IMAGINATION, INNOVATION & SPACE EXPLORATION

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MOLLY PETTIT

Imagination and innovation are two key forces that drive history. The stories are everywhere - the phones in our pockets, the computers on our desks, the cars we drive, the medicine we take when we're sick, even the indoor plumbing we use in our homes. This chapter will examine how imagination and innovation have influenced space travel throughout history. Using historical thinking skills such as contextualization and close reading to examine text and media sources to unravel the relationship between imagination and innovation, students will analyze how both influenced one of the biggest dreams of the 20th century, and fueled ambitions for the future.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN IMAGINATION AND INNOVATION WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF SPACE TRAVEL?

"The moon, by her comparative proximity, and the constantly varying appearances produced by her several phases, has always occupied a considerable share of the attention of the inhabitants of the earth." - Jules Verne, From the Earth to the Moon, 1865

Type to enter textAbove is the essential question students will engage with throughout this chapter. The various documents (text, video, and photo) used throughout this lesson will guide student understanding of the long journey humans have taken in their desire to explore space.

Students can start with this quick-write activity: Reflect on the quote above from Jules Verne. What is Verne claiming in this statement? What do you think space travel was like in 1865, when this was written? How does this quote relate to our essential question?

FUTURE ASTRONAUTS: THIS ICON WILL INDICATE WHENEVER GUIDING QUESTIONS OR ACTIVITIES ARE INCLUDED FOR STUDENTS.

Jules Verne is known as one of the earliest science-fiction writers; some of his work may be familiar to you: Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth, and Around the World in Eighty Days. In 1865, Verne published another work, From the Earth to the Moon - the story centers on the enthusiastic and American, Baltimore Gun Club. The Gun Club ambitiously takes up a proposed project of building a projectile that will take passengers to the moon. Many decisions need to be made - what material should be used to make the projectile, what method should be used to propel the projectile all the way to the moon, and what launch-site to use. 

JULES VERNE:FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON

1865

Activity: Ask students to imagine themselves as members of the Baltimore Gun Club and create a list of questions that need to be considered for a successful launch. Have students compare their questions with those President Barbicane asks the University of Cambridge in chapter four (in the box to the left).

Follow-up discussion questions: How did you decide what questions were important to ask? Verne asked these questions in 1865, which questions do you think were also asked during America’s journey to the moon? What questions needed to be asked during America’s journey to the moon that Verne could not have predicted?

"The questions which have been proposed to it are these —1. Is it possible to transmit a projectile up to the moon?2. What is the exact distance which separates the earth from its satellite?3. What will be the period of transit of the projectile when endowed with sufficient initial velocity?

6. What place will the

Click here!

GEORGES MÉLIÈS:LE VOYAGE DANS LA LUNE1902

In 1902 using the new and captivating storytelling medium of film, Georges Méliès wanted audiences to view a story of space travel. Watch the full movie by clicking on the image below.

After watching the film, have students create a t-chart to record their observations about imagination and innovation as they are shown in the film.

Questions to guide student discussion or reflection:1. When was this film made? What was different

then? What was the same?2. How might the circumstances in which the film

was created affect its content? 3. How is seeing a story being told different from

reading a story? What opportunities and limitations does the medium of film offer to show elements of imagination and innovation?

Imagination Innovation

Students might observe the environment of the moon, the

subterranean world of the moon, the beings discovered

on the moon...

Students might observe the shape of the projectile, the launch procedure, how the projectile returns to earth...

INTERACTIVE 1.1 A Trip to the Moon / Le Voyage dans la lune - 1902

Click the image above to watch the short film by French director Georges Méliès in the early years of film.

Where are we going next? As time went on and many aspects of society changed, we see that space travel moves out of the realm of imagination, and more into the reality of innovation. The relationship between imagination and innovation shifts - piece by piece, progress was made toward the human exploration of space. A circular pattern emerges as imagination inspires innovation, and in turn, innovation fuels imagination as what once seemed impossible is accomplished. As you continue through this chapter, consider what factors influenced the relationship between imagination and innovation.

What have we learned so far about the relationship between imagination and innovation? After reading excerpts from Jules Verne and viewing the short film by Georges Méliès,

describe how elements of imagination and innovation were used in both sources to tell stories. Predict how this relationship might change

as we focus our study to the mid 1900s, the Space Race, and beyond.

