SpaceX nearly went bankrupt after its first three rockets failed. Today it lands and reuses its rockets, runs the Starlink satellite network and, in June 2026, made the biggest stock market debut in history. This lesson tells the story and gets students talking about space, risk and ambition. This B1 version tells the story of the company, from failed launches to rockets that come back.
Level: B1 · Time: 45 to 90 minutes. Pick the activities that suit your class. They work in almost any order.
Lesson Activities
- Warmer: What’s Happening Here? – Reveal the picture tile by tile. What can students see? Where is it? What is happening? (It’s Starship, the biggest rocket ever built, lifting off from Texas.)
- Vocabulary: Pre-teach the Key Words – Match 10 words from the text to their meanings before reading (goal, fail, contract, reuse, satellite, delayed, criticise…).
- Reading: SpaceX, Rockets That Come Back – A graded text with 12 gaps. Choose with a word bank or without a word bank.
- Vocabulary: People, Things and Actions – Sort 15 space words (astronaut, astronomer, satellite, booster, launch, orbit…) into three groups.
- Discussion: Space, Rockets and the Future – 10 conversation questions about going to space, Mars, failure and spending money on space.
- Speaking: Ranking – Why explore space? Students rank nine reasons, from scientific discovery and finding life to making money and national pride, then compare with a partner.
Teacher Tips
- For a shorter lesson, use the warmer, the reading and the discussion cards.
- Language focus: the reading uses the past simple for the company’s history and the present simple for what it does today. Ask students to tell the story of a company they know in the same way.
- Business English classes: discuss what SpaceX’s early failures teach about risk and persistence.
- Follow-up: students design a mission poster or pitch for a trip to the Moon or Mars.
Teaching a stronger group? Try the B2 version of this lesson.