Month:

What Does it Mean to “Circumnavigate”?

  • September 9

Amelia Earhart was an American aviator who mysteriously disappeared in 1937 while trying to circumnavigate the globe from the equator. Earhart was the 16th woman to be issued a pilot’s license. She had several notable flights, including becoming the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean in 1928, as well as the first person to fly over both the Atlantic and Pacific. Here, we explore what is meant, mathematically, by the term “circumnavigation.” Supplementary Activity Guides to extend... CONTINUE READING

Welcome to the Frontiers of Flight Museum

  • September 9

Welcome to the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas, located close to Love Field Airport. This museum is located in an old aircraft hangar. As we look around, we notice diverse designs of the varied aircraft in the museum. Supplementary Activity Guides to extend student learning at the Frontiers of Flight Museum for K-12 grade levels are freely available here: ht... CONTINUE READING

What Materials Did the Wright Brothers use to Build the Flyer-and Why?

  • September 9

Design is often fueled by the designers’ experiences and in the case of the Wright Brothers, their background in bicycle repair shaped their design of the Flyer. Here, we observe the Flyer exhibit at the museum and make connections to bicycles – so you can think of the Flyer as a flying bicycle in some ways! Supplementary Activity Guides to extend student learning at the Frontiers of Flight Museum for K-12 grade levels are freely available here:... CONTINUE READING

How Many People Fit on a 737 Plane?

  • September 9

We wonder what the maximum number of people is that could fit on board the 737 people we are walking through at the museum? How can we come up with a good estimate? We use number arrays to come up with our estimate and walk you through our thinking. Supplementary Activity Guides to extend student learning at the Frontiers of Flight Museum for K-12 grade levels are freely available here:... CONTINUE READING

How is Spaceship One Uniquely Designed to Achieve its Goals?

  • September 9

SpaceShipOne is a rocket-powered aircraft with sub-orbital spaceflight capability at speeds of up to 3,000 ft/s (900 m/s). Its unique design features a “feathering” atmospheric reentry system where the rear half of the wing and the twin tail booms fold 70 degrees upward. Watch the video to understand the function of this unique design. Also, learn how you can do a simple experiment at home to see the rationale behind this design. Supplementary Activity Guides to extend student learning at th... CONTINUE READING

What Inspired the Wright Brothers?

  • September 9

Design is often fueled by the designers’ experiences and in the case of the Wright Brothers, their background in bicycle repair and their interest in birdwatching shaped their design of the Flyer. Here, we observe the Flyer exhibit at the museum and make connections to bicycles and birds! Supplementary Activity Guides to extend student learning at the Frontiers of Flight Museum for K-12 grade levels are freely available here:... CONTINUE READING

How Can we Estimate the Height of the Beal Rocket?

  • September 9

Here, we observe the scale model of the Beal Rocket and wonder how we can estimate the height of this scale model and thereby estimating the height of the actual rocket using some simple and fun math detective work. We ended up coming very close to the actual height! Supplementary Activity Guides to extend student learning at the Frontiers of Flight Museum for K-12 grade levels are freely available here:... CONTINUE READING

Why is it Called the Flying Pancake?

  • September 9

The Flying Pancake is a fun name for a unique airplane that is no longer in use. We wonder as to why this aircraft was designed to have a flat wing-like body giving it such a large surface area? We explore this unique design and come to understand how this design met its goals but also came at a cost. Supplementary Activity Guides to extend student learning at the Frontiers of Flight Museum for K-12 grade levels are freely available here:... CONTINUE READING

Why is the Apollo VII shaped that way?

  • September 9

The Command Module of the Apollo VII mission has a truncated cone shape which was essential to its goals of leaving the earth's atmosphere and then safely re-entering the atmosphere to bring its crew back to Earth in 1968. Here, we wonder how the shape of the module was an important aspect of its design and learn about cone shapes, air resistance, and surface area. Supplementary Activity Guides to extend student learning at the Frontiers of Flight Museum for K-12 grade levels are freely availabl... CONTINUE READING

What Materials Make Up the Apollo VII?

  • September 9

We notice that the bottom surface of the Command Module of the Apollo VII space mission looks different from the material making up the rest of the module. We learn that this difference is a critical part of the design of the module that brought home the crew of 3 astronauts in 1968. Further, the heat shield material that was developed for the command module’s bottom surface is now something we use in everyday life – great example of innovation that ends up being used far more widely than an... CONTINUE READING