IMAGINATION & INNOVATION

RACE TO THE STRATOSPHERE

1930S

By the early 1930s, pilots around the world had been testing the limits of human and airplane endurance at high altitudes for years: Apollo Soucek to 43,166 feet on 4 June 1930; Cyril Uwins to 43,976 feet on 16 September 1932; Renato Donati to 47,572 feet on 12 April 1934. Aviation experts understood that the challenge was to master these ceilings, where the lack of oxygen meant the need for several innovations: pressurized airplane cabins for life support or variable pitch propellers and newly designed airplane engines (tur-bocompressors and superchargers) to fly in the lighter air.

At first the competition took peaceful forms, not so much with airplanes as with high-altitude “stratostat” (stratospheric balloon) records. This was a race for the stratosphere actually launched by an unlikely character, Auguste Piccard. He was a Swiss national, professor of physics at the University of Brussels, and a research specialist on gamma rays. On 27 May 1931, over the course of seventeen hours, Piccard and his assistant, Charles Kipfer, achieved a turning point in world history. Their stratospheric balloon, the FNRS (initials for the Belgian National Foundation for Scientific Research), made a relatively short trip from Augsburg, Germany, to the Gurgl glacier at the Austrian Tyrol. But they were also the first to reach previously unknown heights: 51,775 feet.

The scientific objectives of the mission were mundane enough: the observation and measurement of cosmic rays (about their nature and intensity and movements), along with chemical analyses of the air and recordings of temperatures. But the flight was also filled with all the drama and danger of a science fiction story. The launch unfolded in scenes that looked as if they were cut from the movie The Woman in the Moon: the gondola ever so carefully transported by a small railroad track from its hangar to the launch site; huge floodlights illuminating the site deep into the night; hundreds of workers and spectators crowding the field; the pilots returning home as heroes to great public acclaim, their admirers clamoring to sign their initials to the capsule.

The spherical gondola was Piccard’s unique invention, prefiguring the stratospheric gondolas to come and even the Sputnik spacecraft many years hence. It was the first of many kinds. Weighing 850 pounds fully outfitted, it was a seven-foot-diameter airtight ball of welded aluminum and tin (of normal atmospheric pressure and oxygen), partially based on the technology to make sealed vats for the storage of beer. Piccard provisioned it with pure-oxygen dispensers and a recirculating system to cleanse the carbon dioxide. It

Auguste Piccard with his family and stratospheric balloon, 1930.

With the invention and success of flight by airplane, hot air balloon, and zeppelin, by the 1930s people around the world started experimenting with technologies that could take them into the stratosphere. Rising higher and faster than previous records, stratospheric balloons brought space exploration one step closer to reality. Read the condensed excerpt on the right from Rockets and Revolution: A Cultural History of Early Spaceflight by Michael G. Smith. To find the

original article or to read more, click here.

Ask students to use close-reading skills as they read this text. With your students, create a set of simple symbols they can use to indicate when they

have found evidence of imagination and innovation while reading. Questions to guide student interpretation:1. How did competition between countries

contribute to the developments of space travel during this time?

2. What other factors seemed to contribute?

JOHN F. KENNEDY:“WE CHOOSE TO GO TO THE MOON”

1962

INTERACTIVE 1.2 President John F. Kennedy’s Speech

“We choose to go to the moon.”

In watching this video, students can start to examine the Space Race.

CONTEXTUALIZING: Before watching the video, introduce students to the political, social, and economic context of the 1960s - what major challenges

was our nation facing? Who was involved in the Space Race and what were their motives?

EXAMINING: After showing the video, ask students what emotions they think Americans might have felt hearing Kennedy’s speech - excited to put a man on the moon, nervous about the cost of a space program, eager to compete against another major world power? Encourage students to examine the social, political, and economic factors that may have impacted this decision.

PREDICTING: Students should use their prior knowledge of the Apollo 11 moon landing or the Apollo Program to brainstorm what happened in the years following this speech. How did imagination and innovation unfold in those years to create one of the 20th century’s most memorable moments?

In this famous speech made at Rice University in September of 1962, President John F. Kennedy delivered a call to the American people to support ambitions for the NASA Apollo Program - to get a man to the moon. Does this speech draw on imagination or innovation to make its argument?

The Apollo 1 Crew: Edward H. White II, Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, and Roger B. Chaffee.

