Propulsion With the

Space Launch System 

Educator Guide 

Educator Guide 

Educators and Students Grades 6 to 8 

 

Propulsion With the Space Launch System 

Contents 

Preface ................................................................................................................................................................................................ 1 

STEM Education Standards............................................................................................................................................................... 1 

Engineering Design Process............................................................................................................................................................. 2 

Introduction and Background ........................................................................................................................................................... 3 

Rocket Configurations................................................................................................................................................................... 3 

Rocket Technologies..................................................................................................................................................................... 4 

Activity One: Design a Foam Rocket With Stabilizing Fins............................................................................................................ 8 

Educator Notes.............................................................................................................................................................................. 8 

Student Handout ......................................................................................................................................................................... 14 

Activity Two: Track the Altitude of a Rocket.................................................................................................................................. 18 

Educator Notes............................................................................................................................................................................ 18 

Student Handout ......................................................................................................................................................................... 25 

Activity Three: Build a Multistage Balloon Rocket........................................................................................................................ 27 

Educator Notes............................................................................................................................................................................ 27 

Student Handout ......................................................................................................................................................................... 30 

Activity Four: Optimize a Water Rocket Engine ............................................................................................................................ 31 

Educator Notes............................................................................................................................................................................ 31 

Student Handout ......................................................................................................................................................................... 36 

Appendix: STEM Standards and Practices .................................................................................................................................... 39 

Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).............................................................................................................................. 39 

NGSS Science and Engineering Practices.................................................................................................................................. 40 

International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards for Students ..................................................................... 40 

Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for Mathematics........................................................................................................... 41 

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Propulsion With the Space Launch System 

Preface 

Propulsion With the Space Launch System was published by NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement as part of a series of educator 

guides to help middle school students reach their potential to join the next-generation STEM workforce. The activities can be used in 

both formal and informal education settings as well as by families for individual use. Each of these activities is aligned to national 

standards for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and the NASA messaging is current as of September 

2019. 

STEM Education Standards 

The STEM disciplines matrix shown below aligns each activity in this module to standards for teaching STEM according to four 

primary focus areas within each discipline. The four focus areas for science were adapted from the Next Generation Science 

Standards (NGSS) middle school disciplinary core ideas. The four focus areas for technology were adapted from the International 

Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Standards for Students. The four focus areas for engineering were adapted from the 

National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) and NGSS science and engineering practices. The four focus areas for mathematics 

were adapted from the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for Math middle school content standards by domain. Find additional 

matrices in the Appendix: STEM Standards and Practices. 

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Activity 

STEM Disciplines 

Science Technology Engineering Math 

NGSS Disciplinary 

Core Ideas 

ISTE Standards 

for Students 

NSTA and NGSS 

Practices 

CCSS Content Standards by 

Domain 

Physical SciencesLife SciencesEarth and Space SciencesEngineering, Technology,and the Application ofSciencesKnowledge ConstructorInnovative DesignerComputational ThinkerGlobal CollaboratorAsk Questions and Define ProblemsDevelop and Use ModelsPlan and Carry OutInvestigationsConstruct Explanations and Design SolutionsRatios and ProportionalRelationshipsThe Number SystemStatistics and ProbabilityGeometry 

Design a Foam Rocket With 

Stabilizing Fins        

Track the Altitude of a 

Rocket     

Build a Multistage Balloon 

Rocket          

Optimize a Water Rocket 

Engine        
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Propulsion With the Space Launch System 

Engineering Design Process 

The engineering design process (EDP) is crucial to mission success at NASA. The EDP is an iterative process involving a series of 

steps that engineers use to guide them as they solve problems. The steps outlined below can be used by student teams to solve the 

challenges in this activity guide. Learn more about the EDP with NASA’s Educator Professional Development Collaborative at 

https://www.txstate-epdc.net/models-of-the-engineering-design-process/. 

