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 B2 version looks at how SpaceX went from near-bankruptcy to a record-breaking giant, and the criticism it faces, with vocabulary for business, success and risk.
Level: B2 · 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 and phrases from the article to their meanings before reading (ambition, sceptical, breakthrough, rival, peak, transform…).
- Reading: SpaceX, From Near-Bankruptcy to Record-Breaking Giant – An article with 12 gaps. Choose without a word bank or with a word bank for extra support.
- Vocabulary: People, Things and Actions – Sort 15 space words (astronaut, astronomer, satellite, booster, launch, orbit…) into three groups.
- Discussion: Space, Risk and Ambition – 12 discussion questions on private vs government space travel, one-person control, space junk and missed deadlines.
- 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: look at the language of success and failure in the article (ended in failure, close to running out of cash, a breakthrough, did not last, timelines that have slipped). Students use it to describe a project of their own.
- 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 lower-level group? Try the B1 version of this lesson.