Why go to space?

Lesson plan

2 class periods of about 45 minutes.

1. Day 1 · 45 min

   A law and a statement

   1. Read the History tab of Signing the National Aeronautics and Space Act. Sputnik went up in October 1957, and Eisenhower wanted a civilian space agency.
   2. Pre-teach signing statement, enactment, treaty and advice and consent from the key terms. Read the five paragraphs aloud.
   3. Students rewrite each paragraph as one plain sentence.
   4. In groups, students decide which paragraph speaks mainly to Congress, which to other countries and which to the public, with a phrase from the text as evidence for each.
   5. Discuss why the longest paragraph (3) is about one clause, and why Eisenhower presents NASA as a natural evolution of the NACA, founded in 1915 (4 and 5).

2. Day 2 · 45 min

   We choose to go

   1. Read the History tab of We choose to go to the Moon: about 40,000 people at Rice Stadium in September 1962, many of them students. Read 4 to 8, 15 to 17, 31 and 32 aloud.
   2. Students mark each paragraph E where Kennedy argues for exploring for its own sake, R where he argues for leading or winning, both, or a dash for neither. Expect few R's, because most of his case for leading is cut here.
   3. Discuss the reliability question: Ted Sorensen drafted the speech from drafts by NASA and others, and the line about choosing the moon because it is hard began in NASA's draft.
   4. In groups, students pick one reason aimed at the crowd in the stadium and one aimed at the nation beyond it, with a quotation for each.
   5. 15 minutes: Students answer the big question with evidence from both sources: what reasons the two presidents gave for going to space, and whom each was trying to persuade.

Read these sources

In this order. Each opens in Hearth Library with the original beside plain English, and a History tab on who made it and how far to trust it.

1. 1

   Signing the National Aeronautics and Space Act

   Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1958. Moderate.

   Very short, but written in formal legal language; the footnotes explain the terms.

   Questions, key terms and an activity

   signing statement

   a formal comment a president issues when he signs a bill into law

   enactment

   the making of a bill into law

   aeronautics

   the science and practice of flight through the air

   treaty

   a formal agreement between countries; in the United States, the Senate must approve it

   advice and consent

   the Constitution’s words for the Senate’s approval of treaties

   construe

   to explain or understand the meaning of words, especially in a law

   1. Comprehension Which part of the Act does Eisenhower say “requires comment,” and how does he say he reads it?
   2. Analysis Eisenhower calls adding space exploration to the NACA’s work “a natural evolution,” and reminds readers that the NACA was founded in 1915. Why might he present NASA as growing out of an older agency, and whom do you think he hoped to persuade?
   3. Analysis (reliability) This statement is the President’s own reading of the law, and the words of the Act did not change. How far can it tell us what the Act says, and how far only what Eisenhower wanted it to mean? What other document would you read to check?
   4. Connection Read We choose to go to the Moon. Eisenhower writes of “leadership in the space age” in a short written statement. Kennedy, four years later, spoke to about 40,000 people at Rice Stadium in Houston. Compare the reasons each president gives for a national space effort, and how the form of each source shapes what it says.

   Activity Students rewrite each of the five paragraphs as one plain sentence. In small groups, they decide which paragraph speaks mainly to Congress, which to other countries, and which to the public, and give a phrase from the text as evidence. Groups then compare their answers and discuss why the longest paragraph is about a single clause.

   For teachers · Worksheet for this source

2. 2

   We choose to go to the Moon

   John F. Kennedy, 1962. Moderate.

   Long spoken sentences full of lists, but mostly common words.

   Questions, key terms and an activity

   honorary

   given as an honor, without the usual duties

   manpower

   the number of people available for a kind of work

   vistas

   wide views; here, new possibilities opening up

   strife

   angry or violent conflict

   conquest

   taking control of something by effort or force

   incumbency

   the time a person holds an office

   hazardous

   full of danger

   1. Comprehension What reasons does Kennedy give for choosing to go to the moon “in this decade”?
   2. Analysis Kennedy compares going to the moon with climbing the highest mountain, flying the Atlantic, and Rice playing Texas. What does each comparison ask his listeners to feel about the moon goal?
   3. Analysis (reliability) Kennedy’s speechwriter, Ted Sorensen, drafted this speech, drawing on drafts from NASA and other agencies, and the line about choosing the moon because it is hard began in NASA’s draft. How does this change the way we use the speech as evidence of Kennedy’s own reasons?
   4. Connection Read The Dream: a journey to the Moon. Kepler’s daemon says the journey puts human lives “in the greatest danger” and chooses only certain kinds of people for it. Kennedy calls the moon voyage “the most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked.” Compare how each source describes the danger of the journey, and what each one suggests about who should make it.

   Activity Students mark each kept paragraph with an E where Kennedy argues for exploring for its own sake, an R where he argues for leading or winning, both letters where he does both, and a dash where he does neither. Most of his case for leading was cut from this passage, so expect few R’s; students say what the kept paragraphs stress instead. In groups, they decide which reasons were aimed at the crowd of students in Rice Stadium and which at the nation listening beyond it, and present one quotation for each.

   For teachers · Worksheet for this source

To finish

Come back to the question: What reasons did leaders give for going to space, and whom were they trying to persuade? Ask students to answer it with evidence from at least two of the sources, and to say which source they trust most and why.

Standards

Students match each part of Eisenhower's statement and Kennedy's speech to its audience and weigh the reasons each leader gives.

Go further

Other units

Imagining life off the Earth

Encyclopedia

Space stations · The NACA and NASA

Play

Space Hotel Ltd

Collection

Every source in Reaching Space