Liftoff!
De-Orbit Burn

"The future is a race between education and catastrophe."

-H.G. Wells

What does it take to be an astronaut?  What kinds of activities are done on board the Space Shuttle?  If you were an astronaut, what kinds of experiments would you be working on?

This lesson will cover some of the on-orbit operations that are done on the Space Shuttle as it travels in low-Earth orbit. Some of the questions you will answer in this lesson include:

• What type of training do astronauts go through?
• What is a typical spacewalk like?
• What benefits have we received from the Space Shuttle Program for life here on Earth?

You will use a variety of 3-D and virtual models, interactive games and tutorials, videos, audios, and images to explore the systems and components of the Space Shuttle. For your assignment you will complete a detailed summary one of the Space Shuttle science experiments that interests you!

In the Liftoff section are four chapters to read and enjoy.  There are many images, links, videos and interactive models and games to link to on the internet.  Don't forget to do the Quick Quiz after you have done the reading. The Mission section is the activity that you need to turn in via the Comm Link. The Extended Mission is a collection of links on the topic that you can use for further information, it is divided up into Activities and Research. 

Chapters in this lesson include:

• Orbital Mechanics
• Astronaut Training
• Life in Zero G
• Laboratories in Space
• Spacewalk!
• Spinoffs from Space!

NOTE:  Some of the links in these lessons require these:

• Adobe Acrobat Reader
• QuickTime
• Real Player
• Windows Media Player
• IPIX
• a VRML player (i.e., Cortona VRML Client)

Click on any of the links to get these plug-ins for your browser installed for free if you do not already have them.

If you are using America Online (AOL) or Netscape, you may experience problems with this course. 

We recommend using only Internet Explorer

Next... Orbital Mechanics (pg. 2 of 7)