Need help for a school project

[Dfthu]

So for my astronomy class I'm doing a project about old NASA, and i have to teach the class about my topic. I'll be using KSP gameplay showing whats happening while i do a voice over. I want you guys to look over my script and see if i'm missing anything. I have to talk about the first animals in space , Sputnik, First man in space, Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, The whole Space Race. The script is the spoiler, thanks for the help!

Spoiler

Part 1: Intro

Hello! Today i'll be talking about the old programs and events at NASA and the Space race. I’ll be using the game Kerbal Space Program to show what i'm talking about.

 

Part 2: Background and Space Race

The cold war was a very tense time in history, the battle between capitalism and communism. The space race was a effort on both sides to what county had better technology and better economic system. The Soviets had lead in the beginning with many major firsts. Like the first man in space, first satellite and, first spacewalk. Although later the Americans caught up, effectively winning the race with the moon landing. Both America and Soviet Union launched a joint mission, thus ending the space race. Wernher Von Braun was a major help to NASA, designing the Saturn V

 

Part 3: First Animals

 

The first animal in space wasn't a monkey or dog, it was actually fruit flies! The flys were launched on 1947 on a German V2 to study the effects of radiation. 6 months later albert II was the first monkey in space But the most famous was Laika, launched into orbit by the Soviets on november 1957. She only spent a few hours in space before dying

 

Part 4: Sputnik 1

 

On October 4th, 1957 Sputnik launched into orbit by the soviet union. It was the first artificial satellite to orbit earth. As sputnik orbited earth at 18 thousand MPH, it sent out a beep, letting anyone tune in. The design of Sputnik was very simple, a metal ball the size of a beach ball with antennas

 

Part 5: Vostok 1

Vostok 1 carried the first human in space, Yuri gagarin. He launched on april 12th 1961, becoming the first man to orbit the earth. He only orbited once around the earth before returning. Because the return capsule had no parachute, yuri had to eject out of the capsule and land using his own parachute

 

Part 6: Mercury

The mercury program aimed to put americans into orbit. There was 6 manned launches. The first 2 didn’t orbit while the other 4 did orbit. On mercury-Redstone 3 mission, Alan shepard became the first american to reach space. Later on Mercury-atlas 6 mission, John glenn became the first american to orbit the earth

 

Part 7: Gemini

The Gemini program was essentially a training and learning program to develop the apollo program. In total there were 10 manned missions. Here are some highlights of the program. On Gemini 4 Ed white was the first american to do a spacewalk. On gemini 8 they docked two different crafts together. Soon after docking there was a thruster malfunction sending the craft into a deadly out of control spin. But neil armstrong managed to stop it. The other gemini missions also stayed in space for longer periods, testing endurance.

 

Part 8: Apollo

 

(JFK speech) The apollo program was the most ambitious project of the space race, to land an American on the moon. Using the mighty Saturn V rocket  got them to the moon. In total there were 14 missions which only 6 Of them actually landed on the moon. Tragically when Apollo 1s crew was training, a fire started. They were unable to get out and burned to death. Apollo 4-6 were unmanned test flights of the Saturn V. Apollo 7-10 were manned flights, either testing spacecraft or training for the real moon landing. Of course we all know Apollo 11, the first men on the moon. The historic flight took off on July 16th 1969 from Kennedy space center. Later,  on july 20th neil armstrong and buzz aldrin entered the lunar lander. When they were landing the computer was going to land them in a rock fill area. Neil took control and piloted the lander to safety with only 25 seconds of fuel left. After nearly 22 hours on the moon's surface, they left the moon. Later they returned safely to earth. Apollo 12 was the 2nd moon landing where nothing that interesting happened. Apollo 13 was a major failure in the Apollo program. The mission even started with problems, one of the 2nd stage engines on the saturn V rocket failed. But they made orbit fine. While apollo 13 was heading for the moon, houston told the crew to stir the oxygen tank. It caused the tank to explode, venting all of the oxygen to space. The Command module lost power, forcing them to using the lunar lander as a lifeboat. As they approached the moon the crew ran out of C02 removers, threatening to choke the crew. They had to rig some parts to use the different filters. After nearly 6 days in space the crew returned home safely. The rest of the missions, apollo 14-17 were uneventful. Apollo 15-17 carried a rover and allowed longer stays on the moon.

