Women of NASA Activities

An interest in the future of space exploration is on the rise, so your kids are probably already pretty familiar with NASA–the the National Aeronautics and Space Administration! One of the big things going on in space exploration right now is an effort to bring more awareness to the roles that women have played in aeronautics. Women have been doing important work for NASA for years, but have often been doing so “behind the scenes.” There also a strong movement towards more public female representation in NASA, going forward. In fact, one of the first goals of NASA’s new Artemis Program is to see the first woman land on the moon!

It’s exciting to see more mindful female representation in this very cool field, which has long been stereotyped as predominantly male. Teaching our girls (and boys) about some of the important women who have already been a vital part of the work at NASA can hopefully encourage even more girls and women to pursue careers in science and aeronautics. This collection of Women of NASA Activities will introduce your kids to 5 inspiring women who have made important contributions to NASA over the last several decades!

What’s Included:

This printable contains 15 pages of information and interactive activities involving 5 of the women who have done important work for NASA:

Mae Jemison
Margaret Hamilton
Katherine Johnson
Sally Ride
Vera Rubin

For each woman that is featured, this printable includes a short biography and an in-depth page for students to fill out about her life (which includes a fun cartoon of each woman that can be colored). There is also a writing prompt about life in space, and two, space-themed coloring pages!

How to Use It:

While this printable is very friendly towards younger children, you could also easily adapt it to use with older kids and teens. The fill-in-the-blank activities and creative writing prompt are open-ended enough that you can ask your older kids for more/more specific responses while allowing younger kids to keep things short and simple. If you are using this with older kids, you could also include more research about each woman and perhaps have them choose one of them as inspiration for an essay! You could also dive into some documentaries and/or watch the movie Hidden Figures (which tells about Katherine Johnson and 2 of the other women of NASA’s earlier years).

We hope you enjoy learning about these amazing and innovative women of NASA! Grab your printable by clicking the link below.