One Small Step: the Moon Landing, 1969

In the news: The story

Read a 131-word news story: The night people watched the Moon on television

It is July 1969. Three American astronauts fly to the Moon in a small spacecraft. The journey takes four days. Two of them, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, go down to the surface. The third man stays above them and waits. The landing is difficult. The computer shows a problem and the fuel is low. Armstrong takes the controls and lands by hand. Then he opens the door and goes down the ladder. He puts his boot in the grey dust and says his famous first words. About 600 million people watch on television. In many homes it is the middle of the night. Families sit together in the dark and look at a small grey picture. The two men walk for a few hours, collect rocks, and then fly home.

Vocabulary: Words to know

6 items

Discussion: Look at the picture

2 discussion questions

• What can you see in the picture? What colour is it? Is it hot or cold there?
• Everyone watched on a small television in the dark. How do you think people felt?

Discussion: You and the sky

3 discussion questions

• Do you look at the Moon? When do you see it: in the evening, in the morning?
• Do you want to go to space? Say yes or no, and one reason.
• What was the last big thing you watched on television with your family?

Discussion: Big questions, simple words

3 discussion questions

• The astronauts took rocks home. What would you take from the Moon?
• Space is very expensive. Is it good to spend money on space? Yes or no?
• Who should go to the Moon next: scientists, teachers, children, nobody?