Our Space Shuttle Glider

Connor found a few old Sport Rocketry magazines at Papa Kirk's house that had belonged to his Uncle Kris. Since he was so interested in the old magazines, he was given them to bring home with us.

While reading the July/August 2003 issue, he found plans for building a Space Shuttle Glider that can be launched on the side of a rocket. He really wanted to build it, so Kevin suggested that I help him out.

At first, I was hesitant. After all, Kevin was the rocket guy in our family. But, after reading the instructions, we went to a few hobby stores and got everything we needed. And then Connor and I set about constructing the glider.

Yes, we used his toy Handy Manny measuring tape. It turns out that it is accurate!


I cut the balsa wood pieces using a pair of sharp scissors and an exact-o knife. It turns out that it wasn't very hard.


Then, over the next several days we glued and glued and glued it all together. Then we sanded. Connor really liked the sanding part. I would find him sitting on the couch, watching tv and sanding his shuttle all the time. I finally got tired of cleaning the sawdust off the couch, and declared that the shuttle was properly sanded.


Then, we painted it. We only did a few coats of white paint...because the point of the glider is to be as light as possible. After the white paint was dry, Connor helped me paint on some shuttle details, and he put on some stickers.

Now we need to build a little launch peg to put on the bottom of the shuttle, and we need to fit a launch lug onto the side of one of Connor's rockets. We'll probably use the Big Daddy to launch the shuttle.

Then, we can use the rocket to launch this shuttle, which should go up with the rocket and then gently glide back to Earth. I will, of course, let you know how that goes.