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The Race Begins

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The Race Begins Lesson 4 Vocabulary Vocabulary administration – a group of people who carry out the manage- ment of any office, business, or organization, giving direction for the work that needs to be done; the performance of executive duties Housed in the NASA Headquarters building, the administration oversees NASA’s programs and projects. aerodynamic – designed to reduce or minimize the drag caused by air as an object moves though the air, othly aroun o d sm w or by wind that strikes and flows it ip h l o s s u around an object; designed in such e t l u m c a way so as to reduce wind drag e u l c o h on a vehicle m f r r i i c A t i o n . aeronautics – a science dealing with the operation of aircraft; the design and construction of aircraft The aerodynamic shape of the rocket reduces drag. Aeronautics 98 Lesson 4 Vocabulary airfoil – a section of a wing, rudder, or rotor blade used for testing the reaction from air through which Airflow Airfoil it moves Airflow Sketch of an airfoil astronaut – a person trained to pilot, navigate, or otherwise participate as a crew member of a spacecraft; a person who travels beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. These people are called cosmonauts in Russia and taikonauts in China. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon on July 20, 1969. aviation – the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft Congress – the chief lawmaking body of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives The U.S. Senate chamber in the The U.S. House of Representatives U.S. Capitol Building in the U.S. Capitol Building The Courage to Soar Higher—An Educator Guide With Activities In Science, Mathematics, Language Arts, and Technology 99 Lesson 4 Vocabulary cowling – a streamlined metal housing or removable covering for an engine, especially an aircraft engine cowling engineer – a person who is trained in, or follows as This Curtiss Hawk has a NACA cowling covering a profession, a branch of engineering; a person who its engine (November 1928). uses scientific knowledge to solve practical problems Explorer I – the first U.S. Earth satellite launched into orbit as part of the U.S. program for the International Geophysical Year (IGY), 1957–1958 William H. Pickering, James van Allen, and Werner von Braun hold up a model of Explorer I, America’s first Earth satellite, launched January 31, 1958. International Geophysical Year (IGY) – an international scientific effort that lasted from July 1, 1957 to December 31, 1958, in which scientists from 67 nations studied 11 different Earth sciences laboratory – a room or building equipped for scientific experimentation or research military – of or relating to members of the armed forces (such as the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, or Coast Guard) A NACA engine laboratory (1938) missile – an object or weapon that is fired at a target; a rocket carrying a warhead A model German V–2 missile acted as the booster for this rocket launched in July 2000 to honor the first rocket launch at Cape Canaveral, Florida. 100 Lesson 4 Vocabulary orbiting – the act of a celestial body or an artificial satellite as it revolves around another body premier – the head of government in many nations; a position that is usually the same as that of a prime minister satellite – a celestial body or a human-made vehicle intended to orbit a celestial body Earth’s Moon and approximately 3,000 artificial satellites orbit the Earth. Sputnik – a USSR artificial satellite. Launched on October 4, 1957,Sputnik I was the first human-made satellite to orbit the Earth.Sputnik II was launched on November 3, 1957 and carried a dog named Laika on board. Sputnik I weighed 184 superpower – an extremely powerful nation (such as the United States); a pounds (83 kilograms). powerful nation able to influence events throughout the world supersonic – relating to a speed greater than the speed of sound in a given medium, especially air transonic – close to the speed of sound (Mach 1); moving at 700–780 miles per hour (1,127–1,255 kilometers per hour) at sea level universe – all matter and energy, including the Earth, the galax- ies, and the contents of intergalactic space, regarded as a whole More than a thousand galaxies are captured in this Spitzer space telescope image. The Courage to Soar Higher—An Educator Guide With Activities In Science, Mathematics, Language Arts, and Technology 101 Lesson 4 Vocabulary Vanguard – the name of the U.S. program that was set to launch the first artificial satellite of the Earth. Vanguard was also the name given to the artificial satellites, as well as the rockets that launched them. In 11 attempts, only