Discover how people from all corners of the world work as a team to share their ideas and talents to push forward air and space innovations!
Think about a time you were on a team. Were you on a sports team? Did you work on a team in class?
What was different about working on a team and working by yourself?
What does teamwork look like? Grab a piece of paper and a pencil and draw what you think great teamwork looks like.
Over 18 countries around the world worked together to build the International Space Station. To this day, astronauts from the different countries live and work together on the space station so we can learn more about how to live in space. It is the largest space station ever built!
The Concorde was the first supersonic passenger airplane. "Supersonic" means it can travel faster than sound. It was designed and built by two aircraft companies in France and Great Britain.
The word "concord" in French and English means "an agreement." The name of the plane highlights the teamwork of two countries to make such an amazing engineering feat!
The Concorde is no longer flown. It flew its last flight on November 26, 2003.
Astronomers around the world collaborate when it comes to observing space from Earth using telescopes and observatories. Observatories have to be placed around the world in order to see the whole sky!
Pictured here is the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in the country of Chile. Many astronomers around the world can use the images captured at this observatory for their research. They work together to make new discoveries!
Listen to a story told by museum educator Ann Caspari about three friends who learn about the International Space Station and then collaborate to build one together.
Then it's your turn! Follow the instructions below and work together with your family members to create your own space station.
Materials You'll Need:
Step 1: Watch the video, "Building Our Home Among the Stars" and the Craft Time portion at the end of the video.
Step 2: Plan your space station with your family members. Remember, good teamwork includes talking to each other.
Step 3: Choose the recycled materials you'll use and start building!
Step 4: Once each person's part is ready, connect your space station together. Use materials like paper tubes or chopsticks as connectors. You can continue to add to your space station, just like the real astronauts do with the International Space Station!
Step 5: Think about it! What was easy about working on a team? Were there any hard parts? Talk about these questions with your team.
When it comes to the night sky and learning more about our universe, scientists and astronomers around the world work together, share telescopes and the information they gather from these telescopes.
For this activity, your family will make observations of the different parts of the night sky and share them with each other.
Materials You'll Need:
Step 1: Create your dark sky viewer that you'll use to observe the night sky.
Step 2: Gather your sky watching materials - your sky viewer, a piece of paper and pencil for drawing your observations and a hard surface for writing, like a book or magazine.
Step 3: Choose your observation spot.
Step 4: Observe the sky.
Step 5: Share your observation with your family members! What do you notice when you put your observations together?
by Deborah Lee Rose
Best for ages 0-7
Follow along as this book explores the A to Zs of astronaut life aboard the International Space Station. Meet the diverse astronauts that live and work together in space!
by Sherri Duskey Rinker, illustrated by AG Ford
Best for ages 3 to 6
A team of construction vehicles join forces with airport vehicles to solve problems and make improvements to their neighborhood airport.
By Kirsten Larson
Best for ages 10 and up
Dig a little deeper into what the International Space Station is all about in this book for older elementary students.