We’ve lost Neil
Armstrong, and
it’s a perfect time
to consider his
life experiences
and what in his
background took
him to the moon.
I recently posted
something about
this on the AMA blogs and have been
encouraged to also share it with you
in MA, knowing that some of you
don’t do blogging.
With the recent passing of
aerospace legend Neil Armstrong,
we look back on a time of great
excitement and achievement that he
and his fellow Apollo 11 astronauts
brought us. One single leap onto the
lunar surface electrified a nation and
unified humanity. That was then.
That was when the average
National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) engineer in
the Houston control room was in his/
her 20s. Now, the average aerospace
engineer is in his or her 50s.
A generation, such as mine, grew
up dreaming of the stars. Today’s
best and brightest minds seem to be
dreaming of derivatives. So here we
are, with the demise of
Neil Armstrong, NASA’s
manned space program,
and a nation once again
behind the eight ball of
science.
Our nation and its
industries are starved for
engineers and scientists.
Our schools are desperately
trying to catch up to the
rest of the world in science,
technology, engineering,
and math (STEM). We are
caught in arrears, much
like the time of Sputnik in
the 1950s. Our children
… they are, according
to author Cynthia
Reynolds, the mechanically
challenged generation.
“We advance to the
unique ability to visualize
an idea then create that
vision with our hands. That’s meant
everything from developing tools to
imagining airplanes to performing
open heart surgery. So what happens
if that all-important hand-brain
conversation gets short circuited at a
young age?” Cynthia asked.
What is there to do other than
handwringing? According to Dr. Frank
Wilson, neurologist and author of The
Hand: How its Use Shapes the Brain,
Language and Human Culture, there
are serious consequences for ignoring
hand-brain connectivity.
America is at a serious crossroads in
preparing its latest generation to hold
its own in the real world.
Neil Armstrong was a model
builder. He was also in the Model
Aviation Hall of Fame. He, like many
of his generation who aspired to
be aviators, knew that nearly every
aeronautical principle and mechanical
device keeping full-scale aircraft aloft
could be found in a model airplane.
The first person to design a
successful private spacecraft, Burt
Rutan, also in the Model Aviation
Hall of Fame, found a way to reenter
the atmosphere at a lesser angle
than a space shuttle. How did he do
that? By calling up his aeromodeling
experience as a youth and tossing a
model off the roof of his California
headquarters to test his design.
His SpaceShipOne now hangs in
the Smithsonian near John Glenn’s
Mercury capsule and Chuck Yeager’s
X-1.
Modeling is essential to math,
science, and engineering, and in fact,
to all creative thinking. The model is
a metaphor; a way of understanding
cause and effect, a context for an
outcome.
Model-building activities enable
students to develop “spatial
intelligence” and experience the
serendipity of trial and error,
tempered by data collection and
thoughtful reflection, leading to
insight and discovery.
The 143,000-member Academy
of Model Aeronautics is dedicated
to bringing this process of discovery
(and, dare I say, fun) to today’s
youth and those still young at heart—
whether at a public park flying field or
the science classroom.
A giant leap for mankind often
begins when a child picks up a model
and begins to dream; and then no
surly bond can keep him or her
earthbound.
For those of you who read this on
the AMA blogs, I apologize, but at the
same time, felt strongly enough about
it to share with our MA readers.
Fly and Have Fun!
Edition: Model Aviation - 2012/11
Page Numbers: 151
