NASA’s Johnson Space Center Readers Theater Script | Grades 9-12

Rocket past textbook summaries and land in Mission Control! In this immersive Readers Theater, students relive JFK’s audacious 1961 moon pledge, guide Apollo 11 to Tranquility Base, and chart Artemis back to the lunar surface—all while measuring Houston’s outsized economic and scientific impact on Texas and the world.

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• Grade bands: 9-12
• Characters: 12
• Word count: 2300

Perfect For

• Cold War & Space Race units
• Economics of innovation lessons
• STEM‑themed drama projects

(a single PDF with links to Google Docs/Slides, if print format is preferred you can download from your Google Drive to word/pdf/ppt/etc)

What’s Included

• Student script (~2300 words, 10–12 scenes, DOCX/PDF/Google Doc)
• Teacher guide (~12–15 pages, DOCX/PDF/Google Doc)
• Student worksheet (~20–25 Google Slides)
• Self‑graded Google Forms quiz (20+ questions)

Teacher’s Script Summary

• Scene 1: Journey to JSC (1961 founding).
• Scene 2: Building Mission Control.
• Scene 3: Designing Apollo spacecraft.
• Scene 4: Apollo 11 launch prep.
• Scene 5: Moon landing broadcast worldwide.
• Scene 6: Economic ripple effects in Houston.
• Scene 7: Space Shuttle program debut 1981.
• Scene 8: International Space Station leadership.
• Scene 9: Challenger & Columbia lessons.
• Scene 10: Artemis era and commercial space.

Standards Alignment

TEKS 113.41(c)(8)(B); TEKS 113.41(c)(12); TEKS 113.41(c)(26)(A); RL.11-12.1; RL.11-12.2; RL.11-12.9