The Space Shuttle was designed as a quick turn around space launch vehicle.
Meaning: It was meant to be launched, complete its mission, return to Earth, get re-fitted and launched again relatively (pretty loose term - relatively) soon. However, because of multiple factors the Space Shuttle never fully realized its original design intent. Yet, functionally it was unlike any other space vehicle before or since.
Lesson 1: Space Shuttle -- Watch the first video with the astronaut telling about the Space Shuttle. Create a Google Doc and after watching the video, without further research explain why you think NASA retired the Space Shuttle in 2011, without any replacement.
LESSON 2: ON THE SAME GOOGLE DOC YOU CREATED FOR LESSON 1 DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH ABOUT THE SPACE SHUTTLE TO DETERMINE WHY NASA ACTUALLY RETIRED THE SHUTTLE. INCLUDE YOUR CREDIBLE REFERENCES (LINKS OR VIDEOS ARE FINE)
LESSON 3: HOW TO LAND THE SPACE SHUTTLE... FROM SPACE -- WATCH THE NEARLY 18 MINUTE VIDEO. ON THE SAME GOOGLE DOC FROM LESSON 1 AND 2 GIVE ME YOUR REACTION TO THE VIDEO. WHAT DID YOU LEARN? WHAT WAS INTERESTING? WHAT SURPRISED YOU? NOTE: YOU SHOULD PROVIDE AT LEAST A PAGE OF YOUR INSIGHT FROM THE VIDEO. NOTE: "HOW TO LAND THE SPACE SHUTTLE... FROM SPACE" IS A GREAT VIDEO FULL OF A WEALTH OF INTERESTING INFORMATION BUT I DO APOLOGIZE FOR THE SPEAKER PACING SO MUCH.
LESSON 4: ON YOUR OWN RESEARCH THE DISASTERS OF THE CHALLENGER AND COLUMBIA. THE FOLLOWING LINK TAKES YOU TO MANY YOUTUBE VIDEOS AND CLIPS OF THE TWO DISASTERS, MANY YEARS APART FROM EACH OTHER (youtube search) AGAIN, ON THE SAME GOOGLE DOC AS BEFORE I WOULD LIKE YOU TO EXPLAIN, AS IF to SOMEONE WITH NO TECHNICAL EXPERTISE IN THE AREA, WHAT HAPPENED IN THE TWO DISASTERS. I.E. EXPLAIN IT SIMPLY BUT THOROUGHLY.
LESSON 5: NO LINKS, NO VIDEOS. from me.. research and explain WHY NASA IS GOING BACK TO A "ROCKET" STYLE OF LAUNCH VEHICLE RATHER THAN A "AIRCRAFT" STYLE OF LAUNCH VEHICLE, USING THE SAME GOOGLE DOC AS BEFORE BONUS POINTS: INCLUDE LINKS of GREAT VIDEOS/WEBSITES