Chapter 9: Designing and Printing a Model Rocket
On October 4th, 1957, the Soviet Union became the first country on Earth to launch a satellite into orbit with Sputnik 1. This set in motion a space race between the Soviet Union and the United States, which ultimately saw American men walk on the moon on July 20th, 1969. The hobby of model rocketry was born from this era. Rockets designed and built from lightweight materials such as plastic, balsa, and paper made model rocketry a safe and educational endeavor, inspiring many young people to opt for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) fields. In fact, many credit this time in history for the amazing technological innovations we have today.
Early model rockets were built using paper tubes, lathe-spun balsa nose cones, and hand-cut balsa fins. In this chapter, we will use 21st-century 3D design and 3D printing technology to create our own model rocket from a discarded paper towel tube.
We will cover the following topics...
