Materials for Teaching

Download the Course Packet!

Welcome to the Apollo 15 Learning Hub Course Packet!

The pages in this document are intended to provide an extended semi-self-guided tour through several important parts of the Apollo 15 mission. This course packet is an extension of the Apollo 15 Learning Hub, a project developed by the Emory Center for Digital Scholarship that provides its virtual visitors a repository of primary source files for the display and preservation of records from the mission. As an extension of the Hub, this course packet will emphasize engagement with primary sources. This means that students who work with this material will be able to see many of the very documents that NASA produced before and after the mission — including documents that were brought to the Moon to provide procedural guidance for the mission.

Download the course packet here or on the right!

This course packet would work well as supplementary material for a class focused on the study of science, history, or technology. Its focus on primary source reading makes parts of it a good fit for language arts courses as well.

Course Packet Sections:

The course packet can be used as individual modules as appropriate. Here are summaries of each of the nine modules, and links to pdf files of each section separately:

• Course Packet Cover - General introductory information.
• Module 1 – The Space Program. This surveys a few articles in LIFE Magazine from before the Apollo mission to show how the scientific, technological, political, and cultural significance of the space program were interconnected.
• Module 2 – The Apollo Mission. A summary of all Apollo missions, this module gives students a chance to see how Apollo 15 stands out within the program.
• Module 3 – Training. A series of vignettes into training for the Apollo 15 mission, this module covers how astronauts preparedfor the mission.
• Module 4 – Flight Plan. The flight plan document is an hour-by-hour plan for the whole mission. This module uses the flight plan document to give students a primary-source-based orientation to the mission’s schedule.
• Module 5 – The Saturn V Rocket. Using theApollo Spacecraft News Reference, this module covers the structure and design of the rocket used for lunar landings throughout the Apollo program.
• Module 6 – Lunar Module. Drawing onthe Apollo Spacecraft News Referenceand the Hub’ proprietary 3D model of the Lunar Module’s interior, this module covers the lander that the astronauts used to get to the Moon’s surface.
• Module 7 – EVA Plans. This module covers the scientific and exploratory intentions of the EVAs, or Extravehicular Activities.
• Module 8 – EVA Events. Complementing the discussion of the plans for the extravehicular activities in module 7, this module covers what actually happened on the missions.
• Module 9 – Watching 15. Following press coverage of the Apollo 15 mission, this module provides one final look at how the STEM-oriented and humanities-oriented meanings of the Apollo 15 mission related to one another.