Racing Rockets Activity

Racing Rockets Activity Card You’ve seen a poster on the noticeboard in town: Director Windy Astralbody told us, “It’s a tall order but we hope competitors will set their sights high and maybe even break some records. We are looking for really creative ideas. Who knows, one day the winners might get to fly into space in a real rocket.” S ACING ROCKETS A new rocket competition is being launched today by the Space Research Association, ‘Racing Rockets’. RACING ROCKETS The competition invites children to design and fly a rocket. ACING ROCKETS Your challenge Can you design a rocket that will go the furthest? Building a proper rocket is difficult but you could investigate rocket shapes that might look something like this.

Discuss Are all rockets the same shape? What is important about the shape of rockets? RACING ROCKETS Does everyone agree? G ROCKETS Getting started This is how you make your basic rocket shape. Roll a strip of paper or card round a pencil (not too tightly) to make a tube. Tape it in 3 places to keep it together, then take the pencil out. Flatten one end of the tube, fold it over and secure it with tape. Slide the tube onto a straw. Blow your rocket across the room and see how far it goes. Don’t blow too hard. Test your ideas How you can improve its flight? Do you think fins will help? Where is the best place to put them? What shape should they be? What about the size of the rocket? Is card better than paper? Does it help to put some weight in the rocket? Try different rockets and choose the one that you think is best. Share your ideas Hold the ‘Racing Rockets’ competition. Each team needs to tell everyone else about their rocket design and then measure how far the rockets travel. Test each one three times. You could send your designs to Windy Astralbody and put the winning rockets on a podium. Extra things to do What other ways could you make a rocket? Find out what you can from books and the internet, then make and test some. You could write a consumer report to compare and contrast rockets. Several countries are trying to use rockets to travel into space. Can you find out more about them? British Science Association Registered Charity No. 212479 and SC039236