[Stylist] Newest Draft of Project Narrative

Sat Apr 6 01:24:49 UTC 2019

Are you aware that there are Braille books you can buy or find on BAARD or just the nls service that have graphical renderings of the universe?  There should be one called "Touch the moon".

Is it hard to communicate, even with hearing aids?  Visit
www.CochlearAmericas.com

> On Apr 5, 2019, at 6:29 PM, Tina Hansen via Stylist <stylist at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> I know you may be getting tired of me sending out draft after draft of this
> narrative to the list, but I need to get this right.
> 
> 
> 
> My latest concern is how to subtly weave NFB philosophy into the narrative
> We don't want to be heavy-handed with it, but we want the students to see
> the connections between our philosophy and the moon landing. As you look at
> this, I'd love to hear thoughts on how we can subtly weave NFB philosophy
> into it and still have room for the actualities, and have it all done in 15
> minutes.
> 
> 
> 
> (Launch sounds with count down and music) (Ed) Fifty years ago, three brave
> explorers left the earth and went all the way to the moon and back. How did
> it happen? Why did we go to the Moon?
> 
> 
> 
> The United States is a proud country, and we always dream of being the best.
> So does Russia. Before any human beings had ever been to space, we were in a
> race with Russia to see who could get there first. And Russia beat us.
> Fortunately for the United States, that would soon change. The day would
> come sooner than we thought.
> 
> 
> 
> Back in 1961, President John F. Kennedy had an idea. Let's put a man on the
> Moon and get him safely back to Earth. And let's do it before the end of
> 1969.
> 
> 
> 
> (Kenedy) "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the
> goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning
> him safely to the earth."
> 
> 
> 
> (James) That time was only 8 years away. As you can guess, there wasn't much
> time. Going to the moon was a huge challenge. The Moon is really far away.
> How could we send a man to the Moon and get him back safely? How could we
> make this dream come true? (music break)
> 
> 
> 
> )James) We started by taking small steps to prepare. NASA is the space
> program and they began making rockets to launch astronauts into space.
> 
> 
> 
> (Ed) They used a small rocket for a program called Mercury. With this
> program, engineers learned how to build rockets that could take astronauts
> into Earth's orbit.
> 
> 
> 
> (James) Orbit means to circle one thing around another. Have you ever
> noticed a fly or a bee circle around your head? If you have, that's an
> orbit.
> 
> 
> 
> (Ed) The astronauts got to see how it felt to fly in space. They ate space
> foods that were in tubes, kind of like toothpaste tubes! Would you like to
> eat food from a toothpaste tube? I know I wouldn't. Yuck!!!
> 
> 
> 
> (James) Once we practiced sending one astronaut into orbit at a time, NASA
> wanted to send two astronauts into space at a time.
> 
> 
> 
> (Ed) They called this new program Gemini. It used a larger rocket. With the
> Gemini program, astronauts learned how to "walk in space" by floating
> outside the spacecraft with a space suit tethered to the rocket by a strong
> rope. They floated like you might float in a swimming pool.
> 
> 
> 
> They learned what it was like to live and work in space for up to two weeks.
> 
> 
> 
> They also learned how to get two spacecraft to find each other while in
> orbit.
> 
> 
> 
> Finally, they learned how to connect (or dock) two spacecraft in orbit.
> 
> 
> 
> (James) During the Mercury and Gemini programs, astronauts got really good
> at traveling in rockets and working in their spacecraft while orbiting the
> Earth. And remember, they learned how to find and connect two different
> spacecraft together in space. They needed to know how to do these things in
> order to land on the moon.
> 
> 
> 
> (Ed) The next phase in the space program was going to be a big one.
> Astronauts needed to leave Earth's orbit and actually travel a quarter of a
> million miles to get to the Moon. That's almost 10 laps around the entire
> planet Earth. It would take the astronauts three days to get to the moon
> from the earth. The moon program was called Apollo. This time, three
> astronauts would travel together in an even larger rocket.