1. ASK: Identify the problem, requirements that must be met, and the constraints that must be considered. 

2. IMAGINE: Brainstorm solutions and research what others have done in the past. 

3. PLAN: Select and sketch a design. 

4. CREATE: Build a model or a prototype. 

5. TEST: Evaluate solutions by testing and collecting data. 

6. IMPROVE: Refine the design. 

7. SHARE: Communicate and discuss the process and solutions as a group. 

Tip: In order to manage the dynamics within each team, it may be helpful to assign each student within the group a specific task, such 

as materials manager, design engineer, fabrication engineer, communications specialist, or team manager. Having each team 

member in charge of a different element of the task may reduce internal conflict within teams. 

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Propulsion With the Space Launch System 

Introduction and Background 

NASA’s Space Launch System, or SLS, is an advanced 

launch vehicle that provides the foundation for human 

exploration beyond low Earth orbit. With its unprecedented 

power and capabilities, the SLS is the only rocket that can 

send the Orion spacecraft, astronauts, and large cargo to the 

Moon on a single mission. The SLS team is producing 

NASA’s first exploration-class rocket built since the Saturn V. 

To fill NASA’s future needs for deep space missions, the 

SLS is designed to evolve into increasingly more powerful 

configurations and offer more payload mass, volume 

capability, and energy to speed missions through space 

than any current launch vehicle. This flexible design will 

open new possibilities for payloads, including robotic 

scientific missions to places like Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter. 

This evolvable design concept allows NASA to provide the 

Nation with a rocket able to pioneer new human spaceflight 

missions and revolutionary scientific missions in the 

shortest time possible, while continuing to develop 

configurations that are more powerful. The next wave of 

human exploration will take explorers farther into the solar 

system—developing new technologies, inspiring future 

generations, and expanding our knowledge about our place 

in the universe. 

Rocket Configurations 

The first SLS vehicle configuration is called Block 1. It 

weighs 2.6 million kg (5.75 million lb) when fueled and 

stands 98 m (322 ft) tall. That is taller than the Statue of 

Liberty. The SLS will produce 39.1 million newtons 

(8.8 million lb) of thrust at liftoff, equivalent to more than 

160,000 Corvette engines. The initial Block 1 configuration 

of the SLS can send more than 26 metric tons, or 57,000 lb, 

to orbits beyond the Moon. It will be powered by twin fivesegment solid rocket boosters and four RS–25 liquid 

propellant engines. After reaching space, the Interim 

Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) is capable of sending 

Orion on to the Moon. Using the Block 1 configuration, the 

first SLS mission, Artemis I, will launch an uncrewed Orion 

spacecraft to a stable orbit beyond the Moon and bring it 

back to Earth. This mission will demonstrate the integrated 

system performance of the SLS rocket, the Orion 

spacecraft, and ground support teams prior to a crewed 

flight. The second SLS mission is Artemis II, and it will launch Orion with a crew of up to four astronauts to a distance near the Moon 

that is farther than humans have ever ventured. 

Artist’s rendering of NASA’s Space Launch System. (NASA) 

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Propulsion With the Space Launch System 

Space Launch System (SLS) configurations. (NASA) 

The next planned evolution of the SLS, the Block 1B crew vehicle, will use a new, more powerful Exploration Upper Stage (EUS) to 

enable more ambitious missions to the proving ground of space near and beyond the Moon, where NASA will test systems needed 

for future missions to Mars. In a single launch, the Block 1B vehicle can carry the Orion spacecraft along with exploration systems 

such as a small deep space habitat module, or it can fly dedicated missions carrying larger exploration systems or science spacecraft 

under a payload fairing. The Block 1B crewed configuration will be approximately 111 m (364 ft) tall, which is taller than the Saturn V 

rocket that took astronauts to the Moon. 

