It was the two-day rocket lab’s inaugural running, which catered to kids aged 8 to 11. A second Cosmic Explorers session for ages 12 and up is slated to run today and Thursday. Each of the eight students in the first session built their own rockets. It was a busy two days, with students having the chance to meet with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab rocket scientists while learning how to construct the rockets under the supervision of sky center staff.

It was a complete success on launch: each of the eight student rockets shot up hundreds of feet into the air, with each participant turning the ignition key on a nearby control panel. Taking advantage of the park’s large field between the road, the rockets were carefully angled slightly against the prevailing breeze to land a safe distance away from any roadway.

It was close to perfect on the way back down, with seven of the eight rockets staying tethered to their parachutes and gently drifting down. The other rocket’s parachute deployed, although the fuselage became detached mid-air. While the rocket came down at a faster clip, it still survived impact — a welcome relief since they are relaunchable with a replaceable fuel cell.

It was all smiles and fun under the summer sun amongst the explorers, but perhaps less obvious at first glance was that the young students were learning physics, chemistry and astronomy years ahead of their school year curriculum.

Nolan Carroll, 8, gives two thumbs up next to his rocket at the Tupper Lake Municipal Park on Tuesday, shortly before it was launched. (Enterprise photo — Chris Gaige)

That was largely due to the efforts of Simon Thill, the sky center’s associate director of astronomy outreach. Thill grew up in Saranac Lake and said that he always loved stargazing and astronomy, but didn’t have a lot of opportunities locally when he was younger to immerse himself in educational opportunities to stoke his passions. Since beginning his position with the Sky Center, Thill sought to change that with programs like this.

“I had a lot of fun designing this program,” he said. “All I had to do was think, ‘As a kid, what would I really have loved to do?’ And this is the exact kind of activity.”

Thill said the idea was to keep kids engaged through hands-on learning over the two days, imparting knowledge and piquing their interests in astronomy, without making them feel the drudgery that school and classes can sometimes bring.

“We’re not giving them lectures or homework assignments,” he said. “These kids are having fun just experimenting, they are secretly learning really advanced concepts in physics, in astronomy, in chemistry and in engineering.”

For more information and upcoming programming from the Adirondack Sky Center & Observatory, visit adirondackskycenter.org.

Ella Bard, 9, turns the launch key on a control panel held by Simon Thill to ignite her rocket at the Tupper Lake Municipal Park on Tuesday. It was the culmination of the Tupper Lake-based Adirondack Sky Center & Observatory’s first of two Cosmic Explorers Rocket Labs, two-day educational summer camps designed by Thill and hosted by the sky center. (Enterprise photo — Chris Gaige)

Lillian Graham, 9, smiles with her rocket at the Tupper Lake Municipal Park on Tuesday. (Enterprise photo — Chris Gaige)

Fin Fitzgerald, 8, smiles next to his rocket at the Tupper Lake Municipal Park on Tuesday, shortly before it was launched. (Enterprise photo — Chris Gaige)

Simon Thill welcomes the audience to the Adirondack Sky Center & Observatory’s Cosmic Explorers Rocket Lab launch at the Tupper Lake Municipal Park on Tuesday. (Enterprise photo — Chris Gaige)