How to Build a Rocket

Video transcription

Hi, my name is Colin Kilbane and I'm going to show you how to make a recycled rocket. OK, things you're going to need, we're going to need a paper towel tube, make sure your paper towel tube is relatively sturdy, you're going to need an old easter egg. This is going to be the nosecone of our rocket. You're going to need a piece of elastic from the craft store or the fabric store. You're going to need a couple index cards. Those are going to be our fins. You're going to need some string for our parachute, you're going to need an old grocery bag, a plastic grocery bag. You're going to need some tape and some glue, some scissors, a stapler and it helps to have a rocket engine. And this is just an 883 rocket engine. OK, let's put the rocket together. First thing, grab your little piece of elastic, grab your nosecone. Now I've popped a hole in the nosecone bottom of the easter egg which is going to serve as our nosecone here and use a pencil or pen to shove it in to thread tie a few good knots to keep it from coming out again. So now we've got a big knot on there, doesn't want to come through. Alright, other side, tie a couple of good knots on there. And now we need to attach the elastic to the body of our rocket. By the way, I do have knots on the other end here so it cannot slip through. Now you take your grocery baggie, cut a nice big, pretty much even square and on the bottom here, you can see I put a loop of string, taped it from one corner to the other. I'm going to do that on the other side. Now that's something you need to know. I've tied a good knot on each side of the string, that's going to keep it from slipping through the tape. Tape it down securely. This end, I'll do the same thing. Alright, we now have a parachute. Take your egg, put it through each loop and simply tie your piece of elastic onto the parachute. Take your parachute, fold it over, wrench up your cord, you can put it right inside and put your nosecone, your easter egg, right on top. To hold your engine, take some of that half inch foam insulation, you cut off a chunk just slightly larger than your engine, pull out your adhesive parts, stick it together. Now here's the tough part, you got to squish this thing into the bottom of the rocket. Now you got to be very careful. I twist it in, twist it in, twist it in. All we need to do now is add our fins. Take your two cards, put them together and fold them in half. Then fold down each side about a half an inch and then you can cut the whole thing, you want to get it just about in half. Now you have four fins. Take a little bit of glue, glue it together, little glue on there and you can add your fins. In order to use a standard model rocket launchpad, you have to add a straw. Just about an inch and attach the straw about mid way down the body. This is called the launch lug. This is the straw the rod from the rocket launchpad will go through. And that is how you build a rocket.