A later evolution, Block 2, will provide 52.9 newtons (11.9 million lb) of thrust and will be the workhorse vehicle for assembling a 

human mission to Mars and sending cargo to the Moon, Mars, and other deep space destinations. SLS Block 2 will be designed to 

lift more than 45 metric tons (99,000 lb) to deep space. 

Rocket Technologies 

The Boeing Company in Huntsville, Alabama, is developing the SLS core stage, including the avionics that will control the vehicle 

during flight. Towering more than 60 m (200 ft) tall with a diameter of 8.41 m (27.6 ft), the core stage will store 2.76 million L (730,000 

gal) of super-cooled liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen that will fuel the RS–25 engines for the SLS. The core stage is being built at 

NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans using state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment, including a friction stir welding 

tool that is the largest of its kind in the world. At the same time, the rocket’s avionics computer software is being developed at NASA’s 

Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. 

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Propulsion With the Space Launch System 

Initial Block 1 Configuration Concept for the Space Launch System. (NASA) 

In each configuration, the SLS will continue to use the same core stage design with 

four RS–25 engines for propulsion. Aerojet Rocketdyne of Sacramento, California, is 

upgrading an existing inventory of 16 RS–25 space shuttle engines to SLS 

performance requirements, including a new engine controller, nozzle insulation, and 

required operation at 1.8 million newtons (418,000 lb) of thrust, instead of the 1.76 

million newtons (395,000 lb) of thrust used for the space shuttle. 

Two shuttle-derived solid rocket boosters will be used for the initial flights of the SLS. 

Each one provides 16 million newtons (3.6 million lb) of thrust. Northrop Grumman 

is a company headquartered in Dulles, Virginia, and the prime contractor for the 

boosters. To provide the additional power needed for the rocket, they had to modify 

the boosters from the shuttle’s configuration, which used four propellant segments, 

to a five-segment version. The design also includes new avionics, propellant design, 

case insulation, and elimination of the recovery parachutes. Northrop Grumman has 

successfully completed a full-duration booster qualification ground test. 

The initial capability to propel Orion out of Earth’s orbit for Artemis I will come from 

an ICPS, which was modified from the successful second stage of the United Launch 

Alliance’s Delta IV family of rockets. Cryogenic propellants are fluids chilled to 

extremely cold temperatures and condensed to form liquids that can be used 

to provide high-energy propulsion. The ICPS will generate 110,093 newtons 

(24,750 lb) of thrust. The big in-space push comes from one RL–10 engine, which 

was the Nation's first liquid hydrogen-oxygen engine used in the upper stages of the 

Apollo-Saturn program. 

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RS–25 engine undergoing a hot-fire test. (NASA) 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Propulsion With the Space Launch System 

Four RS–25 engines that will power the Space Launch System. (Aerojet Rocketdyne/NASA) 

While work progresses on the initial Block 

1 SLS, an advanced development team is 

investing in new systems and technologies 

that will make the SLS even more 

powerful, while improving affordability and 

increasing reliability. This evolved, flexible 

approach lets the SLS carry out a wide 

variety of missions sooner, while 

incrementally increasing the power of the 

vehicle. 

Future configurations of the SLS will 

include the larger EUS for more capable 

human and robotic missions to deep 

space. The EUS will replace the Block 1 

ICPS and utilize an 8.4-m- (27.6-ft-) 

diameter forward liquid hydrogen tank and 

a smaller diameter liquid oxygen tank. 

Reaching the SLS’s full potential will 

require many advanced technologies, 

including boosters with a significant 

increase in performance over existing 

boosters. NASA has engaged with 

industry teams to research benefits, new 

technologies, and strategies for liquid and 

solid advanced boosters that reduce risks 

while enhancing affordability, improving 

reliability, and meeting performance goals 

of the future. 

Infographic showing Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS). 

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Propulsion With the Space Launch System 

Artist’s rendering of Space Launch System liftoff. (NASA) 

Infographic summarizing features of the Space Launch System’s solid rocket boosters. 

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