EXPLORE!
A Cooperative Project of the Lunar and Planetary Institute, NASA's
Office of Space Science, and public libraries
Activity:
Rockets: Build and Launch a Rocket!
Level:
Grades 5-8
To Take Home: Pop Rockets and Instructions
Background Information
The History of Rocketry
To design and build a rocket to explore space, you need to be able to figure out how big
to make it, how heavy it can be, how fast it will have to go, how much fuel it needs, etc.
For that you need a theory of how things move in space and how to make the
calculations. Almost all early theory of space flight was worked out over a period of
nearly three centuries from 1600 to 1900.
Johannes Kepler was the German mathematician who in 1609 figured out the equations
for orbiting planets and satellites. In particular, he determined that the planets move in
ellipses (ovals) rather than true circles.
In 1687 Isaac Newton wrote a landmark work describing basic laws of force, motion, and
gravitation, and invented a new branch of mathematics in the process (calculus). He did
all this to show how the force of gravity is the reason that planets’ orbits follow Kepler’s
equations.
In 1903 Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, a Russian schoolteacher who, without ever launching a
single rocket himself, was the first to figure out all the basic equations for rocketry. From
his reading, including Jules Verne’s "From the Earth to the Moon," he concluded that
space travel was a possibility, that it was in fact man’s destiny, and that rockets would be
the way to do it.
Tsiolkovsky anticipated and solved many of the problems that rocket powered flight
would encounter and drew up several rocket designs. He determined that liquid fuel
rockets would be needed to get to space and that the rockets would need to be built in
stages. He concluded that oxygen and hydrogen would be the most powerful fuels to use.
He had predicted in general how, 65 years later, the Saturn V rocket would operate for
the first landing of men on the Moon.
Robert Goddard, an American who is now called "the father of modern rocketry," was the
man who designed, built, and flew many of the earliest rockets. He was a university
professor who also developed the theory of rocketry and, although he didn't know about
Tsiolkovsky's work, reached the same conclusions as the Russian. He was also heavily
influenced by the science fiction of Jules Verne, and he worked hard to develop rockets
because he wanted to see them take us into space. When he first published his well
written study proposing that rockets could be used to travel to the Moon, many people
thought it was a crazy idea.
In 1926 Goddard launched the world’s first liquid fueled rocket. In the course of his
experiments in Massachusetts and later in Roswell, New Mexico, he worked to develop
many aspects of rocket technology, earning more than 200 patents. By himself he
developed the same components and designs that hundreds of German scientists and
engineers arrived at independently at great expense at Peenemunde during World War II.
After reading Jules Verne’s From Earth to the Moon as a boy of 11, the German scientist
Hermann Oberth became determined to find a way to travel into space. He independently
arrived at the same rocketry principles as Tsiolkovsky and Goddard. In 1929 he
published The Rocket Into Interplanetary Space, a highly influential book that was
internationally acclaimed and persuaded many that the rocket was something to take
seriously as a space vehicle. Oberth was also Wernher Von Braun’s teacher, bringing
him into the German rocket program. Of the great rocketry pioneers, Oberth was the
only one who lived to see men travel through space and land on the Moon.
Together with Oberth and an enormous team of scientists and engineers at Peenemunde,
Wernher Von Braun developed and launched the German V2 rocket, the first rocket
capable of reaching space. At the end of World War II, Von Braun led the top scientists
and engineers out of Germany to the Americans rather than be captured by the Russian
army.) He led U.S. development of military and space exploration rockets. Von Braun
was crucial in the effort to convince the U.S. government to pursue a landing of men on
the Moon and guided U.S. efforts to success. Von Braun led the development of the
Saturn rockets, the only series of rockets ever developed that left the launch pad
successfully on each voyage. If he hadn’t been so successful, we may never have made it
to the Moon.