> 
> 
> 
> Up to this point, astronauts had never left Earth's orbit before. Could we
> get astronauts safely to the Moon? Could we get that dream to come true?
> Let's find out together! (Music break)
> 
> 
> 
> Apollo 8 was the first mission where astronauts traveled all the way to the
> Moon. They didn't land on the Moon, but they orbited the Moon and came home
> safely back to Earth. This mission proved that we could get astronauts
> safely to the Moon and back. It was a critical step before the Apollo 11
> moon landing.
> 
> 
> 
> (James) Remember that back in 1961, President Kennedy wanted the United
> States to land a man on the moon and return him safely to Earth. Now, the
> time had finally come! The dream was finally about to come true. Three brave
> explorers were going to the Moon. Two of them were going to land on the
> Moon.
> 
> 
> 
> Apollo 11 was an eight-day mission.  The astronauts on Apollo 11 were Neil
> Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. They launched from Earth on July
> 16, 1969. They called their command ship Columbia, and the Lunar landing
> craft Eagle.
> 
> 
> 
> Eagle was a lot smaller than Columbia. She had special feet so she could
> land safely on the moon.
> 
> 
> 
> (Ed) On July 20, the two spacecraft separated while orbiting the moon.
> 
> 
> 
> Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin traveled in Eagle so they could land on the
> moon. Mike Collins stayed in Columbia and orbited around the Moon.
> 
> 
> 
> After months of practicing, Neil and Buzz headed toward the moon's surface.
> This was very exciting! People all over the world were watching on TV! The
> big dream was finally coming true!!!
> 
> 
> 
> Imagine you're in the spacecraft, headed to the Moon, when suddenly your
> computer's alarm goes off. What would you do? That happened to Neil and
> Buzz.
> 
> 
> 
> As Eagle came nearer to the moon, alarms were sounding in the cabin!
> Uh-oh!!!! (Alarm sound) The astronauts asked Mission Control in Houston what
> to do.
> 
> 
> 
> (Ed) Mission control told Neil and Buzz that it was OK to keep going.
> 
> 
> 
> (Voice of Mission control) "We're go on that alarm"
> 
> 
> 
> (James) This is why alarms were going off. The computer on Eagle was trying
> to do too many things at once.
> 
> 
> 
> Computers were really huge, slow and clunky back then! Some were even as big
> as this room! In fact, your parents' smart phone today is more powerful than
> the computers the astronauts used during the Apollo 11 mission.
> 
> 
> 
> (Ed) But Neil and Buzz soon realized that their computer was taking them to
> a dangerous rocky area. If they landed on rocks, their spacecraft might tip
> over. If that happened, they'd be stuck on the Moon. They would not be able
> to get home. They needed to land in a smooth area, so Neil started flying
> Eagle by himself, without the computer's help. Luckily, Neil had already
> practiced his flying back on Earth!!!!
> 
> 
> 
> Can you imagine how scary this must have been?
> 
> 
> 
> Mission Control in Houston warned the astronauts that they were getting very
> low on fuel. They started counting down the seconds before they would run
> out of gas.
> 
> 
> 
> (Voice of Mission Control) 60 seconds
> 
> 
> 
> (Improv)
> 
> (James) There were no gas stations in space. They had only one shot to land.
> If they ran out of fuel, they'd never see their families again. They had to
> land fast! Could their dream become a nightmare?
> 
> 
> 
> (Voice of Mission Control) "30 seconds"
> 
> (Improv)
> 
> 
> 
> (Ed) With only seconds of fuel left, Neil safely landed Eagle.
> 
> 
> 
> (Voice of Mission Control): "We copy you down, Eagle."
> 
> 
> 
> (Voice of Neil Armstrong): Houston .  Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has
> landed." (Applaus and music)
> 
> 
> 
> (Voice of Mission control): Roger, Tranquility, we copy you on the ground.
