Build A Rocket Racer with Former Astronaut Leland Melvin

About Leland Melvin

As a former NASA astronaut, Leland Melvin has twice flown on the space shuttle Atlantis to the International Space station, where he helped to install the station’s Columbus Laboratory. He credits his NASA career to his childhood fascination with science, both formally in the classroom and informally as he tinkered with skateboards to make them faster and family vehicles to customize them for family vacations. After returning to earth, he served as NASA’s Associate Administrator for Education, and continues to teach students about STEM, spaceflight, and perseverance as a teacher for the Varsity Tutors StarCourse series.

About the class

How do astronauts get to space? In rockets that use Newton’s Laws of Motion to create enough velocity to escape the earth’s gravity. In this class, students will design, build, test, and optimize their own rocket racers, all under the live guidance of an astronaut who has used rocket science to launch into space. Aspiring rocket scientists will learn about position, velocity, and acceleration, as well as the methods that aerospace engineers use to make rockets lighter, faster, and safer.

Because this is a hands-on project, families should consult the materials list linked below, and are encouraged to build their first rocket racer before class begins so that they are able to fully participate in the testing and optimization sections of the class.

Project Materials List & Instructions: https://www.lelandmelvin.com/static/resources/BuildARocketRacerWeb.pdf