 

Part 9: Outro

These are the events of old NASA, how it began and the men who were pioneers.  Their struggles and triumphs. The history of NASA was very interresting I hope you found this useful and gained a better understanding of the early years of NASA's space program.  Thank you!

 

[wumpus]

I know this is an astronomy class, but do the students really know the difference between suborbital and orbital?  Different schools have different levels of rigor.  I remember a TA being surprised at the number of students taking Astronomy: where he was an undergraduate, astronomy programs were hard, while geology 101 was called "rocks for jocks" (don't take geology at UofM unless you really want to find oil).  You mention the speed of sputnik, that looks like a good place to explain the difference between suborbital (you might be going to space today, but it won't be for long) and orbital (you are going to space today).

Both "first spacewalks" by the USA and USSR were much more dangerous than anticipated.  The "Neil Armstrong managed to stop it' was more like managing to perform all the "standard procedures" while spinning fast enough to be in danger of losing consciousness and adjusting those things so all possible bases would be covered before he finally lost consciousness (which would mean death, as you needed more pilot action for re-entry).  It was one of the reasons he was the first to walk on the Moon (the other was scheduling re-jiggling due to Apollo 1, see: "Carrying the Fire" by Micheal Collins).

The whole point of Gemini was that it involved tasks that they thought they would need to do to get to the Moon, but hadn't proven in flight.  Once they were ready, they started testing out the Saturn rocket.  You mentioned the three main points of Gemini, but these weren't just stunts they did to "beat the Russians" to those milestones.  The whole point was to learn the skills they needed to get to the Moon.

[p1t1o]

General tips for presentation:

If you will be extensively using KSP footage to demonstrate and accompany what you are talking about, keep the footage to a necessary minimum.

Snippets of a 10-20seconds per talking point should suffice.

What you want to avoid is turning your presenter-led presentation into just you fiddling with video controls and the audience paying more attention to the screen than what you are saying. Unless you are actively narrating what is being shown, try not to talk and have moving video at the same time, people will find it harder to really listen (ie: dont have a running video as a "backdrop" whilst you talk, talk *with* the video, then stop playback and continue with the presentation).

***

In giving ANY presentation, keep technological props to a reasonable minimum. This is because technology ALWAYS fails during important presentations and the very last thing you want is to have your beautifully researched presentation go to the dogs because the local WiFi, or intranet, soundsystem, or power supply or the projector or something failing and you give one of those "presentations" which is just 20mins of you bent over a laptop whilst everyone chats amongst themselves, then you lose your slot and all your work was wasted.

If you are going to do something elaborate (like show KSP footage) quadruple - quintuple - check everything works. Then check it again. Have backup files on a memory stick. Have another copy saved in your emails. Have a backup computer if possible. Be prepared to give the presentation without your fancy-schmancy multimedia showpiece. Ideally, do the presentation off one computer/laptop, and have the media/projection controlled from another.

Practice. Practice playing and stopping the video at the appropriate points in your speech (that part is also helpful as general practice to help you give a smoother presentation). Practice working the projector. Double/Triple/Quadruple check what cables you need and how they need to be connected. Try and get a chance to have a go with the equipment beforehand.

Sounds paranoid doesnt it? But you would be flabbergasted by the frequency with which this sort of thing happens, even when given by people who should be -who ARE - competent with computers. Something always goes wrong. I've seen professors in quantum physics do the "spend ages leaning over a laptop whilst we chat" thing and it happens time and time again.

***

Perhaps that is all a bit much for a classroom, but presentation (which is largely a communication skill) comes into play a lot in the higher-education and professional world.

 

 

[sevenperforce]

I did my history minor senior work on the space race.

A really good overall theme for comparing the USSR and the USA during the space race is to emphasize that Russia was seeking achievement milestones while the US was seeking progress milestones. The USSR got the first satellite and the first cosmonaut into orbit because they focused on short-term goals that would undergird their claims of superiority and bolster their political ends. They used a managed economy to push through whatever needed to be done; it's perhaps the most brilliant nonmilitary example of the success of a managed economy. Of course, that led to some problems. Voskhod didn't even have a bloody launch escape system.

The USA, in contrast, made arguably better use of its distributed economy so lots of companies were working on the same problems in parallel. JFK named a goal and then when he died, they went all-in on achieving it. So while the USSR was hitting flashy milestones, the Americans were building a space program and solving the technical problems they would need in order to get to the moon and back in one piece. The F-1 engine was in development before the first Saturn 1 was even conceived. 

