------------------------- 9. Discover and Explore Aerospace Patch -------------------------------------- Do airplanes, kites and space shuttles interest you? If so, you'll love the activities in this badge. Not sure? Try them out and find out how amazing the aerospace field is! ------------------------------- 1. paper airplanes Make and fly three different designs for paper airplanes. 2. Test flight. Put together a simple model glider or make your own out of balsa wood. Can you make our glider fly straight, stall, loop, bank right and bank left? 3. Go fly a kite. Make and fly your own kite. What type of wind makes the kite fly best? What can you try to make the kite better? HOW TO MAKE A KITE: Take a sheet of thin paper and cut a square shape. Decorate the paper with magic markers. Use driking straws as the support for your kite like this: [a cross of straws across the square paper kite]. Attach your string or cord as shown [on one of the straws at the bottom]. Find an open place away from poles and power lines and try flying your kite. 4. Think sky high. Visit an airport, an airplane cockpit, a control tower, a space center, an aerospace museum or a planetarium. 5. Models away: Attend a radio-controlled or control-line airplane event or a model rocket launch. Find out how much money it takes to build a model. 6. Shoot for the stars. Watch a space launch in person, on television, or on the Web. Find out what kind of space vehicle or satellite was launched and why. OR Visit NASA's Web site: www.nasa.gov and find out what missions are underway or planned for the future. Be sure to check out the "NASA Kids" link. 7. Contact! Talk to some older people in your community about air travel before 1960. Not sure where to start? Ask about: early aircraft, barnstorming, dirigibles, coast-to-coast travel, Amelia Earhart, a Powder Puff derby, and military flying by women during the two World Wars. 8. Space Flight spinoffs. The science and technology used in exploring space have many applications here on earth. Find out about one of the following. If possible, try the product or talk to someone who uses it in her life. * Dehydrated foods - food from which water has been removed, first developed for astronauts - such as yummy ice cream! * The infrared thermometer - an ear thermometer that uses the technology developed by scientists to measure the temperatures of stars and planets. * An advanced heart pacemaker - a miniatrue device designed to keep a human heart beating, uses long-life batteries developed for space flight. 9. Up, Up, and Away! Put on an air show and invite other groups to participate. Try one of the following: * Have races for different kinds of model aircraft, such as gliders and airplanes. Give awards for different achievements, such as longest flight, best stunt, or most accurate flight. * Hold a kite-building workshop * Host a kite-flying festival. 10. Women flying sky high. Do you have the right stuff to be an astronaut? Go online: www.quest.arc.nasa.gov/women/intro.html and see what it takes! OR Visit the homepage of the Ninety Nines www.ninety-nines.org for women pilots and be sure to check out the section on "Women Pilots Today".