iwantmarbles

D: I wish I was in the sky – in space.

Me: Why?

D: I would LOVE to see the spacemans. How do you get back into Earth when you’re in space?
Do you have to stay there if you go into space?

Me: No because you’d go in a rocket – you’d just turn the rocket around and go back to Earth.

D: How can the rocket get back down if the world is just like a big ball and REALLY, REALLY hard and it can’t get through?

Me: What do you mean – it doesn’t need to go through the Earth – just land on it.

D: No, I MEAN… You know how the Earth is hard?

Me: Yes.

D: Well how can the rocket go back into a country if the Earth is a big ball and SO hard?

Me: Do you mean if the rocket is one side of the Earth in space and the country it’s going back to is on the other side? It would just go AROUND – like a bird. It doesn’t need to go through.

D: Really, really close mum, good try. That’s not what I mean!

Me: How about you show me what you mean on your planets poster when we go upstairs?

D: No, I’ll draw you a picture to show you what I mean…

Explanation of meaning – Nov 2012

D: That’s the Earth and they’re all stars around it. That’s the rocket [bottom], and it’s going back down to Earth. How can it go through when the Earth is really hard?

Me: Ahh! Yes, sorry – the rocket must turn around again just before it reaches the Earth and go in backwards, so it lands on its flat bit! Is that what you mean, because there’s a pointy bit on the top of the rocket?

D: Yes!

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• JAXA readies small rocket to break cost, use barriers (japantimes.co.jp)