StepByStep Index

Build an Edible Space Shuttle - Learn About the Space Shuttle By Making a Snack
The Space Shuttle is called the Space Transportation System (STS). It can carry astronauts into space. It can take supplies to the Space Station. You can learn about the Space Shuttle and its parts by making a snack. Build an edible space shuttle.

30 Minute Rocket - Build an Air Powered Bottle Rocket in 30 Minutes
You can make a 30 Minute Rocket with straws and a soda bottle. What you need: plastic soda pop bottle, one thin drinking straw, one thick drinking, straw, tape, clay, scissors, and copy or computer paper. Follow the instructions for the 30 Minute Rocket. Give the bottle a quick squeeze. You have an air bottle rocket!

Constellation in a Canister
People have looked at the stars for many, many years. They could imagine pictures in stars. Those pictures are called constellations. After you do this activity, see if you can find the constellations in the night sky.

NASA Spinoffs - Apollo Inventions
Every day, in a variety of ways, American lives are touched by space technology. Since 1976, about 1,400 documented NASA inventions have benefited U.S. industry, improved the quality of life and created jobs for Americans. The Apollo program has helped change the way of life in America, especially in health care. Here are some of the inventions contributed by the Apollo program.

Visual Tour of the Solar System
Take a Visual Solar System Tour with us. Blast off to discover information on the sun in our solar system. Learn more about the Sun. Here is information on our sun and links to pictures and more info.

Is the Great Wall of China Visible From Space
Even the game, Trivial Pursuit claims that the Great Wall of China is the only man-made object visible by NASA astronauts from space or from the moon with the naked eye. It's a space urban legend. While many man-made objects are visible, the Great Wall of China generally isn't, at least to the unaided eye in low Earth orbit. It certainly isn't visible from the Moon.

Visual Timeline of the Universe
Scientists believe that the universe was created about 15 billion years ago in a single violent event known as the Big Bang. All the space, time, energy, and matter that constitute today's universe originated in the Big Bang. The early universe was extremely small, dense, and hot. For the first fraction of a second, only energy existed.

Rockets History
Rockets are not a new invention. The fact that we have only been traveling to space for a short time does not mean that rockets are a new invention. More than 2300 years ago, Archytas of Tarentum, a Greek scientist constructed a bird from wood, which used steam to make it fly, a simple application of the ntheory of rockets. The history of rockets has continued through the ages.

Orionids Meteor Shower
The Orionids -- so named because they appear to streak out of a point in the constellation Orion -- will peak on October 21st. Sky watchers north of the equator with dark clear skies will spot 15 to 20 meteors each hour before dawn. Observers south of the equator will see almost as many: 10 to 15 per hour. The October Orionids are cousins of the eta Aquarids -- a mostly southern hemisphere meteor shower in May. Both spring from Halley's Comet.

15 Minute Introduction to the Night Sky
People have been looking up at the night sky for as long as there have been people. Ancient people had many theories about what those strange lights in the sky were. Today, we know they are stars, like our own Sun, but to the early humans they were magical. Have you ever looked at the clouds and seen pictures? Well, as those ancient humans looked at the stars, they began to see patterns too. Some of these pictures they saw, reminded them of stories they had heard.

Lunar Prospector Model
Four large and three small marshmallows; heavy (white) coverstock paper; scissors; hole punch; soda straws; two highlighter markers (one yellow and one blue); scotch tape, aluminum foil, 15-30 min of time. First, get the pattern and print it out on thick cardstock (consult your printer's user manual to make sure you're able to print on cardstock).

Make a Cassini Spacecraft That's Good Enough to Eat
You can construct an edible spacecraft with some of the major components of the real thing. The Cassini spacecraft features a large dish antenna for communicating with Earth on the main body. A long boom out the side carries a magnetometer, an extremely sophisticated compass for measuring the direction & strength of a planetary magnetic field. It represents one of many scientific instruments aboard. Sun sensors near the main antenna represent one of the engineering subsystems on the spacecraft.