TYPES OF ROCKETS
There have been many types of rockets developed by NASA. The Mercury Redstone 3
rocket carried the spacecraft of America's first astronaut, Alan Shephard, into space. The
Atlas 6 rocket carried John Glenn's spacecraft into Earth's orbit, making him the first
American to ever orbit the Earth. The Titan rocket carried the Gemini 12 mission into
space. Titan series rockets carried many Gemini missions into space.
REDSTONE
ATLAS
TITAN
The Saturn V launch vehicle was used for Apollo flights to the Moon. The rocket was
364 feet tall and included the spacecraft and three rocket stages. Each rocket stage pushed
the spacecraft farther and farther from Earth. The Saturn V flew ten missions to the
Moon, three unpiloted and seven piloted. (Apollo XIII was an unsuccessful mission that
returned safely to Earth.)
The Soviets launched the Soyuz spacecraft into Earth orbit to meet the American Apollo
spacecraft. The two spacecraft met in space, proving that such a rendezvous was possible.
When the two crafts connected, American astronauts and Soviet Cosmonauts marked the
meeting with an historic handshake. The space shuttle has three main rocket engines and
a large external fuel tank. Two additional rockets are needed to assist the shuttle in its
journey into space.
SATURN
SOYUZ
SHUTTLE
Principles of Rocketry
Major Parts of A Rocket
Nose cone - The leading section of the rocket with the job of reducing aerodynamic drag.
Payload - The section of the rocket that carries the cargo to be delivered.
Body tube - The central structure of the rocket, the body tube holds the engine and
provides a mounting point for the fins.
Engine - The engine contains the fuel and provides the thrust to accelerate the rocket.
Parachute - When the ejection charge ignites, the parachute is forced out and slows the
rocket's descent to avoid damage.
Fins - The fins take over guidance of the rocket once it reaches enough speed and
provides a stabilizing force.
The rocket in this activity does not have a payload section or a parachute because it
will not fly high enough to require one. Model rockets that fly over 100 feet high
need parachutes.
How A Rocket Flies
Newton's Laws of Motion
Isaac Newton's Laws of Motion developed in 1687 determine how a rocket flies.
Newton's First Law is:
• An object at rest will remain at rest.
• An object in motion will stay in motion in a straight line at the same speed as long as
no force is applied (more accurately, no unbalanced force).
An (unbalanced) force must be exerted for a rocket to lift off from the launch pad.
Newton's Second Law is:
•
•
•
An object’s acceleration is proportional to the force applied to it.
The force to accelerate an object is proportional to the object’s mass.
In equation form, if we call the force "F," the object’s mass "m," and the acceleration
"a," then Newton's Second Law is simply "F = m * a" which is the most famous form
of this fundamental principle of physics.
The amount of thrust (force produced by the engine) will be determined by the mass of
rocket fuel that is burned and how fast the gas escapes the rocket.
Newton's Third Law is:
• For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
The reaction, or motion, of the rocket is equal to and in an opposite direction from the
action, or thrust, from the engine.
Sequence of a Rocket Flight
The rocket will launch from the pad after a proper countdown and ignition takes place.
The rocket will fly to its highest point, called apogee (this is when the parachutes are
deployed) and its fuel is exhausted. At this point the Earth's gravity overcomes the thrust
of the rocket and pulls it back down to the Earth. Gravity is always pulling on the rocket;
in fact a rocket must travel 17,500 mph to achieve orbit and 25,000 mph to escape the
Earth's gravity (and head for the Moon, for example).
Activity
Timeframe - 90 minutes
Pop Rockets
Materials
Book or video about rockets
Oaktag (posterboard), 8 x 10 sheets
Colored markers, stickers
Plastic 35 mm film canisters (Fuji is best because they are translucent and seal on the
inside)
Basic pattern guide (attached)
Cellophane tape
Scissors
Effervescing antacid tablets (i.e. Alka Seltzer)
Paper towels
Water
Eye protection
Introduction to Rocketry
You may choose to read a short story or chapter to the group about rockets to begin the
session. It could be a fictional story from "R is for Rocket" or a magazine article about
the shuttle or an astronaut. Introduce the history of rocketry and the different types of
rockets that have been launched. You can show a video about the history of rocketry, the
Apollo Missions, or the Space Shuttle (see book and video lists). A NASA handout is
included in this guide. Timeframe - 30-45 minutes.
