Pass-Ed's Living Textbook
Free Lesson Plans for Teachers
Alpha Stage













Yesterday’s New York Times Week in Review ran an article
entitled, "Russia, Outer Space, and the Profit Motive." The article
begins:

With a foot jammed into a ladder to hold him steady, Russian
astronaut Mikhail V. Tyurin sliced a lightweight golf ball into orbit
last week with a one-handed swing during a space walk outside the
International Space Station. The shot some 200 miles above the
Earth was a promotion for a Canadian golf club manufacturer,
which paid an undisclosed sum to the Federal Space Agency of the
Russian Federation in the latest venture by the Russians to subsidize
their space.

The article notes that while the Russian space agency has made
hundreds of millions of dollars through entrepreneurial efforts, the
U.S.’s space agency has not tapped into these money making
opportunities.

Read the Article!!

Discussion-Starters for Younger Students:

  • Ask your students if they would like to travel in outer space
    one day. Why/why not? What do they think they would see?
    You might play some soft music in the background and
    encourage your students to move around the room as though
    they were in outer space.

  • Would your students like to explore the depths of the
    oceans? Why/why not? What do they think they would see?
    Once again, you might play some soft music in the
    background and encourage your students to move around
    the room as though they were in the depths of the ocean.
    Would your students prefer to explore outer space or the
    deepest parts of the oceans? Why?

  • Russians and Americans live together on the International
    Space Station. Ask your students what kinds of problems
    might come up when people live together who are very
    different from one another.

  • Ask your students if they think that the United States
    government should raise money for research on outer space
    by selling trips to outer space. What if only a very few
    people could afford these trips and others couldn't go?

Discussion-Starters for Older Students:

  • Ask your students to define the following words: "outer
    space," "tourism," "capitalism," and "charter." Ask them to
    recall a time in which they were a tourist. What kinds of
    things did their family pay for when they were on their last
    vacation? You might ask your students to do a quick-write
    to answer these questions.

  • The International Space Station was designed so that
    astronauts could do scientific research. Obviously, hitting a
    golf ball into space is not research. But, it makes money. Do
    your students think that the Russians should be taking time
    from their research when they are on the space station to do
    things that are not connected to the research. Encourage
    them to explain their opinions.

  • Ask your students if they think it’s important for the United
    States to explore outer space. What could we learn through
    this exploration? What do you think? This question provides
    a very useful connection between a current event from the
    newspaper and science class.

  • This National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
    website provides a useful starting point for considering our
    knowledge of space.

  • The United States’ space agency, NASA, is currently having
    problems with its budget. (NASA is not getting as much
    funding as the agency‘s administrators want.) NASA could
    certainly make more money if they followed the Russian
    space agency’s entrepreneurial example. Do your students
    think that NASA should follow this example? Why/why not?
    You might ask your students to write persuasive essays in
    response to this question. You could even email them to
    NASA.  
Making Money on Outer Space  
November 27, 2006
Google