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The Super Guppy

Middle school learnscience.org

Name Date

Predict

Some rocket parts are 15 to 20 feet wide. They’re too big for regular cargo planes. They’re also too fragile for a long, bumpy ride down the highway. Could a plane carry a rocket part that big inside its body?

Circle one. Yes / No

Why?

Watch

  1. Have you heard of the Super Guppy?youtube.com/shorts/VzgMYgg4Fwc

Word of the day

Aeronautics (air-uh-NAW-tiks). The science of flight. You’ve seen this word before, hiding in the A of NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Word partComes fromMeaning
aero-Greek āḗrair
naut-Greek naûsship
-icsGreek -ikaa science or field of study
  • An astronaut travels in space. Break the word apart and you get astro-, “star,” plus the naut of aeronaut.
  • A flute is an aerophone, an instrument you play with air.

Bonus word. Fuselage (FYOO-suh-lahzh). The fuselage is the main body of a plane, and the Super Guppy’s fuselage is extra wide. The word comes from the Latin word for spindle, after the plane’s tube shape.

Questions

  1. Some rocket parts are too big to travel by road or train. Tunnels, narrow roads, low bridges and power lines all get in the way. How does the Super Guppy get giant rocket parts past tunnels, bridges and power lines?

    Hint. Where does the rocket part ride? Where does the Super Guppy travel?

  2. The video says some rocket parts are too fragile for potholes on bumpy highways. And the drive to the launch site can be hundreds or even thousands of miles long. What makes a long highway trip so risky for a fragile rocket part?

    Hint. What does one pothole do to a fragile part? How many potholes does a truck hit in a thousand miles?

  3. The Super Guppy’s entire nose swings open, and cargo rolls straight into the plane on rails. Why would a plane that hauls giant cargo open at the nose instead of using a door on the side?

    Hint. Picture a rocket part almost as wide as the Super Guppy’s body. Could that part squeeze through a door on the side?

  4. Some cargo planes can carry heavier loads than the Super Guppy. But few cargo planes have as much room inside. Why would NASA pick the Super Guppy for a rocket part that’s huge but light?

    Hint. What’s the problem with this rocket part, its size or its weight?

Exit ticket

Before moving a rocket part, NASA engineers check the part’s size, how fragile the part is and how far the part has to go. You’re the NASA engineer now. A fragile spacecraft part is 20 feet wide and has to travel 1,000 miles to Florida. How would you move the part, and what’s your reason?

Hint. Compare the part’s width with the Super Guppy’s 25-foot cargo bay. Then picture 1,000 miles of potholes.

Sources