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When Silly Putty was invented in the 1950s, space travel was still a futuristic dream. It would be almost 20 years before man ventured farther than the earth’s orbit. In 1926, Robert H. Goddard had launched the first liquid-fueled rocket. It flew only 2.5 seconds, climbed 41 feet and landed 184 feet away in a cabbage patch, but it laid the foundation for a technology that would eventually take man to the moon.

In 1958 a modified Redstone rocket carried the first American satellite into orbit, but it wasn’t until 1961 that a Mercury-Redstone rocket boosted America’s first astronaut, Alan B. Shepard, into space on a suborbital flight. Finally, the promise of Goddard’s rocket technology was fulfilled and real space travel was realized when the Saturn V rocket launched the Apollo 11 astronauts to the moon in July 1969.

You can create your own space program complete with launch pad and rocket by performing this simple experiment.

Please remember that all rocket launches happen outdoors and please note that these rockets only work with the white film cannisters because of the way they fasten on top. All good scientists rehearse ahead of time and you can too. Practice putting the lid on the cannister so you can do it quickly. You can also practice standing back quickly so that when the rocket launches, it doesn’t hit you.

• The center tube from a roll of toilet paper
• A paper plate
• Tape
• White film cannister
• Some water
• One Alka Seltzer tablet

1. Tape the tube to the paper plate in an upright position. This is the launcher. Decorate as you like.
2. Put a small amount of water in the film cannister.
3. Take the cannister, launcher and an Alka Seltzer tablet outside.
4. Put the launcher on the ground in a clear area.
5. Drop the Alka Seltzer tablet into the cannister and quickly put the lid on the cannister.
6. Just as quickly drop the cannister upside down into the launcher and quickly stand back! It’s Blast Off!
7. Repeat the experiment with only 1/2 a tablet and compare how high and how far the two rockets flew.