CK12 Earth Science

Review Questions

1. Which space station was built and launched by the United States alone?


2. How many years was the Mir space station in orbit?


3. Which space station was the first to involve several countries working together?


4. Describe two ways in which space shuttles were an improvement over the spacecraft
   used for the Apollo missions?


5. Name the five fully functional space shuttles that the United States built. Which of
   these were destroyed?


6. Describe the space shuttle Columbia disaster, including its cause.


7. Describe two recent or ongoing space missions.


8. Is the Space Shuttle more like a rocket or a plane? Explain your answer.

Further Reading / Supplemental Links

• http://science.hq.nasa.gov/missions/earth.html


• http://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/images/archive/e0004.html


• http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/01/20040114-3.html


• http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/25/science/space/25china.html?_r=1&
  ref=world&oref=slogin


• http://en.wikipedia.org


• http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/space_level2/skylab.html


• http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/;http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/
  station/main/index.html


• http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/features/news/pinksox.html;http://spaceflight.
  nasa.gov/living/index.html


• http://science.howstuffworks.com/space-shuttle.htm;http://www.nasa.gov/
  mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html;http://www.space.com/space-shuttle/


• http://www.nasa.gov/missions/current/index.html;http://www.nasa.gov/mission_
  pages/exploration/main/index.html;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_%28spacecraft%
  29

Vocabulary

orbiter The main part of the space shuttle that has wings like an airplane.

space shuttle A reusable spacecraft capable of carrying large pieces of equipmentor pieces
of a space station.

space station A large spacecraft in space on which humans can live for an extended period
of time.