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Space Week: Celebrating the Moon

World Space Week is an annual celebration held between October 4-10 where over 80 countries recognize contributions of space science and technology. This year's theme, "The Moon: Gateway to the Stars", focuses on the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing in 1969. On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission, delivering his famous words: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

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Kantha Kumar
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96 views4 pages

Space Week: Celebrating the Moon

World Space Week is an annual celebration held between October 4-10 where over 80 countries recognize contributions of space science and technology. This year's theme, "The Moon: Gateway to the Stars", focuses on the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing in 1969. On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission, delivering his famous words: "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

Uploaded by

Kantha Kumar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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World Space Week

World Space Week is the largest space event on Earth.


Every year, between 4th and 10th October, over 80
countries celebrate space science and technology and the
contributions that it has made to life. This year is the
20th celebration of World Space Week and the theme is ‘The
Moon: Gateway to the Stars’. The theme focuses on the moon because this
year is the 50th anniversary of the first moon landings which occurred
back in 1969.

Facts about the moon


The Moon does not make its own light. Instead, it reflects the light of the Sun.
The Moon does not disappear in daytime - it is just harder to see because the
Sun is so bright.
The Moon goes around (orbits) the Earth. This takes 28 days and is known as
a lunar month.
We see different parts of the Moon depending on where it is in its orbit.
This is called the ‘phases of the Moon’. There are eight phases in total.
The average temperature of the Moon is 107°C in the day and -153°C at night.
The Moon affects the waves in the oceans on Earth.

First Moon Landing


On 16th July 1969, Neil Armstrong, Edwin ‘Buzz’
Aldrin and Michael Collins set off on their mission
(Apollo 11) to be the first people to land on the
Moon. Four days later, on 20th July, Neil Armstrong
became the first man to set foot on the Moon. The
Moon does not have an atmosphere like Earth does
and therefore he and Aldrin had to wear specially
designed suits (called EMUs) to protect them
from the Moon’s demanding conditions.
They carried tanks containing oxygen
so that they could breathe outside of
the spacecraft.

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World Space Week

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin spent three hours walking on the Moon,
carrying out experiments and collecting pieces of moon dust, rock and soil to
take back to Earth. Before they left, they planted an American flag into the
ground to mark the fact that the USA were the first country to travel to the
Moon. They returned safely back to Earth on 24th July as heroes.

As he stepped on the Moon, Neil Armstrong famously said, That’s one small
step for man, one giant leap for mankind.’

Did You Know...?


Around 600 million television viewers around the world tuned in to watch
the Moon landing.

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World Space Week

Questions
1. When is World Space Week celebrated?

2. Explain in your own words why this year’s World Space Week theme is so special.





3. How long is a lunar month? Tick one.

28 weeks
28 days
28 hours
28 years

4. What is the average temperature on the Moon in the daytime? Tick one.

-153°C
170°C
107°C
153°C

5. What is an EMU? Tick one.

a spacecraft
a planet
an astronaut's suit
Moon rock

6. Explain why Armstrong and Aldrin planted a flag on the Moon before returning to Earth.





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World Space Week
7. When did the astronauts return to Earth? Tick one.

20th July 1969


14th July 1969
26th July 1969
24th July 1969

8. What did Neil Armstrong say when he first stepped on the Moon?




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