It takes eight minutes for light to reach the earth from the sun. It takes two years for a rocket to reach an asteroid.
Given how long things can take, you’d think that major events would tend to…space…themselves out a little.
This week, though, we had an incredibly difficult decision. Should we watch the NASA live-stream of the new crew members boarding International Space Station?
Or, should we watch the latest record-setting SpaceX launch?
It just so happened that the SpaceX launch was scheduled for 1:31 pm (EST), December 3rd. The NASA broadcast for the ISS crew was scheduled to start at for 1:30 pm (EST), on the same day.
How is that for timing?
(Actually, the crew on the ISS didn’t open the hatch until about an hour into the broadcast. We could have watched both events live, if we’d tracked things better!)
Next time, I guess!
At least we were also able to watch probe OSIRIS-REx arriving at the asteroid Bennu. That happened just a couple hours before the SpaceX launch. It took two years for the probe to reach the asteroid. Now it’s ready to begin the next phase of its seven-year mission!
And yes, we are into rockets!
Given all that, this month’s coloring page is a rocket picture. I sketched it out a couple months ago and wanted to finish it up now.
It seems particularly fitting given this week’s space events!
You can download the pdf here! (File updated December 2024.)
If you need more space exploration ideas, check out NASA’s Kids’ Club for games, activities, and other resources.
You can also check out my picture book, The Rocket that Flew to Mars. This book shows how humans could one day build the first colony on Mars.
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