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Gail S Hennessey
Gail Skroback Hennessey taught for over 33 years, teaching sixth grade in all but two years. She earned a BA in early secondary education with a concentration in social studies and an MST in social...
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Space Day is Coming! (May 7th)


 
In 2021, Space Day is May 7th. Held the first Friday in May, the day to recognize space and spark young people in science, was in 1997. In 2001, astronaut John Glenn promoted the day as International Space Day.
 
1. Write THREE facts you know about space.
2. What are three character traits you would give an astronaut and why?
3. What would be your biggest fear as an astronaut?
4. If you could bring ONE personal item with you on a space mission what would it be and why?
5. Do you think there may be life on other planets?
6. Write TWO questions you’d ask an astronaut.
7. Illustrate one of the Did You Know? factoids.
 
 
Did You Know?
  • Dennis Tito, became the first  space tourist in 2001.He paid $20 million to spend 8 days at the International Space Station.
  • Snoopy, the Peanut character, is the safety mascot of NASA astronauts.
  • Wan-Hu, a Chinese man that lived around 1500 AD, may have been the first in space. 47 Rockets were attached to a chair with two large kites. He was never seen again!• The word astronaut is Latin for “star sailor.
  • The first person to walk in space was Russian, Alexei Leonov(1965).
  • The first American to walk in space was Ed White(1965).
  • President Nixon called Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin while they were taking photographs of the flag on the moon. Nixon said of the telephone call that it “was the most historic phone call ever made from the White House”. 1969
  • Scientists hope that there will be a manned mission to MARS by 2025.
  • Venus is the hottest planet. Although Mars is closest to the sun, its atmosphere can’t regulate temperatures. Venus is about 450 degrees C. on its surface.
  •  Pluto was demoted from being a planet(2006). It is called a dwarf planet. Ceres, Haumea, Makemake and Eris are the four other recognized dwarf planets.
  • The first man-made object in space was launched by the Russians in 1957. It was called Sputnik. It was the beginning of the “Space Race” between Russia and the USA.
  • Famous Halley’s Comet returns to our solar system every 76 years. It will be visible in 2061.
  • A Latin word, “alien” means “stranger” or “foreign”.
  • The planet Saturn has officially 53 moons. Another 9 haven’t been confirmed as moons.
  • Jupiter is the largest planet in our solar system.
  • About 4.24 light years away, the sun is the closest star to the Earth.
  • Stars don’t really “twinkle”. The light of stars is distorted by the Earth’s atmosphere making the appearance of twinkling.
  • A group of solar systems is called a galaxy. We live in the Milky Way Galaxy.
  • It is estimated that there are 500,000 pieces of junk floating around in space! 
  • The first person to believe that the Earth revolved around the Sun was Nicolaus Copernicus. People at the time believed the EARTH was the center of the universe and the sun revolved around the Earth.
  • The ONLY person to walk in Space AND travel down into the deepest trench on Earth, the Mariana Trench, is Dr. Kathy Sullivan!(2020)
Resources of Possible Interest:
 
 
 
Gail
 
Illustrations from WPClipart and NASA