Think about the excitement that accompanies dreams of sending a rocket into space, making a first solo flight, becoming an astronaut, or someday visiting other planets. In the aerospace projects, you will enjoy learning more about your dreams through hands-on experiences. Members can explore their fascination with flying an airplane, launching a rocket, conquering space, and becoming an astronaut or pilot with this project.

Beginner

• Make paper airplanes
• Identify different types of aircraft
• Learn how weather affects flying
• Learn star constellations and their stories

Intermediate

• Make and launch model rockets
• Learn the forces that act on a rocket
• Experiment with roll, pitch, and yaw
• Build a balloon shuttle

Advanced

• Use engineering principles to design your own air- and space-crafts
• Construct an altitude tracker
• Learn pilot certification requirements
• Learn about airport issues in across Wisconsin

Take Your Project Further!

• Attend a star-gazing program at a planetarium
• Explore an aerospace career using online resources
• Shadow an airline employee for one day
• Attend an aerospace event or camp
• Visit a local airport and have a pilot and/or mechanic talk about flying
• Look for opportunities to take the ground school portion of a flight training class
• Visit with an aircraft maintenance engineer to learn about aircraft maintenance
• Take a flight with a flight instructor
• Compete in the Rocket Launch Contest at Showcase Showdown

Applying Project Skills to Life

Enhance Your Communication Skills

• Do a presentation about life on the International Space Station
• Demonstrate what it takes to build a model airplane
• Compare paper airplanes, how to make them and how they work
• Demonstrate glider flight capabilities
• Interview a pilot

Get Involved in Citizenship and Service

• Organize a rocket launch
• Organize a kite-flying contest
• Volunteer at an airport or airshow
• Create a model airplane display for a showcase at a public location like an airport, library, museum, nursing home

Learn about Leadership

• Teach younger kids to make model rockets
• Bring your club to the local airport to learn more about airplanes and pilots
• Lead a star-gazing session at an evening workshop or camp

Showing What You’ve Learned

• Make a poster on parts of an airplane or a rocket and their function
• Create a display on different types of aircraft and what they are used for
• Make a poster about the forces that act on an airplane or a rocket
• Chart the moon and make a display about how the moon affects the earth
• Make a poster about constellations and when you can see them
• Exhibit a model rocket you built from a kit
• Exhibit a model rocket you build from your own design
• Demonstrate how whether affects flying
• Create a display comparing birds and airplanes
• Create a typical pilots log and explain why it’s important
• Demonstrate different types of aerodynamics on kite flying
• Research hot air balloons and how they work
• Engineer a model glider and create a display of your engineering process and outcomes
• Build a model airplane from a kit or your own design
• Create a poster with pictures of places you’ve visited, your first plane ride, programs you’ve participated in, types of planes, etc.
• Build any other model (helicopter, etc.)
• Design, make, and display your own paper airplanes
• Design and build a kite from a kit
• Design and build a kite on your own without using a kit
• Make a model of the cockpit of an airplane. Build and fly a remote control airplane