"I've always wanted to be a Guinness world record holder. And believe it or not, before I made this there was not a category for world's largest Nerf gun, but there is now. - Mark Rober
Records are meant to be broken. In 1924 it took four planes and 175 days to complete the first circumnavigation of the globe by air, but today one can fly around the world in about 45 hours in a single standard passenger aircraft. In 1954, Roger Bannister became the first person to officially run a mile in less than four minutes, and today there have been more than 1,700 people who have achieved the same feat. In October 2012 Felix Baumgartner set the world record for skydiving, only to have Alan Eustace beat his record two years later. In this episode we’ll look at aerospace records and investigate how other world records are achieved.
Learning Standards
Standards: Social Studies
- D2.Eco.7.6-8. Analyze the role of innovation and entrepreneurship in a market economy.
- D2.Geo.3.6-8. Use paper based and electronic mapping and graphing techniques to represent and analyze spatial patterns of different environmental and cultural characteristics.
About STEM in 30
STEM in 30 is an Emmy-nominated program for middle school students produced by the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. These 30 minute episodes are great for classroom use. New episodes are released every month, featuring hands-on activities, explanations of aviation and space topics aligned with national standards, and interviews with experts from the Museum and beyond.
STEM in 30 is made possible by Boeing, Hexcel, and Safran.