Space Derby

Saturday was the annual space derby for the Suzhou Boys Scouts of America.  Similar to the pinewood derby, you get a kit and carve your rocket out.  Install a propeller driven by rubber bands, wind it up, put it on forty feet of fishing line, and race away!  It was a lot less competitive than the pinewood derby, mainly because there is so much slop in the winding and the rubber bands themselves.  There were 26 kids overall.  Reid surprisingly came in 2nd and Riley finished somewhere in the middle, much to his disappointment.  Below are a few pictures:

The rocket line up.  Reid and Riley are 5 and 6 from the bottom on the left row.

Reid's ship - a pirate / Halloween rocket.

Riley's - Red, White and Blue American ship (those are flames on the tip).

Very clever pencil.

Nice shark - won the best design award from the scouts.

A Coke bottle.  I looked at it and said "cool, a bottle rocket", which was not the design intent apparently.