I have always been wondering how rockets go up and move around in space. Last year, I was really surprised when my brother told me about a robot named Curious that explores Mars.
This summer, I went to the US on an airplane to visit my cousins. On the way there, I was observing how the plane took off, flew and landed. I remembered the chat with my cousin Manish who is an aeronautic student. He told me about how an airplane works.
We landed in Indianapolis, and Dhruba Mama received us at the airport. My cousins Aroma and Prashun were eagerly waiting for us.
The next day, we visited the University of Purdue. My Thulo Mami and Thulo Baba showed us around and explained which famous people had studied at Purdue. I saw the statue of Neil Armstrong which made me really happy and excited. Thulo Baba told me that Neil Armstrong studied here and worked for NASA. I felt really lucky to take a picture with his statue and walk on his footprints.
We met more cousins on the way to the Disney World. Wendy Maiju told us about the rocket named Delta 4 being launched to the space from the Kennedy Space Center. I really wanted to go and watch how the rocket would be launched. And we did that. We took photographs of rockets and learnt about space science. We also saw how people sat in the rockets and went into space.
At the Kennedy Space Center, there were pretend-rocket ships for people to sit in. I got to sit in one of them and also took a picture so I could remember it when I get older.
We learnt about a type of rocket ship called space shuttle that you can use again and again. We watched a movie about the space shuttle too. When we watched the movie in the theater, I felt like I was actually in space.
A real astronaut explained the history of space journey and shared his own time in the outer space. We got to ask him questions about space and rockets which made me really happy. I took a picture with this great person.
We also saw a model of the Milky Way. My Mom and Dad asked me what it was. I explained to them that it was the Milky Way, and there was also a sign saying ‘You are here’ on the model of the Milky Way which showed where the location of the Earth is in the Milky Way.
In the evening, we went to see a rocket launch. I felt really lucky to see the rocket being launched. That was the first time I got to see a rocket launch right in front of me. It was a very special day for me because I traveled all the way from Canada to America. And it is not like rockets are launched everyday. That was a once-in-many-years kind of event. I was so excited to watch the rocket take off. The scientists were counting down very slowly and when they reached the number one, the rocket took off into the sky like a shooting star. It was fun to watch the rocket as it made a very long smoky path as it went into the space.
I really did not want to leave the space center. I learnt many exciting things. In the space, people sleep in sleeping bags attached to the walls. They don’t need pillows because gravity does not pull their heads down. I learnt about the device called ‘space hand’ which moves stuffs around in the space. I was amazed when I learnt that Canada makes a lot of space hands for rocket ships.
I also learnt that Neil Armstrong was not the first person to go near the Moon but he was the first to walk on it. I took a picture with Neil Armstrong’s real spacesuit.
Apart from having fun in my vacation, I also learnt a lot of things about astronomy which made my trip worthy.
When we came back to Canada, my parents bought me a telescope, and whenever I look through it, it reminds me of Neil Armstrong.
When I grow up, I want to be an astronaut, just like Neil Armstrong, and I want to be the first Nepali to go into the outer space.
The writer is a Grade 4 student, living and studying in Calgary, Canada.
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