Echoes Among the Stars: The Original Website
Echoes Among the Stars — Chapter Five
Apollo Before the Moon: Into the Light
“The astronauts’ account of the warm color of the brilliant, live earth was authentic in the singular manner of the eyewitness, and in that one instant all the astronomy, the scientific photographs, the theories of the great thinkers and the poetic words of the great dreamers... were rendered irrevocably less authentic than the testimony streaming back through space...” -- page 78
• Topics Covered in This Chapter
• Topics for Discussion
• Historical Context
• Possible Writing Assignments
Topics Covered in This Chapter
• Apollo Program Emerges From “Dark Period” Following Apollo 1 Fire
• Vietnam War, Assassinations, 1968 U.S. Presidential Campaign
• Apollo 7: A Cautious Return
• Soviet Zond Moon Program and Resumption of Soyuz Flights
• Apollo 8: The “Christmas Apollo”
• Apollo 9: Testing the Lunar Module
• Apollo 10: A Last Close Look Before Landing
Topics for Discussion
The famous Apollo 8 mission -- the “Christmas Apollo” -- might lead to a good discussion of the moral and religious implications of space exploration.
Historical Context
1968 Presidential Election
Tet Offensive
Johnson decision not to run for reelection
Yuri Gagarin, first human in space, killed in plane crash
Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
Civil disturbances in major U.S. cities
Riots at 1968 Democratic National Convention
Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia
Possible Writing Assignments
College
Write an essay expressing your opinion about the ways in which space travel might influence religious traditions.
High School
Locate a photo of the Apollo spacecraft and write an essay that describes the spacecraft (interior or exterior, depending on the photo).
K-8
Locate a photo of the Apollo spacecraft and write a personal essay that describes how you would feel traveling in the Apollo capsule during a journey to the moon.
The famous Apollo 8 mission -- the “Christmas Apollo” -- might lead to a good discussion of the moral and religious implications of space exploration.
Historical Context
1968 Presidential Election
Tet Offensive
Johnson decision not to run for reelection
Yuri Gagarin, first human in space, killed in plane crash
Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Assassination of Robert F. Kennedy
Civil disturbances in major U.S. cities
Riots at 1968 Democratic National Convention
Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia
Possible Writing Assignments
College
Write an essay expressing your opinion about the ways in which space travel might influence religious traditions.
High School
Locate a photo of the Apollo spacecraft and write an essay that describes the spacecraft (interior or exterior, depending on the photo).
K-8
Locate a photo of the Apollo spacecraft and write a personal essay that describes how you would feel traveling in the Apollo capsule during a journey to the moon.
