Rocket Launch!

Never underestimate how cool explosives can be to a three year old.  We've been kicking around the idea of forming a preschool model rocket club, but then we realized that all the other parents would be aghast - and we have a pretty bad track record anyway. The rockets are simple Estes kits from Michael's with standard Estes engines - we used B6 engines in ChaseKBH's Estes Riptide.  There's not a ton of ability to customize the outside of these rockets, but putting them together is maybe a five minute job, and a reasonably dexterous three year old can handle it with minimal parental assistance.

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Visitor Center

 Not far off 295, I-95, and I-495, in the land of parking lots and office parks, lies a gateway to the final frontier - the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.  Though most of Goddard is off limits to the public, they have a lovely Visitor Center that's perfect for an afternoon or morning excursion - and despite its small size is high on our list of favorite places for the toddler set - and despite it's lack of a playroom, the play area and the rocket garden, I would classify the Visitor Center as one of the top play areas for the (well-supervised) preschooler in the D.C. area.

The inside of the Visitor Center houses a number of exhibits about NASA and space exploration.  The area is currently under reconstruction, so things are changing.  There are a number of cool interactive displays that are surprisingly (well-supervised) kid friendly.  The curator has done a magnificent job at explaining ideas in simple English rather than jargon.  I also give thanks for my smart phone since the exhibits always prompt more questions - and it's been a dozen years since I took a science class.  

Of particular interest are the models of NASA's various manned and unmanned space craft.  Though the shuttle seems as retro to ChaseKBH's cohort as the Gemini capsule seems to our generation.  My  first and most vivid childhood memory was standing at the edge of the roadway, watching a 747 carrying a space shuttle on its back.  I remember my Dad explaining how the shuttle could fly into space, but couldn't fly cross-country.  I think I was also promised a flying car and tourism to the moon, but I digress.

But the draws of the Visitor Center are more the mere models of spacecraft.  On our three trips ChaseKBH has learned about the Big Bang, the colors and noise of space, and how very, very small the Earth really is in the great cosmos.  We've also learned a lot about tsunamis and global warming from the science on a sphere presentations in the theater - I can't wait until he's old enough to attend lectures from people who can answer his questions a whole lot better than I can.

Of course the favorite exhibit is the model of a Gemini capsule which visitors can climb into and marvel at the tight space.  The Big Bang seems totally plausible compared to the idea that any person could spend two weeks in this tiny space without any comforts whatsoever. We had to explain why there was no video screens, nothing that ChaseKBH would consider a computer, no touch pads, no keys, and none of the basic technology the kid takes for granted every day.

The rocket garden outside houses some fantastic pieces.  It's also a nice outdoor space where small people can wiggle - and it's very stroller accessible.  On the first Sunday of the month, rockets are launched in the rocket garden.  It's a nice history of the American space program.  However, its rather difficult to explain the history of the space program in the context of the Cold War to people who post-date communism, have never lived a day without a major military operation, and who fear acts of terror rather than nuclear holocaust.  

 The play area is fantastic, if small.  There is a crate of space related toys, books, and puzzles.  And most importantly, space helmets.    You simply cannot properly pretend to be an astronaut visiting Mars then flying through Jupiter without a helmet. There is of course also a gift shop where more toys can be purchased - and one that has lightened my purse considerably.

As children both Jamie and I had a fascination with space and astronauts - but I think we were the exception.  Somehow the excitement of the space program skipped our generation.  I think ChaseKBH's generation will pick up our slack.  Almost every morning that I drop him off at preschool some child excitedly tells me what s/he saw from Curiosity that morning, what to do when going to Mars, or how things fall around the Earth without falling into it.  If the moon is mentioned, a good handful follows up and asks to which planet's moon the ignorant grownup refers.  They also have a wonder about how the world works that I can't remember having - they know that its their natural right to understand the entire universe as immediately as possible.

Building Rockets

 I begin this post by acknowledging my many, many failures in life and as a parent.  First, my many failures with physics and my thought that its laws were suggestions.  And the fact that my husband and I, not exactly the model parents, think its appropriate to all the three year old's hobby to include explosives.  However, it is incredibly, incredibly cool.  The good folks at NARHAMS Model Rocket Club # 139 hold public launches at NASA Goddard's Visitor Center on the first Sunday of the month, at 1 p.m.  We stumbled upon this after visiting on the first Saturday of the month.  Jamie has been bugging me about letting ChaseKBH build model rockets for about a year, however, I vetoed previous attempts because we had no reasonable place to launch.  And our family has issues with fire.  NARHAMS and Goddard  to the rescue.

We built two simple Estes model rockets for the launch, purchased from Michael's, using standard Estes engines.  ChaseKBH's rocket is a Estes Riptide, adorned only with his name in black Sharpie.  He chose it because it was blue.  The Riptide deploys a parachute to cushion its landing, after ejecting its nosecone.

In our house, these items are referred to as "fire pressure" rockets.  Previously, ChaseKBH launched some air pressure rockets.  We explained that these rockets are launched after a spark ignites the engine, which burns and provides energy to launch the rocket upwards.  ChaseKBH invented the term fire pressure. While I don't think he exactly gets the physics, he does understand ignition --> fire --> push the rocket heavenward.  Not terrible for someone who doesn't yet have a preschool education.