EL PASO, Texas – The 2022 El Paso Space Festival ended with a bang! On Saturday, space and rocket enthusiasts, alongside both young and old generations had the opportunity to build model rockets and shoot them high in the sky. Rocket after rocket fired a few hundred feet up in the sky, which awed the crowd down below.
Troop 187 was there to help the El Paso Space Festival participants with the building and engine installation process. However, each individual was able to follow their own instructions to build one of three rocket models rated by difficulty to build.
“I really did enjoy this event,” said Leonith Rodriguez, a physics student at UTEP, “I’m a science person so I’m just trying to always be at these types of events. I didn’t expect the rockets to go that high!”
Kevin Sandberg is a physician and is the original creator of Rocket Day. A few years back, the Space Festival asked him if he’d be willing to have Rocket Day at the closing event of the space festival, to which he of course answered yes.
After meeting with a patient who worked on the Patriot Missile, he realized hadn’t seen any model rocket launches in ages, and from that point forward, he’s been shooting off rockets ever since.
“We invite school kids, and science classes, scout groups, and community groups and churches and whoever- just so they can learn how to build a model rocket, and how the physics work, and how the parachute works and all this,” said Sandberg.
He believes an introduction to science and hands-on experiments are extremely important for the younger generation.
“We need to get our kids interested now on how to build things with their hands, and how to think of a project to make it successful,”…”I think the most important thing, is to keep your kids interested in making things with their hands. Get our kids to get out of the house, to get them outdoors, and to do something together as a family. Because I think that family, and children, and education, and friendships are very important, and getting outside to do something with your hands is hard to beat,” said the creator.
The Space Festival has officially concluded, but if you missed out on this year’s events, don’t worry! Look for the El Paso Space Festival next year, and if you are particularly interested in launching rockets, you should click here to learn about a local club that launches on the second Saturday of each month.
