Yesterday evening my daughter and I were enthralled, watching my phone screen in the living room floor — the big ancient piano looming behind us like a sentinel — watching a rocket climb into a sky that turned the color of a fresh peach over the Florida coast. Nobody said anything for a few seconds. Then she looked up at me and asked, “Mom, are they going to the moon right now?”
And I got to say yes! Kind of. Yes.
Because on April 1, 2026 — no, not an April Fool’s joke, though the timing is delightfully chaotic — NASA launched four astronauts on a 10-day journey around the Moon: Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. They lifted off at 6:35 p.m. ET from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. And for the first time in 52 years — since the last Apollo mission in December 1972 — human beings left Earth’s protective bubble and headed into deep space.
Fifty-two years. That’s longer than many of us have been alive. Our parents may not even remember the last mission in the 70s!
Artemis II is the first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit (LEO, for us Space Nerds!) since Apollo 17 in December 1972. This is history. Unmistakable, goosebump-raising, call-your-kids-in-from-outside history.
And if you homeschool, you already know: this is exactly the kind of moment that turns into a whole unit study.
So. Let’s go!
Why This Moment Actually Matters (and Isn’t Just “Cool”)
I want to stop here for a second, because sometimes in the homeschool world we get so busy slapping a worksheet onto something that we forget to actually feel the weight of what’s happening.
Artemis II is the first time humans have left Earth’s protective environment and traveled into deep space since the Apollo program ended more than half a century ago. Think about that. An entire generation — two generations — grew up with no human beings traveling past our planet’s neighborhood. The International Space Station? It orbits at around 250 miles up. That’s barely a hop. Deep space is something else entirely.
(Cue the Deep Space 9 theme song…)
For the crew of Artemis II, the mission is expected to surpass the record for the farthest distance from Earth a human has ever traveled — a record previously set by Apollo 13, at 248,655 miles from Earth.
They’re not just going to the moon’s neighborhood; they could literally go farther into space than any human in all of recorded history.
If that doesn’t make you put down your almond milk latte and stare at the ceiling for a second, I don’t know what will.
The Artemis II test flight is NASA’s first mission with crew aboard the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft, and it will help test the life support systems for the first time with humans aboard, laying the groundwork for future crewed missions.
The mission is called a free-return trajectory — meaning they fly around the Moon and the Moon’s own gravity swings them home, like a cosmic slingshot.
No lunar landing, no Steps for Mankind, this time. Kind of sad, but that comes later. This is the “we haven’t done this in a while, so let’s make sure everything works” trip. The test run. Which, as any homeschool parent knows, is actually the most important part of any experiment.
Now. Science time.
Up, Up, and Away: A Layered Look at Earth’s Atmosphere
Before we can talk about what it means to leave Earth’s atmosphere, we need to know what we’re leaving. And this — this right here — is where I get unreasonably excited, because the layers of the atmosphere are genuinely fascinating and wildly underrated as a science topic.
These layers go with us as we orbit around the sun and exist nested in the actual blackness of farther-out space. The Actual Spacey Space.
Think of our atmosphere like the world’s most complicated layered cake. (Stay with me.) Each layer has its own personality, its own temperature rules, and its own job to do.
Here they are, bottom to top:
🌱 The Troposphere: Where We Live
The troposphere is the lowest layer of our atmosphere. Starting at ground level, it extends upward to about 10 km (6.2 miles or about 33,000 feet) above sea level. We humans live in the troposphere, and nearly all weather occurs in this lowest layer. Most clouds appear here, mainly because 99% of the water vapor in the atmosphere is found in the troposphere.
This is us. Right here. Every thunderstorm, every rainbow, every sunrise your kids have watched from your backyard — all of it happening in this relatively thin bottom layer. It’s the layer that makes Earth feel like home. Temperature drops as you go higher, which is why mountaintops are cold even in summer.
Lesson connection: Commercial airplanes fly at the very top of the troposphere or just into the stratosphere — around 35,000 feet. And yet Artemis II blasted through this entire layer in seconds.