three Vanguard launches were successful. The first attempt, Vanguard TV3, failed on December 6, 1957. After the successful launch of Explorer I, Vanguard 1, launched on March 17, 1958, became the second artificial satellite (and the first solar-powered satellite) successfully placed in Earth orbit by the U.S. The other successful launches The Vanguard satellite was the second U.S. satellite were Vanguard 2, launched on February 17, 1959, and put into orbit. Vanguard 3, launched on September 18, 1959. wind tunnel – tubular structures or passages in which high-speed movements of air or other gases are produced. Objects such as aircraft, parts of aircraft, or models of these, are placed inside the wind tunnel so researchers can investigate the flow of air around them and the aerodynamic forces acting upon them. The 16-foot transonic tunnel is one of 23 major wind tunnels at NASA’s Langley Research Center. World War II (WWII) – a war fought from 1939 to 1945, in which the Allied Forces (Great Britain, France, the USSR, the United States, China, and other countries) defeated the Axis Forces (Germany, Italy, and Japan) 102 Lesson 4 Student Text—The Race Begins The Race Begins What is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)? What do you think of when you hear the word NASA? You might think of the Space Shuttle. Or you may think of astronauts landing on the Moon. Then again, you might think about the International Space Station (ISS) orbiting the Earth, where men and women live and work for months in space. Perhaps you have heard the news about NASA’s plans to take humans back to the Moon and someday on to Mars and beyond. NASA is responsible for all of this and a whole lot more. NASA is the United States (U.S.) government agency that is leading us through the space age as it makes discoveries about our universe and directs the U.S. exploration of space. The Courage to Soar Higher—An Educator Guide With Activities In Science, Mathematics, Language Arts, and Technology 103 Lesson 4 Student Text—The Race Begins The name NASA is used so often that most people do not know what the letters stand for. The N stands for ational National. National comes from the word nation and our nation is the United States. The A is forAeronautics which eronautics and means the science of designing, building, and operating aircraft. The S is for Space, meaning the whole universe. pace The last A is for Administration. They are the people who manage all of the work at NASA. dministration So, NASA hires a lot of people to do a lot of work that deals with flight. They help design better aircraft for the sky and spacecraft to take us into space. They build telescopes and robots to explore the universe. Theirsatellites collect data about Earth and their scientists use the data to help make Earth a better place. The technology developed in the space programs has been used in countless ways to enrich our lives and even to save lives. At the Hospital: Chandra GOES Satellite GPS Satellite Cat scan Hubble Laser surgery Telescope Automatic insulin pump Robot-guided wheelchair Research/cures for osteoporosis diabetes, AIDS Heart monitor X–43A Ultrasound scanner F–22 Raptor Programmable pacemaker Space Shuttle ... and more International television broadcast In the Car: Carphone Car chassis and break design NASA’s Infrared Telescope has instruments powerful enough to see global features on Mars. At Home: Energy-saving air conditioning Long distance telephone network Water pruification system Flat-panel television Microcomputer Wireless alarm Environmentally safe Advanced road and sewage treatment roof coatings ... and more Shock absorbing The crawling robot, Lemur, athletic shoes was built to help astronauts. NASA technology touches our lives everyday. 104 Lesson 4 Student Text—The Race Begins Right now, NASA is preparing to send humans back to the Moon and then on to Mars and beyond. NASA is a world leader in the air and space business and people all over the world admire and respect what NASA does. But how did NASA achieve this respect? Let’s look back.(G NACA, Not NASA We know that the Wright Brothers were Americans who flew the first airplane at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, in 1903. But Americans did not appreciate the Wrights, nor did they recognize the importance of their invention. At first, America was not even interested in flight and ignored this new machine called an airplane. But it was not that way in Europe. Europeans were working hard to improve airplanes. The U.S. soon realized that they were being left behind in this new and important business of airplane transportation. So Congress passed a bill and created an agency that would take The ational aviation in the U.S.
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