Dear Educator,

This file offers views of some of the worksheets in the Space thematic
unit bundle. The cover for an eWorkbook is shown followed by the
preview pages.

Each unit offers from 12-14 pages.

 Space
Programs
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 Space Programs
Space is known as everything in the universe
outside of the earth's atmosphere. This
starts about 60 miles from the earths
surface. The stars, planets, comets, and
asteroids, are found in space.

In the early 1900s, three scientists in separate countries experimented with and wrote about,
the use of rockets for space travel. They were from Russia, the United States, and Germany.
They are considered the Fathers Of Rocket Science.

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Robert Goddard of the United States was the first to build a liquid propellant
rocket in 1926. Germany was the first country to produce rockets and use them.
In 1942, Verner Von Braun developed a way to make rockets into weapons.
They were used to attack cities in Europe during World War II.

After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union competed
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fiercely with each other to get a vehicle into space. To the surprise of many
around the world, the Soviet Union won the race. On October 4, 1957, the Sputnik satellite
was sent into orbit. Less than 3 months later, on January 31, 1958 the United States sent up the
Explorer I satellite.

The Soviets were the first to send an animal into space. It was a dog
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named Laika in November of 1957. In 1959, they were the first to send an
unmanned probe to the moon and to photograph its dark side.

Look up the definition of the word below. Write it on the lines.

satellite ____________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________

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 Space Programs
Five more times the United States sent men to walk on and explore the moon. The last
landing was by Apollo 17 on December 11, 1972. In all, 11 men have been to the moon and
back, so far.
Do some research in books or on the Internet. Find the names of the
11 men who have been to the moon. Write them on the lines below.

________________________ ________________________ ________________________

________________________ ________________________ ________________________
________________________ ________________________ ________________________
________________________ ________________________

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Today several countries are making plans for trips to the moon. These include
China, India, The United States, Japan, Germany, and Russia. Plans are being
made to establish permanent bases on the moon. Some countries are hoping to
mine helium-3 to use for fuel for fusion reactors here on Earth.
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Space Stations
The next step made in space travel was the development of space stations. Both the Soviet
Union and the United States built and sent up craft for long term living and experiments in
space in the 1970s, and 1980s.
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Space stations orbit Earth, usually about 200 to 300 miles from the
surface. They serve as a home, an observatory, a laboratory, and a
workshop.

Spacecraft supply the station with food, water, equipment, and mail.
Astronauts and cosmonauts are changed every couple of months.

The Soviet Union launched their Salyut program in April of 1971. Another larger Salyut
was sent up in 1977.

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 Space Programs

Criss Cross
Can you fit these words into the criss cross?
Use a pencil so you can erase if you need to.

space rover astronaut cosmonaut

rocket shuttle moon probe

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 The
Moon
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 Moon
The maria were formed by lava from ancient volcanoes billions of years ago. Lava from
the volcanoes covered the crater areas filling them and leaving a smooth, flat surface.

There is no life on the moon. The moon has no atmosphere, water, or air. There is no
weather on the moon. There are no clouds, rain, or wind to change its surface. This is why
the moon has remained unchanged for billions of years.

Some questions about the moon had to be answered before man could
walk on the moon. Through the years different probes were sent to the
moon. Space probes are unmanned spacecraft sent to the moon and planets.
They send back information for scientists to study.

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Look up the definitions for the words below.
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1. crater: ______________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
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2. atmosphere: _________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

3. lava: ________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

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 Moon
The astronauts conducted many scientific experiments on the moon.
They also collected moon rocks and soil samples to bring back to Earth.

Scientists on Earth that studied the moon rocks discovered that all the
moon rocks brought to Earth were igneous. This means they were
formed from molten lava.

There have been many other space flights to the moon since Apollo II.
Some even used a moon rover, or space car, to explore the moon further. Space flights and
moon exploration have enabled scientists to learn more about the moon, the sun, and the
planets.

The scientists studied the moons rocks and dust. They uncovered more information about

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the moon. This enabled them to better understand not only the moons beginning and
development but the Earths as well.

We may never live on the moon but scientific uses for the moon are being proposed. It is
possible that observatories may someday be set up on the moon. They could even be equipped
with telescopes that could be regulated from Earth.
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It is interesting to dream of future space exploration. One thing is certain
though, in the future we will continue to study the moon, as well as the other
parts of the solar system.

Read each sentence below. Fill in the missing blank in each sentence.
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1. Scientists studied the moons rocks and ________________________________ .

2. __________________________________ may someday be set up on the moon.

3. We will continue to study the moon and other parts of the _________________ system.

4. We may never live on the moon but ____________uses for the moon are being proposed.

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 Moon

moon rocks cold full

rover orbit crater crescent

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Planets

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 A planet must be round, orbit the sun and be the dominant body in its area.

The word planet means wanderer. We live on the planet named Earth. People and animals
wander all over the Earth. The Earth wanders too. It travels around the sun in our solar
system.

