Returning to school after having been in the newspaper, the Rocket Boys discover that they are treated a bit differently. The football players are no longer the heroes, and while they have not achieved the level of hero yet, they are better off.
The school curriculum has changed due to Sputnik with hours of homework every night. In addition to this, Sonny is trying to learn calculus and other math in order to be able to launch his rockets better.
Miss Riley is his chemistry teacher who one day shows them a chemical reaction they believe would be a good rocket fuel. She is able to let them use it, but they find an alternative and begin to experiment with a fuel they believe will be better than black powder.
This chapter continues the battle between mother and father over Sonny, except that for the first time Sonny’s father appears …show more content…
The first is that the woman sells moonshine and other things to men. The other is that his father pulled her out of a fire that killed everyone else in her family when he was a boy. His father does not see this as heroism though as he blames himself for not having saved any of the others.
This chapter begins once again by setting the time — it happened not with dates but with the space race. In this case, the launch of Luna 1. This chapter covers two things. The first being the slow understanding of the rocket book which they have finally gotten, which covers ideas such as De Laval nozzles. They also become convinced that in order to really understand what is in the book, they will need to learn calculus — a class that is not offered by their school.
The other important point in this chapter is that there is a pillar explosion in the mine. No one is hurt, but Sonny understands better what that means now than he did before his trip into the mine. It also once again shows the character of his father who lead the rescue crew into the dangerous passages even though he didn’t need
The school curriculum has changed due to Sputnik with hours of homework every night. In addition to this, Sonny is trying to learn calculus and other math in order to be able to launch his rockets better.
Miss Riley is his chemistry teacher who one day shows them a chemical reaction they believe would be a good rocket fuel. She is able to let them use it, but they find an alternative and begin to experiment with a fuel they believe will be better than black powder.
This chapter continues the battle between mother and father over Sonny, except that for the first time Sonny’s father appears …show more content…
The first is that the woman sells moonshine and other things to men. The other is that his father pulled her out of a fire that killed everyone else in her family when he was a boy. His father does not see this as heroism though as he blames himself for not having saved any of the others.
This chapter begins once again by setting the time — it happened not with dates but with the space race. In this case, the launch of Luna 1. This chapter covers two things. The first being the slow understanding of the rocket book which they have finally gotten, which covers ideas such as De Laval nozzles. They also become convinced that in order to really understand what is in the book, they will need to learn calculus — a class that is not offered by their school.
The other important point in this chapter is that there is a pillar explosion in the mine. No one is hurt, but Sonny understands better what that means now than he did before his trip into the mine. It also once again shows the character of his father who lead the rescue crew into the dangerous passages even though he didn’t need