☀️ The Stratosphere: Where the Ozone Hangs Out
The stratosphere extends from 4–12 miles above Earth’s surface to around 31 miles. This layer holds 19 percent of the atmosphere’s gases but very little water vapor.
The stratosphere contains the ozone layer, which protects the planet from the Sun’s harmful UV radiation. Because of this absorption, temperatures in the stratosphere increase with altitude — which is the opposite of the troposphere. Warmer as you go up. Weird, right? But it makes sense once you know that the ozone is absorbing all that ultraviolet energy from the sun.
Large jets sometimes fly in the stratosphere because it is calmer and has less turbulence than the troposphere. No weather up here. Just smooth, fast air and a shield made of three-oxygen molecules protecting every living thing below.
❄️ The Mesosphere: The Mysterious Middle
The mesosphere exists from about 50 km to about 85 km above the Earth. Moving upward through the mesosphere, the temperature once again decreases. Not much is known about the mesosphere because it is too high for aircraft or even weather balloons to reach. Even satellites can’t give us much information because they orbit above the mesosphere and cannot directly measure conditions within this mysterious layer.
The mesosphere is, honestly, the awkward middle child of atmosphere layers. Too high for planes. Too low for satellites. Almost entirely unstudied up close.
But here’s the cool part: the gases in the mesosphere are thick enough to slow down meteors hurtling into the atmosphere, where they burn up, leaving fiery trails in the night sky. Shooting stars! Every meteor shower you’ve ever oohed at? That’s the mesosphere doing its job. Quietly spectacular.
🔥 The Thermosphere: Where It Gets Weird
High-energy X-rays and UV radiation from the Sun are absorbed in the thermosphere, raising its temperature to hundreds or at times thousands of degrees. However, the air in this layer is so thin that it would feel freezing cold to us. In many ways, the thermosphere is more like outer space than a part of the atmosphere. In fact, the approximate boundary between our atmosphere and outer space, known as the Kármán Line, is in the thermosphere, at an altitude of about 100 km. Many satellites actually orbit Earth within the thermosphere.
The International Space Station lives here. Aurora borealis happens here. And the temperature readings are, technically, thousands of degrees — but because there are so few molecules that there’s almost nothing to transfer that heat to your skin, you’d actually feel cold. It’s a strange physics paradox that delights my nerdy little heart.
The Kármán Line — 100 km up — is the official starting line of outer space. Cross that, and you’re an astronaut.
Normal people generally call this “Space” but it actually is still inside Earth’s atmosphere, technically. Ask a Star Trek nerd if you have any questions…
🌌 The Exosphere: The Edge of Everything
The exosphere is our final atmospheric layer. Here, the air is so thin that it is nearly identical to the conditions in outer space. Gas particles are spread so far apart that they rarely even collide, instead spending their time floating aimlessly and undisturbed. The top of the exosphere is difficult to pinpoint because it gradually fades into outer space.
Different definitions place the top of the exosphere somewhere between 100,000 km and 190,000 km above the surface of Earth. The latter value is about halfway to the Moon!
Halfway to the Moon. And Artemis II went past all of this, past every single layer, out into the dark and the starlight.
The Science Happening on Board
Here’s where things get properly cool for older students.
Perhaps the most cutting-edge human health study on Artemis II is an “organ on a chip” experiment. Researchers asked each of the astronauts to donate platelets from blood before the space flight. From those donations, scientists extracted and froze immature bone marrow cells, placed them onto chips about the size of a USB drive, and sent one chip with each astronaut while keeping the other on Earth. After the flight, researchers will compare both chips to see whether the cells that flew in space experienced more DNA damage and other signs of alteration.
Organ. On. A. Chip. We live in the most fascinating timeline.
There are also five CubeSats from international partners aboard Artemis II, selected from nations that are signatories to the Artemis Accords, intended to advance global scientific and technological research while broadening international access to deep space. Germany’s TACHELES will examine the impact of space conditions on electrical components used in lunar vehicles, while Argentina’s ATENEA satellite will study radiation shielding, map the surrounding radiation environment, and test a long-distance communication system.