Also, the utility of picking up Von Braun and the other N@zi scientists cannot be understated: 

14 minutes ago, p1t1o said:

General tips for presentation:

<snip>

Ditto to everything @p1t1o said.

Also, if you're doing a powerpoint slide, you should have ten words or fewer on each slide.

Seriously.

I aim for 5.

Do NOT read a wall of text off your slide. Ever.

Edited May 1, 2018 by sevenperforce

[Dfthu]

26 minutes ago, p1t1o said:

-snip-

I'm actually making a video. Our teacher let us use any platform for this project. I already have the gameplay recorded, I just have to do the voice recording and editing. But thanks for the tips!

[p1t1o]

1 hour ago, Dfthu said:

I'm actually making a video. Our teacher let us use any platform for this project. I already have the gameplay recorded, I just have to do the voice recording and editing. But thanks for the tips!

Oh thats a little less stressful! Most of my tips dont apply! lol!

[LordFerret]

Those first two sentences in Part 2; I think you need to look a little deeper into what the 'Cold War' was actually about, and the 'Space Race'. Maybe just mention that the Space Race was born of the Cold War and leave it at that.

[wumpus]

1 hour ago, sevenperforce said:

Also, the utility of picking up Von Braun and the other N@zi scientists cannot be understated: 

Ditto to everything @p1t1o said.

 

Note that the Soviet rocket program refutes Black Hat Guy's point.  The Russian rocket scientists were able to grab a lot of gear (they especially loved grabbing test jigs) if not actual scientists (they had one relatively low level guy).  Luckily for us, Boris Chertok was on the team that did the "poaching" and wrote it up in "Rockets and People".  Oddly enough, it was probably lack of a proper test jig that did N-1 in.

https://history.nasa.gov/printFriendly/series95.html#ebooks

[Reactordrone]

A few points,

Vostok- perhaps mention that the ejection seat was also the emergency escape system.

Mercury- I'd say sub-orbital missions rather than "didn't make it to orbit".

Gemini- Deadly out of control spin wasn't deadly. Very dangerous might be a better adjective.

Apollo- Apollo 1's crew were training rather than was training. Apollo 5 was a Saturn 1b so Apollo 4-6 weren't all Saturn V tests. Apollo 12 demonstrated precision landing near Surveyor 3. A little clarification of the CSM and LEM having different CO2 scrubber designs might make that clearer.

[kerbiloid]

Spoiler

12 hours ago, sevenperforce said:

Also, if you're doing a powerpoint slide, you should have ten words or fewer on each slide.

Counting the words on the xkcd slides...

 

[LordFerret]

On 5/1/2018 at 10:04 AM, Dfthu said:

The rest of the missions, apollo 14-17 were uneventful.

Not exactly.

Apollo 14, " On the way back to Earth, the crew conducted the first U.S. materials processing experiments in space. " - Wiki

Apollo 15, the lunar sub-satellite, PFS-1, 'frozen orbit'. - Wiki
-and-
Apollo 15, " was the first visible trace of manned landings on the Moon seen from space since the close of the Apollo program. " - Wiki

Apollo 16 - the lunar sub-satellite, PFS-2,  ""Instead, something bizarre happened. The orbit of PFS-2 rapidly changed shape and distance from the Moon. In 2-1/2 weeks the satellite was swooping to within a hair-raising 6 miles (9.7 km) of the lunar surface at closest approach. As the orbit kept changing, PFS-2 backed off again, until it seemed to be a safe 30 miles away. But not for long: inexorably, the subsatellite's orbit carried it back toward the Moon. And on May 29, 1972—only 35 days and 425 orbits after its release"—PFS-2 crashed into the Lunar surface." - Wiki

Apollo 17, " The mission broke several records: the longest moon landing, longest total extravehicular activities (moonwalks),[7] largest lunar sample, and longest time in lunar orbit.[8] " - Wiki

 

As for Apollo 12, it appears we brought Mr. Bean along with us...

"To improve the quality of television pictures from the Moon, a color camera was carried on Apollo 12 (unlike the monochrome camera that was used on Apollo 11). Unfortunately, when Bean carried the camera to the place near the Lunar Module where it was to be set up, he inadvertently pointed it directly into the Sun, destroying the Secondary Electron Conduction (SEC) tube. Television coverage of this mission was thus terminated almost immediately.[15]"

" The astronauts also took photographs, although by accident Bean left several rolls of exposed film on the lunar surface. "

Wiki