Rocket Boys

During the spring one of the scout merit badges that Colin and Tristan were working on was Space Exploration. One of the requirements is to build and launch a model rocket. I also found myself to be a merit badge counselor for this badge since our troop didn't have one. Knowing these things we headed off to watch the Kearsarge area rocket society do some launches. We weren't sure what to expect but came away glad that we went. The younger boys now love rocket launching and I learned the things I need to know to sucessfully run this badge with other scouts. We thought we would only get to watch the launches but the rocket group involved the boys in every part of several launches. They put together rockets, learned the parts of a rockjet, learned about the importance of recovery wadding, launched rockets, ran into far off fields to recover rockets and did some fun missions to test height, launch a pesky tick far away, bring some not so pesky passengers back to the ground safely (ants) and recorded some footage from a rocket that was launching. They also saw some launch failures and learned some troubleshooting. A lot of fun was had by all and a new hobby for the younger boys was born. Trevor and Hayley watched and helped the boys to build some rockets and they want to do some launches too. The rocket club launches about 7 times a year and rockets and motors are not too expensive so this is a hobby we can afford both time wise and money wise.

Below are photos of rockets being launched, recovered and a turtle that was found while recovering a rocket (it was later put back to a safe place near the water).