The Space Mission Adventure by Draper Sharon M

Author:Draper, Sharon M. [Draper, Sharon M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Childrens, Mystery
ISBN: 9781442442597
Amazon: 144244259X
Goodreads: 13544517
Publisher: Aladdin
Published: 2006-08-01T07:00:00+00:00

Ziggy had a wonderful time pretending to be the captain of the shuttle on the mission of Team America, which they completed with great success. Their ship launched and landed safely, and they all felt proud.

But Ziggy kept thinking that something was missing. He fingered the strange object he had found and wondered if it would lead to the answers he wanted.

NOW THAT THE MISSION WAS OVER, IT WAS TIME to launch the rockets they had made the night before. Made of plastic, cardboard, and wood, and loaded with a real explosive device, the rockets had been carefully put together and decorated by each team member. Ziggy had painted creatures he called Martians all over his model, while Rashawn had painted a flag of the United States on his.

Team America walked leisurely along on the path that led to Area 51—the grassy knoll where rockets could be safely launched. It took about ten minutes to get there. Samantha, proud of her group for doing so well on their mission, let them laugh and joke as they hiked together, feeling not so much like strangers anymore but like a real team.

Cubby, still spouting facts about space travel, told them, “Did you know that a space shuttle goes 17,300 miles per hour? If we had really launched during our mission, we would have been going five miles per second!”

“Man, that’s fast!” Rashawn said. “We coulda got here to Alabama from Ohio in just a few minutes.”

The path was covered with leaves and dirt, and packed down where the sneakers of hundreds of other kids had walked, kids who had also been carrying rockets and maybe some dreams as well.

“The sky is so blue today, it looks like you could slice a piece of it and eat it like candy, mon,” Ziggy said as he glanced up. He stopped for a moment, making Rico almost bump into him.

“Yeah,” Jerome said, agreeing with him and pausing to look up at the sky as well. “And the clouds look like whipped cream.”

“Are you guys gonna eat dinner or launch a rocket?” Neil asked as he stopped and looked up also. “What’s the big deal? It’s just sky and clouds.”

“No,” Alan said, as he too stopped to look at the crystal-clear sky. “It’s more than that. It’s the place where the real rockets go.”

Everyone was quiet for a moment, then Nicolina said softly, “I wonder what it looks like from the other side of the clouds. What I mean is, what do the astronauts see when they look down at the clouds from space?”

Samantha started to answer, but Cubby said, “Remember the movie we saw last night? From space the world looks like a giant ball, resting on nothing, just spinning in darkness and light—depending on where the sun is.”

“Do you think astronauts can see the lines that divide countries?” Nicolina wanted to know. “I mean, like the line that separates the United States and Canada or Mexico. We see it on maps, but can they see it from up there?”

“Those lines don’t exist,” Samantha told them all.

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