Their Favorite Subject This Day: Launch

The launch pad was in the middle of a softball field, and the mission control leader had a megaphone instead of a headset. But the jubilation of the engineers rivaled that of any space shuttle launch.

With their schoolmates cheering them on, third- and fourth-graders at John Marshall Elementary used a 5-foot rubber band Friday to launch rockets that they built themselves. The object was to see whose missile would fly the farthest.

“It’s fun for everybody in my class,” said Armando Hurtado, 9. His rocket traveled along an impressive trajectory over the school playground, stopping just short of the school’s roof. Though it might have traveled the farthest, it was going the wrong direction.

The rockets, made of cardboard packaging tubes and ice cream sticks, were customized with fins, wings and decorative paint according to strict rules that followed principles of geometry, physics and mathematics.

Anticipating that not all flights would proceed smoothly, John Minaker, teacher and mission control specialist for the event, had forewarned the spectators: “One of these rockets may be headed your way. If so, duck and cover.”

But the first, named Blaster by its engineers, fired perfectly, arching more than 30 meters before hitting the ground. Another flew even farther before descending in a graceful spiral.

Even when one rocket went straight up and came down less than a foot from a group of spectators, the crowd was thrilled.

“That was cool,” 9-year-old Alex Martin said.