• Login
  • Register
  • FAQ
  • Contact Us
  • Home
  • Documents
  • Activities
  • Activity Tools
    • All Tools
    • Analyzing Documents
    • Discussion Topic
    • Compare and Contrast
    • Zoom/Crop
    • White Out / Black Out
    • Spotlight
    • Finding a Sequence
    • Making Connections
    • Mapping History
    • Seeing the Big Picture
    • Weighing the Evidence
    • Interpreting Data
  • Popular Topics
    • See All
    • National History Day
    • The Constitution
    • Labor History
    • Sports: All-American
    • Rights in America
    • American Indians
    • Women's Rights
    • American Revolution
    • The Civil War
    • World War I
    • World War II
    • The Vietnam War
    • 1970s America
    • Congress
    • Amending America
    • Elections
    • What Americans Eat
    • Signatures
    • Nixon and Ford Years
  • Resources
    • Getting Started
    • Document Analysis
    • Activity-Creation Guide
    • Manage Assignments
    • iPad App
    • Presentation Materials
    • Webinars
      • Recorded Webinars
      • Live Webinars
MENU
DocsTeachThe online tool for teaching with documents, from the National Archives National Archives Foundation National Archives

Landing a Man on the Moon: President Nixon and the Apollo Program

Making Connections

Print
Created by the National Archives
Bookmark this Activity in My Activities:
Copy this Activity to My Activities for editing:
Landing a Man on the Moon: President Nixon and the Apollo Program

About this Activity

  • Created by:Nixon Presidential Library Education Team
  • Historical Era:Contemporary United States (1968 to the present)
  • Thinking Skill:Historical Analysis & Interpretation
  • Bloom's Taxonomy:Analyzing
  • Grade Level:High School
Start Activity
Please use a tablet or desktop computer to use this activity.
This activity chronicles the Space Race from President Kennedy's call to land on the Moon until Apollo 17—the last lunar Mission, placing particular emphasis on President Nixon's role in the space program.
https://docsteach.org/activities/student/landing-a-man-on-the-moon-president-nixon-and-the-apollo-program

Suggested Teaching Instructions

Learning Objectives:

Students will:

   • Analyze primary documents

   • Analyze photographs

   • Better understand the Apollo program, the Moon landing, and the Space Race.

This activity is appropriate during a unit about the Cold War. For grades 8-12. Approximate time needed is 45 minutes.



Instructions:

Launch the activity with all of the documents on screen at once for the entire class to see. Encourage students to look at each document’s Details section for further information when they begin their own analysis.

Choose a document or photograph from the activity to model effective document analysis with your class. Introduce or review the term "Space Race" with students, reminding them that it was seen as a competition between the United States and the Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.).

After modeling document analysis, as a class, individually, or in small groups ask the students to complete the activity on their own. Instruct the students to use the artifacts to answer the questions. Ask them to record their answers.

After they've completed the activity, ask the students to consider the importance of the Moon landing. Lead a class discussion with the following questions, reflected in the I'm Done section of the activity:

   • Why was the Space Race important?

   • Why did it end?

   • Was there a winner?

   • Do you think the space program is still important?

   • Do you think an American will walk on the Moon again in your lifetime?

Follow the links below to learn more about the documents in this activity. To learn more about President Richard Nixon visit www.nixonlibrary.gov.

Documents in this activity

  • Apollo 11 Flight Plan
  • Apollo 11 Target of Opportunity Flight Chart
  • Debrief: Apollo 8
  • Earth, as Seen by Astronauts Eugen Cernan, Ronald Evans and Harrison Schmidt from Apollo 17
  • Letter from Thaddeus A. Zagorewicz to President Richard Nixon
  • Map of the Lunar Surface
  • Memoranduam for President Subject: Evaluation of Space Program April 28, 1961
  • Memorandum from Jim Jones to President Johnson about the Fire on Apollo 1
  • Photograph of Apollo 8's View of the Moon
  • Photograph of Astronaut Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin, Jr. Posing on the Moon Next to the U.S. Flag
  • Postcard with Apollo 11 Commemorative First Day Issue Stamp and Signatures
  • Presidential Daily Diary Entry
  • Rice University Speech September 12, 1962
  • President Nixon Talking on the Phone to Astronauts on the Moon
  • S. 2709 Authorizing the Erection of a Statue to Commemorate the Manned Lunar Landing and the Placing of the United States Flag on the Moon

CC0
To the extent possible under law, Nixon Presidential Library Education Team has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to "Landing a Man on the Moon: President Nixon and the Apollo Program".

  • Explore Primary Source Documents
  •  
  • Discover Activities You Can Teach With
  •  
  • Create Fun & Engaging Activities
Follow us on X:X
Follow us on Facebook:facebook
Please enter a valid email address

View our webinars:youtube

Get our iPad app:apple
New Documentsshare
New Activitiesshare

The National Archives

DocsTeach is a product of the National Archives education division. Our mission is to engage, educate, and inspire all learners to discover and explore the records of the American people preserved by the National Archives.

The National Archives and Records Administration is the nation's record keeper. We save documents and other materials created in the course of business conducted by the U.S. Federal government that are judged to have continuing value. We hold in trust for the public the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights — but also the records of ordinary citizens — at our locations around the country.
  • All Education Programs
  • Student Visits
  • Distance Learning
  • Professional Development
  • National Archives Museum
  • Presidential Libraries
  • Archives.gov
  • National Archives Foundation




Creative Commons License

Except where otherwise noted, DocsTeach is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Primary source documents included on this site generally come from the holdings of the National Archives and are in the public domain, except as noted. Teaching activities on this site have received the CC0 Public Domain Dedication; authors have waived all copyright and related rights to the extent possible under the law. See our legal and privacy page for full terms and conditions.