Astrotwins — Project Blastoff by Mark Kelly

Lisa’s steady hands and good eyes made her an excellent shot. To everyone’s surprise—including her own—she won this segment of the competition, with Barry and Scott taking second and third places. When the smoke had cleared and the dust had settled, Lisa and Scott werein the lead with ten each, then Mark with seven, Barry with five, Egg with four, and Howard with minus one.
    â€œWhere to next?” Mark was determined to make up points and figured speed was his best asset.
    â€œDrinking fountain. It’s hot out here,” Tommy said.
    â€œCan’t we get sodas? Grandpa gave me money,” Scott said.
    Tommy shook his head. “Bad for your teeth.”
    â€œDo astronauts need good teeth?” Barry asked.
    Tommy nodded. “Astronauts and pilots both.”
    Scott spotted a drinking fountain, sprinted to it, took his turn, and asked, “Do I get points?”
    â€œNot this time,” Tommy said.
    â€œBut Egg got a point when she asked—”
    Tommy gave him a look, and Scott closed his mouth. He didn’t want to lose a point for arguing.
    â€œWe’ve got time for one more activity before lunch,” Tommy said. “Ready?”
    Except for Howard, the kids got out their maps and were poised to run.
    â€œArcade!” Tommy said.
    This time, to everyone’s surprise, Howard won, and Egg was second. When the others caught up, they saw that Egg had her hands on her hips and was giving Howard a lecture about cheating.
    Howard did not seem upset. Instead, he looked slightly more puzzled than usual.
    When Egg ran out of adjectives, it got quiet for a moment. Then, sounding frighteningly like a grown-up, she asked, “What do you have to say for yourself?”
    â€œI didn’t cheat,” Howard said. “I just used different methodology.”
    Egg’s expression threatened to start the lecture all over again, but Tommy interrupted. “What do you mean, Howard?”
    â€œI’m not good at reading maps,” Howard said. “But I know Jenny—that is, Egg—is good at it. So when she got up from the bench quickly, I followed her, and when I saw the arcade I ran ahead and beat her. It’s just the luck of my having long legs, Jenny.”
    Tommy nodded. “Makes sense to me. In fact, for your creative solution to the problem, Howard, you get double points!”
    Howard smiled. “Thank you. I believe that puts me in the lead.”
    Scott groaned. “He’s got nineteen! He’s killing us all!”
    â€œNow, are we ready for some pinball?” Tommy asked. “You’ll be seeing Newtonian motion in action, not to mention vectors.”
    â€œUh-oh,” said Scott. “Math.”
    â€œYesss!” said Barry.
    â€œI didn’t think I liked math either till I saw I needed it to be a pilot,” said Tommy. “Planes crash if you miscalculate the relationships between lift, temperature,weight, wind speed, and thrust, not to mention the length of the runway.”
    â€œI didn’t know pilots had to understand all that,” Scott said.
    â€œEngineers do all they can to make flying easy on the pilot,” said Tommy. “But the pilot still has to understand the science and math. How do you think test pilots spend most of their time?”
    â€œHot-rodding around in fast jets,” Mark said.
    Tommy smiled. “That’s a small part of it compared to analyzing the flying characteristics of the plane. Every flight yields hundreds of measurements, and it’s up to the pilot—among others—to assess them. In fact, test pilots are constantly looking at data and trying to deduce something that will help the engineers make the airplane better.”
    â€œYou mean test pilots have homework?” Scott said.
    â€œThat’s just what I mean,” said Tommy.
    Mark and Scott were disgusted. It was bad enough that smart kids got good grades and the admiration of