Grade Level: 7th and 8th Grade | Duration: 50 minutes
This immersive role-playing simulation places students in the roles of the Apollo 13 crew members who must manage their spacecraft’s limited battery power to survive the journey back to Earth. Following the famous 1970 mission where an oxygen tank explosion damaged the spacecraft’s power systems, students work collaboratively to solve real-world mathematical problems involving energy management, learning the critical difference between power (watts) and energy (watt-hours) while making life-or-death decisions about which systems to run and when. The lesson addresses Alabama College and Career Ready Standards in both mathematics and science, including solving multi-step problems with rational numbers and applying the law of conservation of energy.
Learning Objectives
Students will use a real-world scenario to investigate energy transfer and determine the difference between power and energy. Students will construct an argument about the importance of energy conservation in space and connect that understanding to the relevance of conserving energy on Earth.
Background & Context
Energy is critical to humanity’s survival both on Earth and in space. The use of energy in space is especially sensitive because readily available sources of energy, like those on Earth, may not be available—and everything uses up available energy to function.
The Apollo 13 mission famously experienced a catastrophic oxygen tank pressure valve failure that damaged external equipment, caused an unexpected spin, and pushed the spacecraft off course. Control jets were used to stop the spin and adjust to a new course, but the scheduled moon landing had to be called off. While returning to Earth, the crew experienced numerous other equipment failures due to damage and the change in mission activities.
This activity uses the Apollo 13 crisis as an analogy for Earth’s energy situation. Humanity’s survival on Earth is similar to that aboard Apollo 13, though the space example is more apparent because of its compressed timescale. On Earth, just as in space, humanity has only limited natural resources available and is sensitive to its external environment. While the scale is drastically larger on Earth and may hide some consequences, humanity is currently playing a real-life version of this simulation—expending energy without thought to long-term survival.
Lesson Activities & Structure
Engage Phase (10 minutes) – “Put on a show!”
Students use page 1 of the student guide to role play as members of an astronaut crew. Working in groups of 4, students assign roles (Mission Specialist, Flight Engineer, Payload Commander, and Science Pilot) and take turns reading their character’s dialogue aloud. This establishes the scenario: an oxygen tank explosion has damaged most of the spacecraft’s batteries, leaving only 9 kilowatt-hours of energy to power all essential systems for the 6-hour journey back to Earth.
Explore Phase (35 minutes) – “Work together!”
Students work in groups of 4 to complete four sequential tasks on the student guide. Before beginning Task #1, the teacher displays the conversion formulas on the board: 1000 watts = 1 kilowatt, and 1000 watts × 60 minutes = 1 kilowatt hour. Importantly, students should work on Task #1 WITHOUT prior instruction on power versus energy—allowing them to discover the concepts through problem-solving.
Task #1 – Save the Ship: Teams must schedule when to run each spacecraft system (Navigation at 1 kW, Lighting at 0.5 kW, Heating at 1.5 kW, Communications at 0.5 kW, and Computers/Sensors at 0.5 kW) across twelve 30-minute intervals. Constraints include: each system must run for at least 2 hours total, the battery cannot handle more than 1.5 kW of demand at once, and the crew cannot go more than 2 hours without heat. Students track remaining battery capacity as they fill in the scheduling grid.
Task #2 – Report Back to Houston: Students answer mission control’s questions about their plan: Why did they choose those systems and times? Are their choices realistic? How will they handle unexpected events?
Task #3 – The Power Is In Your Hands: After reading explanatory content about the relationship between power and energy, students explain how they will use power to make it back to Earth, using drawings to support their argument.
Task #4 – Saving Energy On Earth: Students reflect on their spacecraft energy management experience and provide examples of how the public can manage and conserve energy in everyday life on Earth.
Evaluate Phase (5 minutes) – “Discuss it!”
Students discuss reflection questions as a class: What is the difference between power and energy? What lessons about energy can you learn for use in your own lives today? What does the example in space tell us about our home on Earth? Was this role of managing energy difficult? Do utilities perform this function for us on Earth all the time without us thinking about it?
Materials Included
The lesson PDF contains a complete 4-page “Apollo 13 – Return to Earth Student Guide” with the following components:
Page 1 – Role Play Setup
- “Name of Astronaut” header with date and class fields
- Famous quote: “Houston, we’ve had a problem here.” —John “Jack” Swigert & James “Jim” Lovell
- Instructions for assigning crew roles
- Four character dialogue boxes (Mission Specialist, Flight Engineer, Payload Commander, Science Pilot) providing scenario information and system power requirements
- Astronaut illustration
Page 2 – Tasks #1 and #2
- Constraint summary (9 kWh capacity, 2-hour minimum per system, 1.5 kW maximum demand, 2-hour heat requirement)
- 12-column scheduling grid (30-minute intervals from 0:30 to 6:00) with rows for each system and remaining battery capacity
- Task #2 reflection questions for reporting to Houston
- Spacecraft illustration
Page 3 – Task #3
- Explanatory content defining energy versus power with real-world examples
- Mathematical relationship: Power × Time = Energy
- Conversion example using a 100-watt solar panel
- Open response area for explaining power usage with drawings
- “‘Watt’ did you say?” astronaut illustration
Page 4 – Task #4
- Content about energy, work, and conservation
- Two reflection prompts connecting the spacecraft experience to everyday energy conservation
- Earth/hands illustration
Answer Key
- Sample solution for Task #1 showing one valid scheduling configuration
- Note that multiple correct solutions exist
Materials Required
For each student:
- Printed copy of “Apollo 13 – Return to Earth Student Guide” (4 pages)
For the teacher:
- Board or display for showing conversion formulas
This engaging simulation transforms abstract energy concepts into urgent, tangible problem-solving while drawing powerful parallels between spacecraft resource management and humanity’s broader relationship with Earth’s finite resources.