By law our 6 year old son's Estes Alpha rocket wasn't nearly as large nor flew as far as the NIH Rocket Boys' did on Monday night but that made it no less of a wonder. It flew up out of sight initially and took about 5 minutes to come back down to Earth despite the pouring rain! We were cold and soaked through in a downpour but his pride at 'it came down all in one piece.. and I found it!' was worth it.
My husband built rockets in school but this was a first for me. Launching model rockets with kids under 12 (even with adult supervision) is prohibited in my home state so I'm glad we live here. This experience made quite a profound impression on our son, the rocket is still sitting on our kitchen table in front of his placemat, and who knows what the future may hold.
I want to get a launcher and another igniter & blast it off myself next....
