October Sky
Directed by Joe Johnston First Shown: 1999
Color, 108 minutes, rated PG
Based on the book, "Rocket Boys," by Homer Hickam,
Jr.
The true story of how your science teacher can change your
life.
Questions to answer during the film:
1. What country launched the world's first man-made
satellite, Sputnik, into Earth orbit on October 4, 1957?
2. Because Sputnik travels at 18,000 mph, it can make an
orbit of Earth every ___ minutes.
3. Satellites passing overhead are visible in a clear dark
sky one hour after ________ and one hour before ________.
4. Sputnik travels at a height of ______ miles above the
Earth.
5. Describe what Sputnik looked like passing through the
sky:
6. What did Homer use as the fuel for his first rocket?
7. What happened to the Vanguard rocket launched by Dr.
Werhner Von Braun?
8. Rocketry was invented by the ____________, as early as
1000 AD.
9. Homer learns about potassium chlorate and sulfur to use
as ________ for his rockets.
10. Draw the rocket and match/lable the parts:
Nose cone
Body tube/combustion chamber
Nozzle
11. The purpose of the nozzle in a rocket is to direct the
flow of _____________.
12. Miss Riley says, "Science requires
__________."
13. What do the boys build at Cape Coalwood to use for
launching rockets?
14. When potassium chlorate and sugar are combined with
heat, oxygen and expanding gases are produced, making an
effective rocket ____________.
15. What lab safety equipment do the students use in the
classroom?
16. When the rockets exploded, heat from the exhaust was
melting the ___________.
17. When rocket fuel combusts, the nozzle directs a hot
river of gas that reaches the speed of ____________.
18. If the mass of the propellant compared to the mass of
the rocket is too little, increase the ____________ of the
rocket.
19. The properties of alcohol are that it is stable and
dilutes ____________.
20. What measurement do the rocket boys make during the
rocket flights to calculate the height of the rocket?
21. Who told Homer at the national science fair
"Congratulations and good luck"?
22. What happened to Miss Riley during the science fair?
23. What career did Homer end up having?
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