Rocket Fun!

Do you know that right now, a mini-Noah's Ark is orbiting us at 357 miles above the Earth?! On board the space capsule are 15 geckos, 45 mice, 8 gerbils, snails, fish & some micro-organisms!

A Russian-American collaboration launched these critters into orbit on top of a Russian Soyuz rocket that blasted off on Friday, 4/19/13. The animals will be orbiting us for one month while scientists on the ground monitor their health. These animals are the participants in a month-long experiment studying how space travel & cosmic radiation affects living creatures. Scientists say the animals will return alive, I hope so!! *Addendum: You can read about the mission's results by clicking here.

Today in Science Club, we launched our own mini-rockets- all you need is a balloon, some string, tape & a straw. My kids had so much fun experimenting with this!!

They had to figure out the best way to get the balloon to take off horizontally. It really required team work!

Happy First Day of May!!