Neil Armstrong began his career as a. an astronaut b. a pilot c. a university professor
Gemini 8 was Armstrong’s a. first mission b. most famous mission c. last mission
Armstrong worked with NASA until a. 1966 b. 1969 c. 1971
Discussion/essay questions
While taking the first steps on the moon, Neil Armstrong said the famous quote “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Do you know of any other famous quotes from history? What is a quote that has changed your perspective?
Transcript
Neil Armstrong was an American astronaut and engineer. He was born in 1930 in Wapakoneta, Ohio. Armstrong began his career as a pilot for the US Navy. He joined NASA’s astronaut training program in 1962, and became one of only nine students in his class to succeed. His first command was on the Gemini 8 mission in 1966. In July 1969, he began the Apollo 11 mission with astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. He gained worldwide fame on July 20th for being the first person to walk on the moon. After the successful mission, Armstrong continued to work with NASA for two years. He left in 1971 to become an engineering professor. Despite his fame, Armstrong lived a very private life until his death in 2012.
The Little Prince is a story about the way children view the world. What are some lessons that you think adults could learn from children?
Transcript
The Little Prince is a novella written by French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. The narrator of the story is a pilot who has crashed in the desert. While trying to repair his plane, the pilot meets a young prince from another planet, who tells him stories about the people he has met on his journey. Each story is an allegory that makes fun of the way adults think and act. The Little Prince was originally published in 1943, in both French and English. It is likely that some parts of the book were inspired by the author’s life. Saint-Exupéry was also a pilot, and he spent some time stranded in the desert after a plane crash in 1935. Only a year after The Little Prince was published, Saint-Exupéry disappeared while flying over France. The wreckage of his plane was not found until 2000.
While it is very likely that Amelia Earhart crashed in the Pacific Ocean, no one knows for sure what happened to her. Do you have any other theories about why her plane disappeared?
Transcript
American pilot Amelia Earhart was born on July 24, 1897. She became interested in flying after her first airplane ride at age 23. She began to take flying lessons in 1921, and earned her pilot’s license in 1923. In 1928, Earhart was a passenger on a historic flight across the Atlantic Ocean. The flight took over 20 hours, and after the plane landed, Earhart quickly became famous. Determined to prove that she was a capable pilot herself, Earhart made another trip across the Atlantic – this time as the pilot of the plane. She completed this flight in 14 hours, which was a new record. After her solo flight across the Atlantic, Earhart made several other historic flights, including the first solo flight from Hawaii to California. In 1937, Earhart decided that she wanted to fly around the world. She departed from Miami, Florida, and travelled nearly 40,000 kilometres before her plane mysteriously disappeared. Earhart was never found. The most common explanation is that she crashed in the Pacific Ocean after her plane ran out of fuel.
