Lesson Plan - Racing Into Space

Watch a Video: The Space Race Continues!

Discuss: How has human space exploration changed over time?

Preview Words to Know

Project the online vocabulary slideshow and introduce the Words to Know.

• commercial 
• prosthetic

Set a Purpose for Reading

Note the As You Read question, and have students compare the two space races as they read.

1. What are some differences between the new space race and the original one? The new space race is between companies, while the original one was between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. In the new race, anyone can go into space if they can afford a ticket. In the original race, only trained astronauts could go. 

^{(RI.4.5 COMPARISON)}

2. Why does Hayley Arceneaux say that she wouldn’t be able to experience space without SpaceX? Arceneaux has a prosthetic leg. Until companies like SpaceX made commercial space travel available, people going into space had to be “physically perfect.” 

^{(RI.4.1 TEXT EVIDENCE)}

3. What clues in the text help you understand the meaning of the word reserve? The article says that people pay to reserve seats on future spaceflights. This suggests that to reserve something is to hold it for future use. 

^{(RI.4.4 WORD MEANING)}

FEATURED SKILL: Sequence

Use the skill builder “Space Race” to have students identify sequence signal words in the article and put events in order. Download it as Google Slides or a PDF.

^{(RI.4.3 CONNECTING IDEAS)}