clips for schools

"...stretching the imagination and creativity of young people."

Footagevault holds the largest searchable collection of space related film and video footage in the world. Our archive spans the 20th century and the first decades of the 21st century, covering everything from early experiments in powered flight and rocketry, through the space race and Apollo era to the Space Shuttle's 30 year history and on through the construction of the International Space Station and life on board it today. We have been working with schools and supplying material to support the UK's national curriculum teaching since we launched our searchable web site in late 2007, and through our support of projects like Our-space.

To get you going we have selected six clips below to incorporate into your lesson plans.

	1. Saturn V rocket lift-off, showing staging. This clip could be used for teaching key stage 3 and 4 content on energy, electricity and forces, or chemical and material behaviour. It dramatically shows Newton's Third Law of Motion in action, "to every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction...". The footage demonstrates the need for multiple stages of a rocket to reach the required velocity for orbit, due to the engineering challenge of balancing a rocket motor's power and the launch mass of propellant needed for it to lift off the ground. You can browse more rocket launch clips, including some which go wrong, by visiting this link or browse our complete Saturn V archive here and our Shuttle launch archive here.
	2. The hammer and the feather on the Moon. This classic Apollo 15 clip demonstrates that the mass of an object does not affect the time it takes to fall when dropped in a vacuum. The clip could be used in key stage 3 and 4 lessons on forces.
	3. Astronauts leaping on the Moon. Footage documenting the locomotion of humans on the moon under reduced gravity conditions is always fun to watch and can be used with key stage 3 and 4 students to start discussions about forces. This clip shows Apollo 17 astronaut Gene Cernan leaping towards the camera with great big kangaroo hops, proving that there is gravity on the Moon, albeit of a weaker force. Watch more clips of astronauts falling over on the Moon here and life on board space craft without gravity here.
	4. Apollo 1 fire - the aftermath. This historic footage was recorded at the top of the Apollo 1 rocket stack shortly after the fire which claimed the lives of the first Apollo astronauts, and shows how ferociously things burn in a high pressure pure oxygen environment. The engineers running this Apollo test procedure had pumped pure oxygen into this capsule without contemplating the dangers it posed to the crew. As you will see, even the aluminium inside the spacecraft has combusted in this oxygen rich atmosphere. This grim illustration of the effect of oxygen can be used to discuss chemical and material behaviour with key stage 3 and 4 students. You can browse more clips documenting the Apollo 1 fire story here.
	5. Astronauts on 'space walk' from the International Space Station. This vertiginous video clip shows an astronaut emerging from the Quest airlock on board the International Space Station. Further views recorded from a small camera mounted on the astronaut's helmet show the astronaut-eye view of his spacewalk, looking around the outside of the Space Station and the Space Shuttle with the Earth passing by 200 miles below. You can browse more astronaut-eye space-walk clips like this here.
	6. Playing with toys in zero gravity. Looking for a clip to illustrate momentum? Try this footage of astronaut Jeff Hoffman playing with a red toy car on a looped race track in zero gravity. The car's momentum and its centripetal force keep it on the race track initially, before friction slows it and without its circular momentum it just drifts off. You can browse more clips of astronauts fooling around with toys in space here.

Looking for other science curriculum friendly material - such as our collection on the Hubble Space telescope? Then please contact us for advice.

In the United Kingdom, for an annual fee of £129 per year *, each school can access as many of our m4v video files as they need. Please refer to our terms and conditions and FAQs for more details. To enquire about this service please contact us here.