Rocket Launch

 

This week at After School To-Go, we’ve given girls three challenges to test their skills at designing and building their own paper rockets. Up, up, and away!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Students learned concepts that are vital to the Aerospace Engineer career. Aerospace engineers who work specifically with spacecraft are astronautical engineers, who develop new technologies for use in space exploration and space flight. This week was unique in that students were given the opportunity to design their first challenge! Girls determined a launch angle and stomped on a water bottle launcher to propel a pre-made rocket into the air. For the second challenge, girls were given materials to build their own rocket. Students based their designs on the pre-made rocket that was launched in the first challenge, as well as on their memories of rockets they had seen.

 

 

Students put their designs to the test with the water bottle launcher and recorded the height and distance their rockets traveled. The final challenge was a test of accuracy. Students modified their rockets with fins then launched them one more time. Students observed the straightness of their rocket’s flight and brainstormed future modifications. At Girlstart, it IS rocket science!