon.

Lesson Objective

What made the United States’ spacecraft more effective than the Soviet spacecraft so that the United States could be the first to land a human on the moon? The student will identify similarities and differences between the Soviet and American spacecraft and discover why the designs impacted the success of the United States in landing a human on the moon.

Materials

Procedure

  1. Hook/Preview: Students will note the date April 12, 1961 in the Soviet Union with cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Students will watch the (:27) Youtube video: Archival Footage Yuri Gagarin/Launch of Vostok 1. Next, students will note the date May 5, 1961 in the United States with astronaut Alan Shepard. Students will watch the (:56) Youtube video: The Mercury 7 & Shepard’s Launch.
  2. Our rocket vs. Theirs: Pass out the Vostok 1 photos to half of the class with a graphic organizer and the Mercury Redstone Rocket photos to the other half. With a partner, ask students to complete the questions in the graphic organizer (see ppt slide 1). As a whole group, students will answer the following comparison questions: What is similar about both rockets? What is different about both rockets?
  3. Mercury Capsule vs. Soviet Capsule: Pass out the Vostok 1 photo and diagram to half of the class with a graphic organizer and the Mercury Capsule photo and diagram to the second half. With a partner, ask students to complete the questions in the graphic organizer (see ppt slide 1). As a whole group, students will answer the following comparison questions: What is similar about both capsules? What is different about both capsules? What advantages do you see? What disadvantages do you see?
  4. Soviet Landing vs. Mercury Landing: Pass out the Soviet landing photo to half of the class with a graphic organizer and the Mercury landing photo the remaining half of the class. With a partner, students will complete the graphic organizer (see ppt slides). In groups, students will answer the following comparison questions with a Venn Diagram: Which photograph matches which country’s mission? What clues help you support your match? What benefits do you see in a water landing? What benefits do you see in land landing? Which landing do you think would be better? Why?
  5. Soviet Rocket Engine Boosters vs. NASA Rocket Engine Boosters: Pass out the two sets of photographs to each half of the class with the graphic organizer (see ppt slides). In partners, students will complete the graphic organizer. As a group, the class will discuss: How many rocket booster engines are on the bottom of a NASA rocket? How many rocket booster engines are on the bottom of a Soviet rocket? Which engine rocket booster design has more likelihood for consistent success during liftoff? Why?

Assessment

The students will either design a newspaper article or cartoon and have the option to either 1) draw and label (comic strip) or 2) write a few sentences about (newspaper article) the Soviet and American spacecraft and include in the drawing or paragraph at least 3 differences.

References

“Mercury Redstone Rocket.” Squidoo. http://www.squidoo.com/mercury-redstone (accessed 10/13/2012).

“SS-6 Vostok Rocket.” Astrocentral. http://www.astrocentral.co.uk/race4.html (accessed 10/13/2012).

“Mercury MA-6 (Friendship 7) Capsule.” Historicspacecraft.
http://historicspacecraft.com/mercury.html (accessed 10/13/2012)

“Vostok 1 Capsule.” Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vostok_1_after_landing.jpg (accessed 10/13/2012)

“Sketch of the Vostok Capsule.” Mission To the Moon: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the Space Race. https://crfntserver1.crf-usa.org/crf/crfdata/hdww2007/2711/vostok.html (accessed 10/13/2012)

“Mercury Space Craft Exterior View.” How Stuff Works by Craig Freudenrich, Ph.D. http://science.howstuffworks.com/project-mercury2.htm (accessed 10/13/2012)

“Ocean rescue, as a helicopter lifts NASA astronaut Alan Shepard from the water in May of 1961.” (AP Photo) The Atlantic: In Focus. http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/10/50-years-ago-the-world-in-1961/100172/ (accessed 10/13/2012)

“The Vostok 1 descent module after landing on April 12 1961, in the rural Saratov region of Russia. Gagarin was greeted by a shocked farmer.” DailyMail. “’The main thing is that there is sausage’: Yuri Gagarin’s extraordinary last words before making history with first manned space flight 50 years ago today.” http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1376008/Yuri-Gagarins-sausage-remark-Last-words-1st-manned-space-flight.html (accessed 10/13/2012)

“Redstone Engine.” Historic Spacecraft. http://historicspacecraft.com/Rockets_Redstone.html (accessed 10/13/2012)

“F-1 Soviet Booster Engine.” Bob is the oil guy. http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2234067 (accessed 10/13/2012)

Post a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.