NARRATOR:'Have you ever looked up at the sky and wondered what's going on up there? up there, up through the clouds Have you ever wondered what the Moon is made of? 'Why the stars twinkle? What it feels like to be an astronaut living in Space? Dublin, Arinia and Eliana have lots of questions about space travel, and this is their rocket story. Arinia and her friend, Dublin, are looking up at the night sky. Tomorrow they're meeting a real astronaut who's going to help them launch their rocket.'
ARINIA:How high do you think it will go?
DUBLIN:I think it will go all the way up to space.
DUBLIN:Mum, how high is space?
DUBLIN'S MUM:I don’t know you'll have to ask the astronaut tomorrow. Look.
DUBLIN:Oh, what's he doing?
DUBLIN'S MUM:He's fixing the Hubble.
ARINIA:Did aliens break it?
DUBLIN'S MUM:No, aliens are only in Doctor Who. Come on now, we better get going.
NARRATOR:'Now it's time to get some sleep.'
DUBLIN'S MUM:Say bye.
DUBLIN:Bye.
DUBLIN'S MUM:See ya.
ARINIA:Bye
NARRATOR:'Tomorrow is going to be a busy day. This is astronaut Jeff Hoffman. He spent over a thousand hours travelling in space. in a real space rocket. Jeff has come all the way from America.'
JEFF:Nice to meet you all. My name's Jeff and I'm an astronaut. And what do you have here?
DUBLIN:A rocket.
ARINIA:A rocket.
JEFF:A rocket. You know, I've flown on rocket ships five times to go all the way up into Space But I don’t see any name on this rocket and every rocket that I've been on has a name. Do you have a name for the rocket, maybe?
ARINIA:The Leicester rocket.
JEFF:The Leicester rocket. Now that we have a name for it, what we really have to do is go and launch it up into the air. So what do you think, launch team? Shall we go and launch?
ELIANA:Yeah!
JEFF:Okay, come on launch team. Follow me!
NARRATOR:'Jeff, is showing the children how to launch an air rocket. He's explaining how air can be used to propel a rocket into the sky.'
JEFF:It's a little bit like, if I take a balloon here. And blow it up.
JEFF:Now when I let go, air is gonna come out this direction, and the balloon is gonna go in the other direction.Watch. Woah! That's actually just like a rocket, and that's what we're gonna do here.
NARRATOR:'Under Jeff's command, the children are getting ready to launch Leicester the air rocket.'
JEFF:It's a little hard.
ALL:Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
JEFF:Fire! Woo! Pow! Looks like it did okay.
ARINIA:What's it like to go to space?
JEFF:Well, when you get in a really big rocket and you launch Would you like to know what it feels like? You know, you're lying on your back… And you count down, five, four, three, two, one and then all of a sudden. It's like someone gives you a big kick in your back. Boom! And it's shaking and–
HE MAKES ROCKET NOISES
JEFF:Like that. And it goes on for about eight minutes! And finally, after eight minutes, therockets stop firing. And then, you know what happens? All of a sudden… You're floating! And you know what, it feels like you're upside down, because the blood rushes to your head. And it's like you're Superman. You can just float all over. It's the most fun thing that I've ever done. Is going into space.
NARRATOR:'And this is the kind of rocket that Jeff went to space in. Because of all the fire, smoke and noise coming from the rockets, everybody watching has to be at least three miles away to keep safe. Just like the big rocket, this rocket has propellant in it. So, everyone is keeping safe, by staying well back.'
JEFF:Safety officer, do we have the red light?
ELIANA:Yes!
ARINIA:Yes!
JEFF:Okay, launch configuration officer, raise the safety switch cover. Okay, very good. Safety officer, are we go for launch?
ELIANA:Yes.
JEFF:Launch configuration officer, are we go for launch?
ARINIAGo for launch.
Launch countdown officer, are we ready to start the countdown?
DUBLIN:Yes.
ALL:Five. Four. Three. Two. One.
ARINIA:Blast off!
JEFF:Woah! Look at it. And here comes the parachute! Woah!
DUBLIN:Yes.
JEFF:What a great flight. Good launch. Well done. Have fun in space.
NARRATOR:'The children hurry over to the space bus to make a Skype call to an astronaut in America.'
All:Hi.
BONNIE:Very nice to meet you. My name is Dr. Bonnie Dunbar.
DUBLIN:What did you do in space?
BONNIE:Well, I did research for scientists and engineers around the world. And I also got to launch some satellites.
DUBLIN:What did you like best about space?
BONNIE:Well, I liked looking down at the Earth. As we go around it, once every hour and a half. And I liked looking back at the stars and seeing the Milky Way.
DUBLIN:Did you sleep standing up?
BONNIE:I didn't know if I was standing up, 'cause I was weightless. I floated around. But, I had a sleeping bag and I could put it on the ceiling or on the wall, anywhere I wanted to. And so, it didn't matter whether there was an up or down.
ARINIA:Did you go to the moon?
BONNIE:No, I didn't go to the moon. The moon was reached before I became an astronaut. There are 12 American men that have walked on the moon. I'd always hoped we'd go back to the moon, while I was still an astronaut. But people will go back to the moon, and you might be some of those people that go back to the moon.
ALL:Bye!
ARINIA:Thank you.
BONNIE:You're very welcome, I enjoyed it. Thank you very much.
NARRATOR:'After a little play, it's time to fly home, have tea and get ready for bed.'
DUBLIN'S MUM:What did you like doing the best?
DUBLIN:Meeting Jeff.
DUBLIN'S MUM:Aw, he was really nice, weren't he?
DUBLIN:Yeah.
DUBLIN'S MUM:Well we better get you up to bed now, mister.
ARINIA:My best bit was going on the bus and playing with the toys. And, launching the rocket with Jeff.
ELIANA AND ARINIA'S DAD:That was great fun wasn't it? What about you, what was your favourite part about today?
ELIANA:My favourite bit was, speaking to Bonnie on the laptop.
ELIANA AND ARINIA'S DAD:Really, really good that was. Come on then girls, time to get to sleep now. Up we go. Goodnight Arinia. Goodnight.
Video summary
Astronaut, Jeff Hoffman, helps the children launch their very own rockets and describes the feeling of weightlessness.
They then speak to Bonnie Dunbar over an internet video call.
Bonnie answers all their questions about living in space and shows them some amazing videos of astronauts in space.
Teacher Notes
This clip could be used to develop an awareness of space rockets and the work of astronauts.
The class could discuss together how the first men on the moon were part of the Apollo 11 mission, finding out about their rocket, Saturn V, which had three different sections, with a command or service module and a lunar module at the top.
Children could then make an air rocket from a small empty drinks carton.
Ask children to think about what an astronaut needs to be good at, and encourage children to find out from books and on the internet about how people came to be astronauts, and the work they do in space.
This clip will be relevant for teaching Physics or Science Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 in England and Northern Ireland, Key Stage 2 in Wales and First / Second Level in Scotland.
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