Lesson plan:

The relationship between Mike and his father, Tony Masters, is at crisis point in this episode but is resolved happily. The episode begins at the point at which Tony Masters is already at NASA in the United States but we learn about events before his departure through the exposition.

Explore the use of exposition in narrative

Exposition is the filling in of details which supposedly occurred before the narrative opens. After viewing have students describe the events that happened before the episode opens (eg. Mike's failure to say goodbye, his father forgetting his birthday).
Have students create the scene (not depicted in the episode) in which Tony Masters leaves for the United States. They can form into pairs and workshop the dialogue for later presentation to the class.

Discuss themes and audiences

This episode explores a number of themes - the lure of space travel, father/son relationships and the importance of communication in the resolution of conflict and misunderstanding. Discuss with the class which of the themes had appeal for them. Are there discernible gender differences in their preferences? How might they account for the different preferences.

Research a theme

Ask the students to explore one of the themes in further depth. They may use role play, written responses, library research or extended creative writing.

Discuss dramatic licence

Explain the concept of dramatic licence. The concept embraces a wide range of theatrical, literary and visual devices used to tell true stories within a fictional framework. Examples of dramatic licence are the use of composite characters. In this case the actions and motivations of several distinct people are merged into one character to simplify the narrative. This episode draws upon real life events (Apollo 13) but does not reproduce them. Play the space ship sequences and ask students to identify the use of dramatic licence.