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World Space Week — Student Pack

Five quick space challenges. Work through each one, then check your thinking with your teacher.

Name:    Class:

1. Mystery Mission

Read the four clues one at a time and try to name the real space mission. The clues get easier as you go, so guess as early as you can.

Mystery 1

  1. In 1969 this mission's lander was nicknamed 'Eagle,' while the command module stayed in orbit as 'Columbia.'
  2. Its crew left a plaque reading 'We came in peace for all mankind' and honored the fallen Apollo 1 crew.
  3. The landing site in the Sea of Tranquility became known as Tranquility Base.
  4. This was the mission where humans first walked on the Moon and said, 'That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.'

My answer:

Mystery 2

  1. Launched in 1977, it carries a 12-inch gold-plated copper phonograph disk of Earth's sounds and images.
  2. It flew past Jupiter and Saturn before heading toward the edge of the solar system.
  3. That disk it carries is called the Golden Record, a time capsule for any who might find it.
  4. In August 2012 it became the first spacecraft to reach interstellar space, beyond the Sun's protective bubble.

My answer:

Mystery 3

  1. Launched in 1990, it soon revealed a flaw called spherical aberration that made its early images blurry.
  2. Astronauts visited it five times between 1993 and 2009 to repair and upgrade it in orbit.
  3. It was carried to space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery on mission STS-31.
  4. This orbiting telescope produced famous 'Deep Field' images showing thousands of distant galaxies.

My answer:

Mystery 4

  1. Launched in 1997, it carried a European probe named Huygens that later parachuted onto a distant moon.
  2. It spent 13 years orbiting a ringed planet and discovered a global ocean on the moon Enceladus.
  3. In 2005 its Huygens probe landed on Titan, the most distant landing ever made in our solar system.
  4. In 2017 it ended its mission with a 'Grand Finale' plunge into Saturn's atmosphere.

My answer:

Mystery 5

  1. Launched in 2006, it took about nine and a half years to reach its first target.
  2. In 2019 it flew past a distant Kuiper Belt object later named Arrokoth.
  3. It sent back the first clear close-up images of a famous dwarf planet.
  4. In July 2015 it became the first spacecraft to fly by Pluto and its moons.

My answer:

Mystery 6

  1. Arriving in 2016, it became the farthest solar-powered spacecraft from Earth.
  2. It carries three 30-foot solar arrays because its destination gets only about 4% of the sunlight Earth receives.
  3. It was the first mission to orbit an outer planet from pole to pole.
  4. It studies Jupiter, the largest planet, diving close to its swirling cloud tops.

My answer:

Mystery 7

  1. It landed on Feb. 18, 2021, in a crater that once held a lake and river delta about 3.5 billion years ago.
  2. It carried a small companion that would attempt something never done before on another world.
  3. It touched down in Jezero Crater to search for signs of ancient microbial life.
  4. This rover delivered the Ingenuity helicopter, which made the first powered flight on another planet.

My answer:

Mystery 8

  1. It uses seven Venus flybys to gradually shrink its orbit, coming closer to its target than any spacecraft before.
  2. At closest approach it travels about 430,000 mph, making it the fastest human-made object.
  3. In 2021 it crossed the Alfven critical surface and flew through the Sun's corona.
  4. It became the first spacecraft to 'touch' the Sun by flying through its upper atmosphere.

My answer:

Mystery 9

  1. It orbits the Sun about a million miles from Earth at a spot called the second Lagrange point (L2).
  2. Its 18 hexagonal mirror segments are coated with a thin layer of gold and folded to fit inside the rocket.
  3. Launched on Dec. 25, 2021, it is the largest, most powerful telescope ever sent to space.
  4. This infrared observatory captured stunning new images of the Pillars of Creation and the earliest galaxies.

My answer:

2. Space or Not?

Sort each item into the right category. Many 'NASA inventions' are actually myths, so think carefully before you decide. Write the correct category letter (A–D) on the line by each item.

A = Developed for space exploration  ·  B = Adapted for space use  ·  C = Associated with space but NOT a NASA invention  ·  D = Not space-related

3. Scale It

Put these space objects in order from smallest to largest by diameter. Trust your reasoning, then check the real numbers. Write each object's name in the blanks, 1 = smallest, 7 = largest.

Objects to order: Ceres (dwarf planet), Earth's Moon, Mercury, Mars, Earth, Jupiter, The Sun

  1. Smallest —
  7. Largest —

4. Image Detective

Study the space image closely with no caption. Notice what you see, wonder about it, then make one inference before the answer is revealed.

Image description (read this if you do not have the picture): Three or four enormous columns of gas and dust rise like rocky spires from the bottom of the frame toward the upper right. The pillars glow in shades of rust, brown, and gold, with semi-transparent, wispy edges that fade into darkness. Wavy, finger-like tips reach off the tallest columns, and a few of them glow with deep red at their edges. The background is filled with thousands of sharp, multicolored stars, some bright blue-white and others faint and distant. The overall scene looks like a towering desert landscape floating in deep space.

Notice — name three things you see in the image:

Wonder — write two questions this image makes you ask:

Infer — make one inference about what this place might be or what is happening there:

5. Mission Patch Studio

Design a mission patch for your own imaginary science mission. Fill in every field and use symbols that connect to your mission's goal.

Mission name (short and memorable):

Destination (a real place — a moon, planet, asteroid, or region):

Scientific goal (one question your mission will investigate):

Two symbols (pick two images and note what each stands for):

Design explanation (one sentence — how do your colors and symbols reflect the mission?):

Sketch your patch here

World Space Week · A TCEA Curiosity Challenge · © 2026 TCEA · CC BY-NC 4.0 (content) · Facts sourced from NASA & ESA