# Sunita in Space

## Overview

This chapter introduces students to life in space through the experiences of astronaut Sunita Williams. It explores Earth's shape, gravity, and space travel, encouraging children to question everyday experiences, observe the sky, and think beyond boundaries marked on maps. The chapter also helps build imagination through activities and hands-on experiments.

## Key Topics Covered

### 1. What Is Our Earth Really Like?

- Children explore the concept of Earth's shape using a globe.
- Discussions and questions arise like “Why don’t we fall off the Earth if it is round?” or “Are people in Argentina upside down?”
- Uzaira and Shahmir talk while playing with a globe and wonder about Earth and space.

**Concepts Introduced:**

- Earth is round like a globe.
- No actual ‘up’ or ‘down’ exists on Earth – it’s relative to gravity.
- Seas and oceans don't spill because of Earth’s pull.

### 2. Talking with Sunita

- Children get excited about meeting astronaut Sunita Williams.
- Sunita shares her experience of space travel, including living conditions and the absence of gravity.

### 3. Sunita’s Life in Space

Sunita describes life in the spaceship:

- Floating around all the time.
- Water formed floating blobs that had to be caught.
- Hair stood up because there was no gravity.
- No walking – astronauts had to strap themselves to stay in place.
- Eating food was a fun challenge with floating packets.
- Papers and tools had to be stuck to surfaces.

### 4. Understanding Gravity

- Objects on Earth fall because of gravity – Earth pulls everything toward itself.
- In space, astronauts float because the spaceship is moving around Earth without experiencing gravity the same way.
- Earth’s pull keeps us and everything else on the ground.
- Activities and questions help students explore this idea:

- Why do balls fall down?
- Why doesn’t sea water fall off Earth?

### 5. A Classroom Turns into a Spaceship

- Imagination activity: Children close their eyes and pretend their classroom is a spaceship.
- Prompts to think and act out:

- What happens to bags, books, chalk, or food in space?
- How would one sit or drink water?

**Objective**: Help children understand life without gravity through imagination.

### 6. Earth’s Pull – Simple Experiments

#### Magic 1 – A Tiny Paper Races a Coin

- When dropped together, the coin and a small paper fall at different speeds due to air resistance.
- But when the paper is placed on the coin, both fall together.

#### Magic 2 – A Mouse Lifts an Elephant

- A fun activity using paper cutouts and stones to show how a small object (mouse) can seem to lift a larger one (elephant) by pulling a string.

**Objective**: Experience how forces work in a playful way.

### 7. Lines on the Earth – Real or Imaginary?

- Children observe globes and maps, noticing borders and lines.
- Sunita explains that such lines (country borders) are man-made and don’t really exist on the Earth’s surface.
- From space, Earth appears as one land with no visible boundaries.

**Discussion Points:**

- Can you see Pakistan or Nepal separately from space?
- Why don’t we see the lines drawn on maps on the real ground?

### 8. Observing the Moon

- Observation Activity:

- Watch and draw the moon over several days.
- Compare its shape at different times.

- Table of moonrise and moonset times in Delhi shows how the moon's appearance and timing change.

**Children are encouraged to:**

- Draw the moon on specific dates.
- Observe what they see in the night sky.
- Try to cover the moon with a coin to experience perspective.

### 9. Poem – Twinkling Stars

- A poem titled **"Twinkling Stars"** by Anware Islam encourages children to think about:

- Why stars twinkle.
- How stars are named.
- Why we don’t see stars during the day.
- The mysteries behind each star.

**Literary Skills Developed**:

- Rhyming
- Curiosity through questions
- Observation of the sky

---

## Life Story of Sunita Williams

- Inspired by Neil Armstrong’s moon landing.
- Loved sports and swimming more than studies.
- Wanted to be a diver but later became a helicopter pilot.
- Trained hard and joined the space mission.
- Set a world record in 2007 for the longest spaceflight by a woman.

**Message to Children**:

> "If you want something but get something else, do not give up. Do your best and things will work out!"

She wants to become a school teacher to help children understand science and maths.

---

## New Terms and Simple Definitions

| Term | Definition |
| ------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Astronaut | A person trained to travel and work in space |
| Globe | A round model of the Earth |
| Gravity | The force that pulls things down toward the Earth |
| Satellite | A machine that orbits Earth used for TV, phones, or weather information |
| Shooting Star | A rock from space that burns when it enters Earth’s air |
| Moonrise | The time when the moon appears in the sky |
| Moonset | The time when the moon disappears from the sky |
| Orbit | The path a spaceship or planet follows around another object |
| Perspective | How something looks from a distance or angle |
| Blob | A small drop or lump of something, like water in space |

---

## Practice Questions

### Easy (3)

1. **What is the shape of the Earth?**
_Answer: The Earth is round like a globe._

2. **Why did Sunita’s hair stand in space?**
_Answer: Because there is no gravity in space._

3. **Name one fun thing Sunita did while eating in space.**
_Answer: She caught floating food packets._

### Medium (2)

4. **Why don't people fall off the Earth if it is round?**
_Answer: Because Earth’s gravity pulls everything toward it._

5. **Why do we see stars at night but not during the day?**
_Answer: Because sunlight is too bright during the day, so we can’t see stars._

### Difficult (3)

6. **Why can’t we see country borders from space?**
_Answer: Because those lines are man-made and exist only on maps, not on Earth’s surface._

7. **What was the difference in moonrise time between 28th and 29th October in the given table?**
_Answer: 1 hour and 1 minute later._

8. **What does it tell us when Sunita had to strap herself to stay in one place in the spaceship?**
_Answer: It shows there’s no gravity in space, so things don’t stay still on their own._

### Very Difficult (2)

9. **If you saw the moon rising at 7 PM today, would it rise at the same time tomorrow? Why or why not?**
_Answer: No, because the moon’s rise time changes daily._

10. **What lesson can we learn from Sunita’s journey about achieving our goals?**
_Answer: We should not give up and must do our best even if things don’t go as planned._

---