Stortford Space Camp: March 2008

Click on a photo to enlarge it.

A long and exciting day was had by all. Very creative and active with loads of success. First, a video of NASA prize awarded to several Welsh schools. Lots of rocket info. Then, on to constructing a simple but very effective straw rocket. After a short while, rockets were whizzing all over the hall. Minor adjustments were made before a competition to see which team managed the best aggregate distance. Apollo 12 team took the Easter egg prize, totalling 18 metres. Apollo 14 team had the best individual distance, recorded by Lizzie, measuring a hugely impressive 7 metres. Very well done Lizzie. Photos below. Georgie and Owen worked really hard to improve their designs and were successful in the end. Brilliant stuff to keep going. After this we then constructed a ring wing glider. Again, adjustments to the prototype were made before all were gliding, well most! Sam's gave the best show gliding successfully for several metres and staying airborne for 3 - 5 seconds. Great effort, Sam. Well done.

After this we watched a video of Major General Charlie Bolden who has been on 4 space flights in the shuttle. He explained how to design a mission patch. Then we all set about designing our own. Again, photos above show some great designs. Very carefully executed and coloured. A brief presentation by Owen, Isabel, Lizzie, Rachel and Alex was then heard. They gave reasons for their designs. I was especially impressed with the ideas for the Mars venture. Really imaginative and creative. I thought Billy and Jack's efforts were particularly good and deserve care in completing. The presentation was followed by a lunch break and games outside, before we came back in for the afternoon session.
This began with a look at the size of space and learning the order of the planets. If you could add these that you made up it would be really helpful, especially the one about men sleeping under newspapers. Alex's was also imaginative and clever. Post them on here if you have a chance.

Following this we had some laptop time, looking at the student CD before the main afternoon activity: constructing a paper and then cardboard rocket that would be fired by compressed air. Great results for the whole team, with Alex taking the award for furthest and highest. It travelled over 25 metres when propelled by air pressure of 60 pounds per square inch (psi) Superb rocket. Also worthy of mention were Robyn's, Ellie's, Claire's and Sofi's. Great designs. Josh worked hard to complete two great designs as seen above. Jack became creative with the fins, adding 12 in all. Sam, in trying to catch a returning rocket stopped it with his cheek. Rule 1 of rocketry: never try to catch one.

An absolutely super day, great efforts from everybody and a really good atmosphere throughout the whole day. Great fun.
Special thanks to Jim and Emma for giving up their day to help. I hope you enjoyed it, too as well as discovered new facts about rocketry and space.

See you all tomorrow
PS Could you please remember your CD and cardboard rocket. The Herts and Essex newspaper is coming to take photos for a report and the photgrapher maybe able to arrive tomorrow during lunch, so we could launch a few again for some professional photos. Also,if your paper rocket was not launched bring that one as well. Hope you have time to look at the CD and even get a few ideas down on your KWL sheet.