The Courage to Soar Higher

The Courage to Soar Higher was written for two main purposes. The first was to tell the story of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the United States (U.S.) space program with the hope that students may one day join the workforce that will send humans to the Moon, Mars, and beyond, or perhaps aspire to be one of the astronauts who will make those journeys. The second was to give students the opportunity to conduct not only simple research where the information is shared, but to also conduct research that enables them to design and create some of the engineering challenges faced by NASA scientists and engineers today. The Courage to Soar Higher was originally intended to be one or two lessons at the end of the educator guide The Courage to Soar. However, the story of NASA could not be contained in such a small space. So another guide was created to focus on the achievements of NASA with an emphasis on its contributions to the field of astronautics, that is, the science and technology of space flight. It is recommended that The Courage to Soar be taught before this guide, but it is not necessary. The Courage to Soar Higher covers just a small part of the whole NASA story. The accomplishments of this Agency are vast; however, this guide addresses only the work thought to be most interesting to young students. The combined knowledge, intellect, and creativity of the scientists, engineers, and other workers who make up the NASA family is a significant treasure. These workers are dedicated to NASA's mission and they are determined to make it successful. Teachers should try to instill a great respect for these workers and inspire their students to join the next generation of scientists, engineers, and explorers as they teach the unit.