Rocket Parts
This is the cardboard tube that makes up the main part of your rocket, holding the engine, parachute, and wadding inside.
What is Body/Tube
This is the powerful upward force created by your burning Estes engine that pushes the rocket into the sky.
What is thrust
This is the scientific word for the highest point of flight where your rocket stops going up and is about to start falling.
What is apogee / apex/ peak
True or False: A model rocket engine only burns fuel for a few seconds at the start, and then the rocket coasts upwards on its own speed.
What is true
This pointed plastic piece at the very top of your Alpha rocket helps it cut cleanly through the air.
What is nose cone
This natural force is constantly pulling your rocket back down toward Earth
What is gravity
This is the general term for the solid fuel inside the engine that burns to make your rocket zoom.
What is propellant
True or False: The plastic parachute pops open the exact moment the rocket leaves the launch pad.
What is false
Your Alpha rocket has three of these flat, wing-like pieces at the bottom (made of balsa wood or orange plastic) that keep it stable.
What are fins
This force acts like friction to slow your rocket down as it pushes through the atmosphere.
What is air resistance / drag
We stuff these paper sheets inside the body tube to protect our plastic parachute from melting when the engine ejects.
What is recovery wadding
True or False: If your rocket's fins are glued on crooked or sideways, the rocket will still fly perfectly straight into the air.
What is false
This plastic sheet deploys at the peak of flight to catch the air and slow your rocket's descent safely back to Earth.
What is the parachute
According to Newton's Third Law (every action has an equal and opposite reaction), burning gas shooting down out of the engine causes the rocket to go in this direction.
What is upward (forward?)
This term refers to how well a rocket stays pointed straight into the wind during flight without wobbling or tumbling.
What is stability
True or False: When the rocket reaches its highest point in the sky (apogee), it stops moving upwards for a split second before it starts falling back down.
What is true
This tiny straw-like tube is glued to the side of the body tube and slides onto the launch pad's metal rod to guide the rocket straight during liftoff.
What is launch lug
While airplanes use wings to generate this upward force to fly horizontally, model rockets mainly rely on thrust to go up and only use this force on their fins to keep stable.
What is lift
This rubber-band-like string connects the nose cone to the body tube so the rocket doesn't split in half and lose its pieces.
What is shock cord
True or False: Once your rocket lands safely, you can immediately put it back on the launch pad and fly it again without changing anything inside.
What is false (you must replace the engine