GALLERY 1.1 The Apollo Program through the Years

In the years following the 1969 lunar landing many advancements in space exploration and observation technology were made. Many missions were taken to the moon, the International Space Station launched in 1998, rovers have landed on the surface of Mars, and satellites have been sent out deeper and deeper into space...

Cumulative Projects & Final Reflections - The following ideas are designed to help students extend and/or summarize their learning through this chapter. Some activities will require more time and resources than others, so choose what assignment would best serve your students.

Research & Critical AnalysisGuide students in researching an additional innovation in the field of space exploration that has taken place recently. Students should research the innovative technology answering questions such as:•What prompted the need for this innovation? How was it influenced

by imagination? •What steps were taken to develop the innovation? What were the

major milestones or setbacks? •What is the lasting impact of the innovation?Students could present their findings to the class through making and displaying posters or digital presentations. Conduct a “gallery walk” so students can learn from their peers’ research.

Legacy of Imagination and InnovationPresent the class with a famous photo (click rocket for example). Ask students to write their responses to the following questions: •What is the legacy of a photo like this?•How do you think people felt being able to see images like

this for the first time?•How do you think Verne or Méliès would have felt being able

to see actual images from space, or watching the lunar landing?

•What images do you expect to see in the future of space exploration? Where are imagination and innovation taking us next?

CONCLUDE THIS LESSON WITH A FINAL REFLECTION ON OUR ESSENTIAL QUESTION: WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN IMAGINATION AND INNOVATION WITHIN THE

CONTEXT OF SPACE TRAVEL?

REFERENCES

Icons thanks to the Noun Project and their designers

Photos of stratospheric balloon exploration:Piccard & Family: click here. Century of Progress Balloon: click here.

Information and photo of Georges Méliès: click here.

All other photos courtesy of NASA:click here for awesome photos!

Full text of Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon is available on Project Gutenberg: click here.

Book artwork: click here.

From The British Library: click here.

Exploring History Vol IV

University of Portland StudentsPeter Pappas, Editor

I have had so much fun creating this textbook chapter! It is always exciting for learners - whether they are teachers or students - when you can learn about something you are passionate about. For me, one such topic is the history of space travel.

I used the Document Based Learning approach to build the flow of this lesson, and I was pleased with the outcome. The DBL style lends itself to using images and film, in addition to text, as primary source documents. I like using multiple sources of media to engage students in learning and opening up their interest to a new subject.

The most difficult part of this project was formulating the essential question. I wanted to create a question that could guide this lesson while sharing with students what I find so magical about space exploration - how far our collective imaginative and innovative power has taken us. I am so inspired thinking about the fact that people have walked on the moon, that since 1998 astronauts from various countries have lived together on the International Space Station.

I hope any readers out there have enjoyed looking through time and space with this lesson!

Molly Pettit

THANK YOU FOR

READING!

REFLECTION

This eBook is a collaborative project of Peter Pappas and his Fall 2016 Social Studies Methods Class School of Education ~ University of Portland, Portland Ore.

Graduate and undergraduate level pre-service teachers were assigned the task of developing an engaging research question, researching supportive documents and curating them into a DBQ suitable for middle or high school students.

For more on this class, visit the course blog EdMethods For more on this book project and work flow tap here.

Chapters in chronological order

1. Mysterious Bronze Age Collapse by Sam Hicks

2. From Revolution to Government by Valerie Schiller

3. Imagination, Innovation & Space Exploration by Molly Pettit

4. The Real Romanovs by Kelly Marx

5. World War I: The Human Cost of Total War by Anna Harrington

6. Collectivization and Propaganda in Stalin’s Soviet Union by Clarice Terry

7. Holy Propaganda Batman! by Karina Ramirez Velazquez

8. The Nicaraguan Literacy Crusade by Scott Hearron

EXPLORING HISTORY: VOL IV

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Engaging questions and historic documents empower students to be the historian in the classroom.

Peter Pappas, editor School of Education ~ University of Portland

His popular blog, Copy/Paste features downloads of his instructional resources, projects and publications. Follow him at Twitter @edteck. His other multi-touch eBooks are available at here.

© Peter Pappas and his students, 2016

The authors take copyright infringement seriously. If any copyright holder has been inadvertently or unintentionally overlooked, the publisher will be pleased to remove the said material from this book at the very first opportunity.

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Cover design by Anna Harrington

Cover image: Timeless BooksBy Lin Kristensen from New Jersey, USA [CC BY 2.] via Wikimedia Commons