Making Rockets
Children can use the basic pattern to create the shape of their rockets. They can choose to
make the length of the body tube longer or shorter (lighter rockets will fly higher). They
may also change the shape of the fins to improve the aerodynamics of their rockets.
Students may color or decorate their rockets any way they like. Be sure they put their
name or initials on their rocket somewhere. Timeframe - 30-45 minutes.
Procedure
1. Wrap and tape a tube of paper around the film canister. The lid end of the
canister is pointed down! Do not forget to tape it securely to the canister. Tape
the ends of the paper together. Make sure you can get the lid off the rocket.
2. Tape your fins to your rocket, making sure that they are even spaced.
3. Roll a cone of paper (in the shape of a Pacman figure) and tape it to the rocket’s
upper end.
4. Decorate your rocket.
5. It is now ready for flight!
Discussion
This activity is a simple but exciting demonstration of Newton's Laws of Motion. The
rocket lifts off because it is acted upon by an unbalanced force (First Law). This is the
force produced when the lid blows off by the carbon dioxide formed inside the canister.
The rocket travels upward with a force that is equal and opposite to the downward force
propelling the water, gas, and lid (Third Law). The amount of force is directly
proportional to the mass of water and gas expelled from the canister and how fast it
accelerates (Second Law).
Launching your rockets safely
Choose a platform that is outside or in a room with a high ceiling.
Make sure everyone stands back from the launch platform.
Put paper towels down on the launch platform to absorb the water.
Procedure
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Put on your eye protection.
Turn the rocket upside down and fill the canister 1/3 full of water (or less).
Quickly drop in 1/2 of the antacid tablet.
Snap lid on tight.
Stand rocket on launch platform.
Stand back.
Count backward from 10! (It may go off sooner.)
Follow-Up Questions
How you could improve the design of your rocket?
How does the size and weight of the rocket affect how fast and far it will fly?
What geometric shapes are present in a rocket?
How does the amount of the tablet influence the height of the rocket?
What experiments could you do with these rockets? (i.e. hold an altitude contest,
graph the results, etc.)
Recommended Videos
NASA (CORE)
Catalog: http://core.nasa.gov
To order by e-mail: [email protected]
The Flight of Apollo 11 (The Eagle has Landed)
$16.00, Grades 7-12, 30 minutes, 1969
Apollo 13-Houston We’ve Got a Problem
$16.00, Grades 7-adult, 28 minutes, 1970
The Dream is Alive
$30.00, Grades 4-adult, 37 minutes, 1985
The Blue Planet
$30.00, Grades 4-adult, 42 minutes, 1990
Destiny in Space
Books you can borrow from your library
Non-fiction
Baird, Anne and Koropp, Robert. Space Camp: The Great Adventure for NASA
Hopefuls. Morrow Junior Books, 1992.
Baird, Anne, Graham, David and Aldrin, Buzz. The U.S. Space Camp Book of Rockets.
William Morrow, 1994.
Bean, Alan. My Life as an Astronaut. 1988.
Bondar, Barbara and Bondar, Roberta. On the Shuttle: Eight Days in Space. Owl, 1993.
Campbell, Peter A. Launch Day. Milbrook Press, 1995.
Cole, Michael D. Apollo 11: First Moon Landing. Countdown to Space series. Enslow,
1995.
Cole, Michael D. Apollo 13: Space Emergency. Countdown to Space series. Enslow,
1995.
Emury, Barbara and Crouch, Tom. The Dream is Alive: A Flight of Discovery Aboard
the Space Shuttle. Harper & Row, 1990.
Graham, Ian and Stewart, Roger. Spacecraft. Raintree, 1995.
