If You Had Your Birthday Party on the Moon
If You Decide to Go to the Moon
Counting on Katherine
Moon Missions Past and Present
Soar Together at Air and Space | Family Activities
Moon Missions Past and Present
Soar Together at Air and Space | Family Activities
Learn about moon landings past and future!
Celebrate the anniversary of the final Apollo moon mission, discover what we learned during this mission, and get an introduction to Artemis, NASA's current lunar exploration project.
On Demand Activities
Jump to Section: Apollo 17 by the Numbers Story Time and Craft Activity Meet Team Artemis Lunar Rover Design Challenge Innovator Spotlight: Rita Rapp
1 - Number of scientists sent to the Moon during the Apollo program. During the Apollo 17 mission, geologist Harrison Schmitt, became the first scientist to visit and work on the Moon.
4.5 - Number of hours the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) drove during Apollo 17. This was the longest total time any of the Apollo mission LRVs were used.
50 - Number of years since the last person, Gene Cernan, was on the Moon.
75 - Numbers of hours on the Moon. This was the longest time of any Apollo mission.
741 - Number of individual rock and soil samples collected during Apollo 17, the most collected during any Apollo mission.
Story Time Suggestions
Check these books out at your school or library to explore stories about Apollo moon missions, what it would be like on the Moon, and the important people who prepared astronauts for the Moon landing!
Pretend you are getting ready for a journey to the Moon by making your own astronaut helmet!
Materials needed:
- paper bag
- scissors
- crayons or markers
Want to share with us your helmet creation? Snap a photo and send it to NASM-FamilyPrograms@si.edu!
Meet Team Artemis
- 18 astronauts have been chosen to serve on Team Artemis, the next group of astronauts to go on moon missions.
- The Artemis missions will bring the first woman to the moon and the first person of color to the moon!
- NASA aims to launch Artemis III, the first crew to land on the Moon, in 2025.
- Learn more on the NASA Artemis webpage.
Design Challenge: Design a Lunar Roving Vehicle for the Artemis Mission
With NASA's launch of its newest exploration mission to the Moon called Project Artemis, astronauts are preparing to land on the Moon and discover parts of it never before seen.
For this Design Challenge, help Project Artemis by updating the Apollo Lunar Roving Vehicle for new moon explorations!
Materials needed:
- paper
- pencil
- recycled materials
- a grown up to help you
Astronaut Gene Cernan setting up a science experiment near the lunar roving vehicle during the Apollo 17 mission. Image: NASA
The Design Process is a series of steps that inventors, engineers, and designers go through when trying to create a solution to a problem.
Identify the problem:
- Astronauts will need to travel from the lunar landing site all the way to the far side of the Moon where no human has ever set foot.
- Astronauts will be searching for water in the frozen poles of the Moon’s surface.
Your task: Design a Lunar Rover that has:
- wheels that move
- room for two astronauts
- a tool that helps astronauts dig for water
Investigate:
Video 1: Watch this video to learn more about how engineers designed the Lunar Roving Vehicle used in Apollo missions 15, 16 and 17.
Tip: Watch with your grown-ups so they can help you with some of the more confusing ideas.
Vocabulary you may hear in the video:
- Environment: the surroundings around you
- Unwieldy: not easy to handle because of its size or weight
- Ingenious: creative
- Transformable: able to change
- Woven: when something is made by lacing things together
Video 2: Watch this video to learn more about the area of the Moon your Lunar Roving Vehicle will need to travel on.
NASA began working on lunar vehicles in the early 1960s – but the project relied more on guesswork than engineering precision. After all, no one had any idea what being on the moon would be like.
NASA has announced the selection of 13 regions near the Moon's South Pole as candidate landing regions for Artemis III, the first crewed mission to the Moon's surface since 1972. The visuals here show the locations of all 13 regions.
Brainstorm solutions: Think about these questions and write your ideas down
- What did you notice about the Lunar Roving Vehicle designs?
- What might you try to incorporate into your design?
- Now that you know a little more about the possible landing sites for the next Artemis mission, what tools would you like to add to your Lunar Roving Vehicle to help the astronauts?
Design: What will your rover look like?
How will you construct it to accomplish the tasks of having:
- wheels that move
- room for two astronauts
- a tool that helps astronauts dig for water
Sketch
Draw what your lunar rover will look like.
Build:
What materials can you find at at home to help you make one? Take a walk around your home and make a list of what you'd like to use.
Test your model
Test out your model and use this table to organize your test!
Share Your Design
You just made a model, which is an important part of designing and testing new things. You can work on improving your design if you'd like. The design process is ongoing!
If you'd like to share your design with you, snap a picture and send it to NASM-FamilyPrograms@si.edu.
Rita Rapp and hear team transformed astronaut meals by developing new recipes and improving packaging.
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