World Space Week: Make your own spacecraft
World Space Week takes place every year from 4-10 October. These dates commemorate two events: the launch of the first human-made Earth satellite, Sputnik 1, on 4 October 1957, and the signing of the Outer Space Treaty on 10 October 1967, which established international law around space exploration.
This year, the theme is ‘Living in Space’. Astronauts wouldn’t be able to explore the universe without spacecrafts, so what better way to celebrate this year’s theme than by making your own?
The links below take you to some family-friendly activities for making your own rockets and satellites.
-
Choose between edible or more long-lasting materials to make your own satellite using these ideas from Nasa.
-
Build and launch your own paper model of Europe’s newest rocket, Ariane 6, using either the detailed model, or the simple version for youngsters.
-
The ESA’s Rosetta mission was the first to follow a comet on its orbit around the sun. Find out more about this space craft here, and print off the PDF to cut out and build your own paper model.
-
Try your hand at building a paper replica of the Vega-C rocket with this medium-difficulty challenge.