Green, Jen, Bergin, Mark and MacDonald, Fiona. Race to the Moon: The Story of
Apollo 11. Expedition. Franklin Watts, 1998.
Jay, Michael. Space Shuttle. Franklin Watts, 1984.
Joels, Kerry. The Space Shuttle Operator’s Manual. Ballentine Books, 1982.
Mullane, R. Mike. Do Your Ears Pop in Space?: And 500 Other Surprising Questions
About Space Travel. Wiley and Sons, 1997.
Ride, Sally and Okie, Susan. To Space and Back. Lothrop, Lee and Sheperd, 1986.
Fiction
Bradbury, Ray. R is for Rocket. Short story collection.
Getz, David. Floating Home. Henry Holt, 1997.
Verne, Jules. From the Earth to the Moon, and A Trip Around It.
Good Rocket Related Internet Sites:
The History of Rocketry
http://www.thespaceplace.com/history/rocket2.html
Space Shuttle
http://shuttle.nasa.gov
http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/ssa/docs/Space.Shuttle/index.shtml
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/pao/public/shuttle.html
NASA Home Page
http://www.nasa.gov
The Apollo Moon Missions
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/apollo.html
Model Rocketry
http://www.service.com/estes/estes.html
Science Fiction Spacecraft
http://tommy.jsc.nasa.gov/~woodfill/SPACEED/SEHHTML/scifi.html
3-2-1 POP!
1
5
2
Ready for
flight
3
4
Wrap and tape
a tube of
paper around
the film
canister. The
lid end of the
canister goes
down!
Lid
Tape fins to
your rocket.
Roll a cone of paper and
tape it to the rocket's
upper end.
Cone Pattern
ve
O
Tape
p
rla
s
i
th
ge
ed
to
rm
fo
Cones can be
any size!
ne
co
Rockets: A Teacher's Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology
EG-108 February 1996
ROCKETEER NAMES
COUNTDOWN:
1. Put on your eye protection.
2. Turn the rocket upside down
and fill the canister one-third
full of water.
Work quickly on the next steps!
3. Drop in 1/2 tablet.
4. Snap lid on tight.
5. Stand rocket on launch
platform.
6. Stand back.
LIFTOFF!
What three ways can you improve
your rocket?
1.
2.
3.
Rockets: A Teacher's Guide with Activities in Science, Mathematics, and Technology
EG-108 February 1996
F
U
N
E
FIN
FIN
X
L
O
E
!
CO
P
L
O
S
C
I
E
N
C
E
R
SE
X
W
I
T
H
P
NO
E
R
E
!
NE
L
L
P
P
I
ROCKET BODY
FIN
FIN
FIN
I
ROCKET BODY
FIN
I
I
P
P
L
L
NO
SE
CO
NE
!
E
R
L
O
P
FIN
FIN
X
E
S
C
I
E
N
C
E
W
I
T
H
F
U
N
!
E
R
L
O
P
X
E
LET'S DO LAUNCH!
Launch your own rocket and test Newton's Laws of Motion. Follow the directions below and then BLAST OFF! After
you've launched a few times, answer the following question: What was the unbalanced force that changed your rocket
from a state of rest to a state of motion?
Materials
Paper
Scissors
Cellophane tape
Pencil
Drinking straw
Procedure
Cut out the rocket pattern below. Roll the rectangular body pattern tightly around a pencil and tape the seam. Remove
this new cylinder from the pencil.
Following the pattern, cut slits into the top end of the cylinder: Twist the part of the cone that you cut the slits in to
make a cone shape.
Slide the cone end onto the pencil tip. Squeeze and tape it together to seal the end and form a nose cone.
Remove the cylinder from the pencil and gently blow into the open end to check for leaks. If air easily escapes, use
more tape to seal the leaks.
Cut out and fold two sets of fins using the pattern below. Tape the fins near the open end of the cylinder.
Slip the straw into the opening. Point the rocket in a safe direction and blow!
Tape on dotted lines.
EXPLORE!
Rocket Pattern
Fun with Science
Slits