There are eight planets in our solar system. They all travel around the sun. Each planet has
its own path around the sun. A planets path around the sun is called an orbit.

Pluto was discovered in 1930. It was known as the ninth planet from the

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sun. Pluto was declared no longer a planet on August 24, 2006 by
International Astronomical Union. Pluto is now considered a dwarf planet
in the solar system. There are two other dwarf planets in our solar system.
They are Eris and Ceris.

The sun is not a planet. Stars are not planets. Planets do not give off
large amounts of energy like stars. Planets are very large objects that orbit
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a star. They do not give off or shine with their own light.

Studying about planets can be fascinating. Scientists observe the eight planets in our solar
system with large telescopes. They also have sent spacecraft to study some of the planets.
You can read more about this at your library or on the Internet.
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Imagine if each planet did not have its own path around the sun? What do you think would happen?

___________________________________________________________________________
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 Each planet has its own distance from the sun.

Some planets are closer to the sun than others.

Some planets are further away from the sun.

All the planets revolve around the sun.

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Think about this, Mercury is the closest planet to the sun. Neptune is furthest from the sun.

1. Which planet do you think is hotter, Mercury or Neptune? _________________________

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2. Why do you think the planet you named above is the hotter, planet? __________________
________________________________________________________________________
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3. Which planet do you think takes the longest amount of time to revolve around the sun
Mercury or Neptune? ______________________

4. Why do you think the planet you named above takes the longest amount of time to revolve
around the sun? ___________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

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 planet revolve rotate Mercury outer Mars
Neptune Uranus Saturn moon inner

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 Solar
System
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 The planets revolve around the sun.
They revolve at various speeds and in the same directions.
All planets except Mercury move in nearly the same plane.
The planets closer to the sun revolve faster.
Each planet, spins, or rotates on its axis.

are believed to be metal.

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Of the known planets, Venus, Mercury, Mars, and Earth are the inner planets. They are
closest to the sun. They are more Earth-like because their exteriors are rocky and their cores

Only Earth is known to support life. The outer planets, separated by a belt of asteroids are
Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
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Write the names of the planets on the lines below.

Inner Planets Outer Planets

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__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________

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 1. The outer planets are gaseous and are circled by rings of ice, dust, and other different
materials.
How many outer planets are there? ____________________

2. All planets, but two, Venus and Mercury have one or more moons.
How many moons does the Earth have? ____________________

3. All planets are held in their orbits by the gravitational pull of the sun.
Look up the definition of gravity. Write it on the lines. _____________________________________

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__________________________________________________________________________________

3. Each planet differs from the others in mass, density, and gravity.
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The sun has the strongest gravitational pull in the solar system.
The sun has more gravity than any planet.
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Read in books or on the Internet to find out why the sun has more gravity than any planet.
Write your answer on the lines below. Use complete sentences.

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

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 solar comet sun orbit
space meteor planet dense

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The Sun

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 The Sun
The sun is a star. It is an average sized star with average
brightness. The reason it looks so much bigger and brighter
to us than other stars is because it is the closest star to Earth.

The sun has more gravity than any planet.

The sun is so hot no spaceship can ever travel there. Scientists have had to discover other
ways to study the sun. Special equipment has been designed for just that purpose. One such
piece of equipment is a solar telescope. It enables scientists to view the sun safely.

It is dangerous to look directly at the sun without a special telescope. The sun is so bright
that it can harm your eyes or even blind you.

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Look up the definition of gravity. Write it on the lines.
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__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

Why does the sun have more gravity than any planet?
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Find the answer in books or on the Internet. Write your answer in complete sentences.

__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________

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 The Sun
The sun gives off more light than a billion, trillion light bulbs all shining at once. The sun
is just one of the stars that make up the Milky Way. The Milky Way is a galaxy or group of
stars. It is believed that the Milky Way has 100-400 billion stars.

The sun is so hot that it isnt a solid object like the Earth.
It is a huge ball of gas that gives us our heat and light.

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Hydrogen gas makes up most of the sun.
The rest of the sun is mostly helium gas.
There are more gases in the center of the sun than on its surface.
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The suns outer surface is called the photosphere. It is a bright, fiery area. Hot gases form
like bubble of boiling water. They cool and fall down only to bubble up again.

There is an atmosphere, or layer of gases, surrounding the surface of the sun. The
atmosphere is made of two parts. They are the chromosphere and the corona.
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The chromosphere is the bottom part of the suns atmosphere. It looks to scientists like a
curved, pink ring that goes around the edge of the sun. It is a bubbling foam of hot gases,
glowing with intense heat.

The corona is the top part of the suns atmosphere. It is made of very hot and thin gases. It
extends out over a million miles from the sun.

The temperature on the surface of the sun is said to be about 10 thousand degrees
Fahrenheit. It is even hotter in the center of the sun.

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 The Sun

surface stars coal corona

asteroids sin galaxy helium

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