ESL WORKSHEET - The history of space exploration

LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH TEACHERS

SPACE EXPLORATION

LinguaHouse

Jan. 7, 2023

Level: Pre-intermediate (A2-B1)
Type of language: English for Teenagers
Tags: The Universe and Space; The Future and Space; Science and Technology; Present Perfect; 10-12 Years Old; 13-15 Years Old; 16-18 Years Old
Publication date: 01/07/2023

The lesson teaches the students about the history of space exploration and the greatest achievements of the human race in this area. They learn more space related vocabulary. They also learn the use of the Present Perfect for events in indefinite past, which is contrasted with the use of the Past Simple for events in definite past. They practice the Present Perfect while talking about their personal achievements. In the last activity and in the homework, they focus on the contrast between the two tenses. (by I. Rybak)

• CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in American English.
• CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in American English.
• CLICK HERE to download/listen to the audio 1 in American English.
• CLICK HERE to download/listen to the audio 2 in American English.
• CLICK HERE to download/listen to the audio 3 in American English.
• CLICK HERE to download the student’s worksheet in British English.
• CLICK HERE to download the teacher’s lesson plan in British English.
• CLICK HERE to download/listen to the audio 1 in British English.
• CLICK HERE to download/listen to the audio 2 in British English.
• CLICK HERE to download/listen to the audio 3 in British English.

AUDIO TRANSCRIPTS

AUDIO 1 - TASK 3
Speaker: People have always been interested in stars. A thousand years ago sailors used the stars to find their way at sea. Scientists always wanted to see farther into space. Galileo Galilei, an Italian scientist, built the first telescope in 1609. He used it to discover mountains on the moon. He also discovered the rings of Saturn and four of Jupiter's moons. Since then, the telescope has changed a lot. The Hubble telescope, which was launched in 1990, is the size of a large bus. It completes 15 orbits a day. On 25 December, 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was launched. It has a much bigger mirror and is farther away from Earth than the Hubble telescope.
People have used rocket engines for hundreds of years. As soon as we were able to send the first rockets into space, we also sent animals. The first to go were fruit flies in 1947. They were followed by spiders, monkeys and mice. In 1957, A Soviet rocket launched the first satellite. It orbited Earth for three months. The first human, Yuri Gagarin, orbited the Earth in 1961. He made one orbit in his spacecraft Vostok 1, which took him one hour and 48 minutes. In 1965, another Russian astronaut, Alexey Leonov, left his spacecraft and took a ‘spacewalk’. He floated in space for 12 minutes. In 1968 three Americans left Earth’s orbit and traveled around the Moon. A year later, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed and walked on the Moon. Since then more people have landed there. We are hoping to send people to Mars one day, but so far we have only sent spacecraft to the red planet. The first one landed on Mars in 2008. There are six rovers on Mars now.

AUDIO 2 - TASK 5
Speaker: In 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon. Since then, more people have landed there. We are hoping to send people to Mars one day but so far we have only sent spacecraft to the Red Planet. The first one landed on the surface of Mars in 2008.

AUDIO 3 - TASK 7
Speaker 1: ... I saw three last night! One was really fast. It moved across the sky very quickly. And it didn’t make any noise, of course. Not like planes.
Speaker 2: ... I did it when I was at summer camp. It was only one hundred meters. And yes, most of the kids were faster than me.
Speaker 3: ... It was my big sister’s wedding and my parents thought it was a good idea. They wrote the speech, but I didn’t like it much. And I didn’t speak, really – I just read it.

Adapted from: https://www.linguahouse.com/esl-lesson-plans/english-for-teenagers/space-exploration. Accessed on December 1, 2025. LinguaHouse.com © 2008–2025. All rights reserved.