> You've got a bunch of guys about to turn blue. We're breathing again. Thanks
> a lot.
> 
> 
> 
> (James) But this was only the beginning! (Music break)
> 
> 
> 
> (Ed) Six hours later, the astronauts got ready to explore the moon's
> surface. Neil Armstrong opened the hatch of the Eagle and looked down at the
> ground.  He didn't know if the ground would be soft, hard or slippery. He
> didn't know if he would sink, but he climbed down the stairs and bravely
> stepped onto the surface of the Moon. He didn't sink. The ground was hard.
> Then he said these famous words.
> 
> 
> 
> (Voice of Neil Armstrong) "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap
> for mankind."
> 
> 
> 
> Ed) Twenty minutes later, Buzz came out of Eagle, climbed down the stairs
> and also stepped foot on the Moon. Neil and Buzz set up a special camera so
> everyone on Earth could see them walking on the Moon.  People all over the
> world stopped what they were doing and watched the astronauts on TV. It was
> an incredible moment. The dream of landing on the moon was coming true. 
> 
> 
> 
> (James) While both astronauts were on the Moon, they observed that the
> ground was very dusty, like powder. Neil Armstrong said it this way.
> 
> 
> 
> (Voice of Neil Armstrong) The surface is fine and powdery . I can kick it up
> loosely with my toe . It does adhere in fine layers . like powdered charcoal
> to the . soul and sides of my boots.
> 
> 
> 
> (James) In other words, the powder stuck to his boots.
> 
> 
> 
> The astronauts discovered that there were small rocks on the ground. They
> also found both large and small holes (called craters). The astronauts saw
> that the sky was black because the Moon has no air like there is on Earth.
> In the sky, they also saw the stars, and the earth which was mostly blue
> because it was covered by more ocean than land. 
> 
> 
> 
> (Ed) We all have different ideas of what beauty is. Some people see it in a
> rainbow. Some people hear it in a beautiful piece of music. Some people feel
> it in the falling snow.
> 
> 
> 
> Here's how the astronauts felt as they explored the moon.
> 
> 
> 
> (Voice of Neil Armstrong) "It has a stark beauty all its own . it's like
> much of the high desert of the United States . it's . different but it's
> very pretty out here.
> 
> 
> 
> (Voice of Buzz Aldrin) Beautiful view.
> 
> 
> 
> (Voice of Neil Armstrong) Isn't that something? Magnificent site out here.
> 
> 
> 
> (Voice of Buzz Aldrin) Magnificent desolation.
> 
> 
> 
> Their surface exploration lasted for two and a half hours, but then it was
> time to get back inside Eagle. They needed to rest before leaving the Moon.
> (Music break)
> 
> 
> 
> (Ed) Remember how the Gemini astronauts practiced docking two spacecraft
> together while orbiting Earth? Well, the next day, Neil and Buzz lifted off
> the Moon in Eagle and docked with Columbia, where astronaut Michael Collins
> was waiting for them. Remember, Michael Collins was orbiting the Moon all by
> himself the entire time Neil and Buzz were on the surface of the moon.  Once
> all three astronauts were back together, they started their trip back home.
> Three days later, the three astronauts returned safely to Earth, and the
> first Moon landing came to a successful end.
> 
> It was an amazing mission and we did land astronauts on the Moon before the
> end of 1969, just as President Kennedy wanted. The dream for the United
> States had finally come true!!!
> 
> 
> 
> There it is.
> 
> 
> 
> Also, we're still struggling wit the background section. Is there any way we
> can shorten it? Is the wording in that section the best we can do? Have we
> exhausted that section? I know we have to have that background in there, but
> I don't want it dragging the rest of the narrative down. I also know that if
> we don't include that section at all, the students would be left with a
> false impression that going to the moon was easy. Have we run out of
> options? I also don't want the narrative to sound too jumpy, but I do want
> it to be tight.
> 
> 
> 
> That's where we stand. Thanks.
> 
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