1. First Moon Landing 1969 (click for one minute 44 second video)
On July 20, 1969, when Apollo 11 landed Neil Armstrong became the first man to set
foot on the Moon.
34 years after Apollo 11’s historic mission, NASA started developing a new
exploration vehicle to return to the Moon by 2020 and prepare for human
exploration of Mars.

2. The Orion spacecraft will carry a new generation of
explorers back to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.
Orion will succeed the space shuttle as NASA’s primary
vehicle for human space exploration.
Orion will have the capability to take astronauts on
exploration missions farther than any previous missions.
Orion will eventually be able to take humans to Mars.

4. Click on picture for 7 minute youtube video

5. 1. What is the name of the new spacecraft?
2. Why do we need a new spacecraft?
3. What vehicle does the Orion design resemble?
4. Name some places where NASA intends to travel using Orion.

6. Orion’s improved, larger blunt-body is
similar to the shape of the Apollo
capsule.
With an outside diameter of 5 meters, Orion will have about three
times the volume of an Apollo capsule. While the Apollo capsule
carried three astronauts, Orion is designed to carry four to six
astronauts into space.

7. Determine the area of the largest vertical cross-section of the Orion Crew Exploration
Vehicle (CEV).
This will give you a sense of the surface area inside the Orion CEV. Keep in mind that the
Orion dimensions are 140% of the Apollo capsule.

8. To get a sense of the room inside the crew module, use the model on the graph
paper to estimate the vertical cross-sectional area by counting squares and
multiplying the number of squares by 0.032 m².

9. Using the figure,
decompose the
model of Orion into
familiar geometric
shapes and then
name the shapes.
Use your tablet and
the PicsArt app to use
different colored
highlighters for each
geometric shape to
show the
decomposition into
smaller parts.
Record the shapes
and their
corresponding area
formulas in Table 1.

10. Table 1

11. Based on your calculations in Table 1, what is the total vertical cross-
sectional area of the crew module?
If the actual largest vertical cross-sectional area of the crew module is 11.665 m²,
how far off was your estimate from the graphing method in question 1? Express
your answer in terms of a percent (percent error). Round your answer to the
nearest percent.
If the actual largest vertical cross-sectional area of the crew module is 11.665 m²,
how far off was your estimate decomposition estimate?
In your groups, discuss which estimation method was closest to the actual area.
Also discuss your approach and methods used to estimate the area with one other
group. Compare your answers.