From the Earth to the Moon

This week we got the following challenge: Apply Newton's 3rd Law: For every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction, to design a rocket that can travel from the earth to the moon, or at the very least, design a straw, souped up with just a balloon and tape,  that will fly along a string, tied between two chairs sporting pictures of the earth and the moon. We worked in teams designing, building, and rebuilding our rockets. We learned a lot through trial and error and were even inspired to brainstorm how to design a balloon rocket that would travel to the moon and back in one uninterrupted trip. 

What would you do?

Here in Israel, we've got some real heroes to inspire us. Yariv Bash, Kfir Damari, and Yonatan Winetraub are leading Israel's SpaceIL's team in Google's global competition to successfully launch, fly, and land a robotic spacecraft on the moon.

For some more background on their work, you can watch this BrainPOP video.

"We choose to go to the moon this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard"(John F. Kennedy, 1961)