For a mission that isn’t even landing, there is a lot going on.
Hands-On Projects and Experiments
All right. Let’s get to the good stuff.
🚀 Build a Bottle Rocket (All Ages)
This super fun bottle rocket from Steam Powered Family is easy to make. She even has instructions to make a launch pad. I’m sure you probably have all these ingredients at home already. There’s even a chemistry lesson in this one. We have made many a bottle rocket around here! It is always fun!
Science connection: Talk about drag, thrust, and how the SLS rocket had to generate 8.8 million pounds of thrust just to push through the atmosphere layers we just learned about.
🌙 Make Moon Craters (Elementary–Middle)
You can make lunar impact craters using common kitchen supplies — a pan of flour or sand, dropping objects from different heights, and observing the results. Drop marbles, rocks, or balls of different sizes from different heights into a tray of flour (put cocoa powder or cinnamon on top for contrast). The craters you make will actually look like real lunar craters.
Bonus: this connects directly to what Artemis crews will eventually be exploring near the Moon’s South Pole.
Discussion question: Why does the Moon have so many craters but Earth doesn’t? (Hello, atmosphere lesson callback!)
🧪 Make Your Own Atmosphere Model
KidsActivities.com has a great idea for this! Take a clear plastic bottle or a tall glass cylinder. Layer different elements represent the atmosphere layers (see instructions). Label each layer. This physical model helps kids really see how the layers stack up and builds vocabulary in a way that sticks.
For older students: have them calculate the ratios to scale. If the troposphere is 12 km and the whole atmosphere extends roughly 10,000 km to the exosphere boundary, how big would your model need to be to show the troposphere at an accurate scale? (Hint: it would be enormous. The atmosphere layers are almost absurdly thin relative to the whole.)
🛸 Design Your Own Mission Patch (Art + History + Critical Thinking)
The Artemis II crew designed their mission patch to make “AII” — for “Artemis II” — styled to look like the word “All,” because they wanted everybody to feel part of the mission. Pilot Victor Glover said: “We want everybody to be a part of this mission.”
Have your kids design their own mission patch. What would they put on it? What values, what images, what words? This is sneakily wonderful for all ages — it pulls in art, symbolism, teamwork, and values-clarification all at once. Frame them when you’re done. These are keepers.
Download this official NASA PDF activity page – it shows kids exactly how to design their own patch!
🌠 Atmosphere Layer Flip Book (Middle School)
“Let’s learn about the layers of the Earth’s atmosphere! Learning the layers and what goes on within each one can be confusing and sometimes overwhelming for students! This flip book makes learning the layers fun and helps when it comes time to study! The note taking sheet also helps students separate the information by layers when learning!”
This template is from Msgscraftycorner on Teacher’s Pay Teachers.
Books About Space!
Here’s the reading list — organized by age, because I know you’re reading this with a toddler on your hip and a middle schooler somewhere in the house pretending to do math.
Picture Books (Ages 3–8)
You Are Going — Illustrated by former NASA intern Shane Tolentino, this book shares a glimpse into future Artemis missions, covering the SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft, the Gateway, and more. It includes a downloadable copy of the book, a read-aloud video with NASA astronauts (yes, read by actual astronauts!), a coloring book, and a comprehension guide.
Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11 by Brian Floca — Gorgeous blank verse and pen-and-ink illustrations that evoke the adventures of superheroes in graphic novels, capturing the excitement of the Apollo 11 mission. This one reads aloud like a poem. It’s genuinely beautiful.
The Darkest Dark by Chris Hadfield — The picture book of how Canada’s most famous astronaut overcame his fear of the dark after watching the Apollo 11 moon landing. Lovely for the Canadian connection with Artemis II astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
Elementary/Middle (Ages 7–14)
Margaret and the Moon by Dean Robbins — About Margaret Hamilton, the software engineer whose code got Apollo to the Moon. The photo of her standing next to a stack of printouts as tall as she was went viral for a reason.
Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11 on the Moon by Catherine Thimmesh — This book uses photos, documents, and other primary sources to show all the scientists, seamstresses, designers, suit testers, and more who worked to make the dream of walking on the Moon a reality. Perfect for kids who want to know how something happened, not just that it happened. Great STEM career connections too.
Luciana Vega, An American Girl Series, by Erin Teagan – Did you know that there was an American Girl astronaut? Yes! While Luciana and her accessories are hard to find now since she was the American Girl of the Year in 2018, her books are still available. They are quite fun and relatable.
“Luciana is over the moon–she’s going to Space Camp! But when she’s picked to lead her team in a robot challenge, instead of rocketing her crew to success she steers them straight into trouble. After that, her teammates don’t trust her. In fact, Luci’s pretty sure they don’t even like her. It’s great to be good at science-but Luci learns that it’s not enough. If she’s ever going to make it to Mars, she’s got to be someone her crew can depend on, no matter what.”
Older Students (Ages 12+)
Destination Moon: The Remarkable and Improbable Voyage of Apollo 11 by Richard Maurer — An outstanding book that sets Apollo 11 in the historical context of the Cold War, including information on the Soviet space programs — reads like a novel.
Forward to the Moon with Artemis Explorer Activities (NASA Activity Book) — Available on Amazon, this NASA-official activity book covers the Artemis program with engaging science activities and is great for self-directed older learners. The link above is a free PDF download from NASA.
For the truly space-obsessed teen: pull up the official NASA Artemis blog and read it live alongside the mission. Primary sources. Real science. Real time.
NASA’s Free Resources
NASA is genuinely one of the most generous educational institutions on the planet. They want kids to care about this stuff.
- nasa.gov/learning-resources — Unit studies, videos, coloring books, drawing guides, paper models of the SLS rocket and Orion spacecraft, all free
- moon.nasa.gov — Moon activities, impact crater simulations, the Lunar Melt citizen science project where your kids can identify craters in real lunar photos
- NASA’s Join the Artemis Mission page — includes interactive tools like simulations, open data, and game platforms to help students build confidence and curiosity in STEM subjects
- The Adventures of Commander Moonikin Campos — A webcomic about the manikins that flew on Artemis I. It’s a painless way to learn what the mission was actually testing.
Putting It Together: A Simple Week-by-Week Plan
If you want to make this a full unit study, here’s a loose framework. Adjust for your ages and your pace.
Week 1 — The Atmosphere Read about the layers. Make your atmosphere model or flip book. Do the straw rocket experiment. Watch a rocket launch video (NASA has them free on YouTube) and pause to talk about what layer the rocket is passing through at each stage.
Week 2 — The Moon and Apollo History Read-alouds from the book list. Watch clips from the Apollo 11 mission. Do the moon crater experiment. Study the Greek myth of Artemis — why did NASA name the program after her?
Week 3 — Artemis Today Follow the Artemis II mission live (or in recorded coverage). Design mission patches. Use NASA’s free activity pages. Watch the Artemis children’s book read-alouds. Older students: research one of the crew members and write a short biography.
Week 4 — Future Missions and Careers At the Moon, Artemis astronauts will search for water on the lunar surface and test ways to use it, and eventually live and work on the surface of another celestial body. Many different types of jobs are working together to make Artemis a success — exploration geologist, astronaut, and many more. Have your kids pick a space-related career to research. What education would they need? What skills? Write it up, narrate it, draw it — whatever fits your learner.
One More Thing
When the Artemis II rocket cleared the launch tower and my kids sat staring at that screen, I thought about Madeleine L’Engle — how she wrote about a universe so vast and so ordered that wonder and faith were the only reasonable responses to it.
Probably my favorite sermon of all time, Louie Giglio talks about the beauty and vastness of space and helps put it all into perspective! I highly recommend this video!
We live in a solar system where one small blue planet grew a thin, layered shell of air and water and ozone, perfectly calibrated to hold life. And now, for the second time in human history, four people left that shell behind and flew toward the Moon.
Genesis 1 calls the Moon “the lesser light to govern the night.” Lesser light. As if it’s the understated one. And here we are, sending our bravest explorers to go circle it and come home.
