As Air Rocket Works Co-Founders Rick Schertle and Keith Violette discuss their work, one word keeps coming up.

"Fun".

That's because Rick and Keith, both passionate makers, enjoy creating cool things that fly.

And so do the teachers, students, parents and various enthusiasts who get to build and launch their rockets--and learn engineering, hands-on, while having a great time!

Rick and Keith's small business, Air Rocket Works, came about almost by accident.

It all started when Rick, a middle-school teacher, dad and lifelong maker whose MAKE magazine bio says he "specialized in fun growing up", became intrigued with the idea of making a compressed air rocket launcher.

Rick came up with a project that, unlike other launchers available at the time, was inexpensive to create, as well as durable--and a lot of fun!

About a year after publishing his project in MAKE magazine, Rick and his family assembled a few rocket kits, and offered them through the magazine. When they sold out rapidly and customers wanted more, he began exhibiting his rockets and rocket launchers at maker fairs.

Meanwhile, Keith, who is an engineer by profession, as well as a dad and a maker who describes himself as a "big kid", saw Rick's projects in MAKE magazine and brainstormed ways to create a new working air rocket glider.

Keith and his son took videos and sent photos of their finished work to Rick--and the rest is history.

Today, Rick and Keith, who live in California and New Hampshire, respectively, have numerous rockets and launchers available on their website. They've developed rockets and launchers for educational programs all around the world. These include educational outreach programs by NASA, United Launch Alliance and The Tech Museum of Innovation.

Meanwhile, they continue to wow visitors at maker fairs--and may very well be coming to Maker Faire Bay Area this September!

(Like to get some hands-on experience before then? Here's a link to Rick's book "Planes, Gliders and Paper Rockets: Simple Flying Things Anyone Can Make" on Amazon!)

Rick and Keith shared the story of Air Rocket Works, discussed some of their favorite experiences and offered a preview of what's next!

This post and podcast are not, in any way, shape or form, affiliated with, nor endorsed by, NASA. We are not employed by, or otherwise connected with, NASA. We just find this very exciting stuff!

In honor of Anne C. McClain's return to space with NASA's Crew-10 mission, this week we're reposting our 2023 interview with her about her career and achieving her dreams. Safe journey to Anne and her crew, and we'll be watching and cheering!

NASA's Space-X Crew-10 mission, has a targeted launch time of 7:48 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, March 12th, according to NASA's website.

"It was a dream ever since I was little," says NASA Astronaut and U.S. Army Colonel Anne C. McClain, of her space career.

On March 12th, 2025, she's scheduled to experience the next chapter of that dream.

As the SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket and Dragon spacecraft launch from Florida's Kennedy Space Center, Anne will be serving as commander of NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 mission to the International Space Station.

However, that's only one exciting aspect of her assignment.

Anne is one of eighteen astronauts selected for training for NASA's Artemis missions. Along with her colleagues, she is preparing, for NASA's return to the Moon and their ultimate goals: to establish a lunar outpost and prepare for human missions to Mars.

And there are no blueprints for the groundbreaking missions. Consequently, Anne and her colleagues are discovering what equipment and procedures will be needed for Artemis--which is very different from preparing to fly aboard the ISS.

"It's not just about training for space; it's figuring out what you need, to train for space," she explains.

The Crew-10 mission will be Anne's second spaceflight.

December, 2018, marked Anne's first launch, as flight engineer for ISS Missions 58 and 59. During her six months aboard the International Space Station, she served as the lead on two spacewalks.

Her journey to the stars

On the way to her ultimate goal of becoming an astronaut, Anne garnered numerous professional accomplishments and accolades.

Commissioned as an Army officer in 2002, she is a Master Army Aviator and Experimental Test Pilot. Her flight experience includes more than 2,000 hours in 20 different types of aircraft. Her professional honors include the Dennis Hart Mahan Memorial Award for excellence in Aeronautical Engineering, as well as Honorary Doctorates of Engineering from both the University of Bath and the University of Bristol.

And her NASA experience includes serving as an Instructor Astronaut in three different areas: Robotics, EVA, and CAPCOM.

During our 2023 conversation about her career and her spaceflight preparations, Anne shared, not only her story, but a great "blueprint" for anyone who would like to achieve their dreams

"I want more people to use our platform and find out that art-making is fun," says iBoda CEO Professor Sunah Kim.

And her new South Korea-based platform offers students multiple opportunities to make that discovery.

Using AI as a tool in collaboration with art education experts from Hanyang University in Seoul, iBoda assesses a student's artistic tendencies, as well as the art styles they prefer. Then, based on these findings, the platform customizes art lessons to that individual's interests and abilities.

From there, the art educators assess the student's uploaded work, guiding them as they improve. The student also does a self-assessment, and the platform allows them to chart their development in a "process-folio".

In addition, students can display their work in online galleries. and write about what they've created. Art educators can use the platform to design lessons customized to individual student interests, and resources are available, including lesson plans and videos on specific techniques. And the iBoda platform features multiple media for art creation, including weaving, origami and digital art. (Several examples of student work are shown on their Instagram page.)

It's all about creativity as an ongoing process.

"(Art-making) should be continuous," says Professor Kim.

"It's not some activity you can do one day and stop."

She's speaking from considerable experience.

An artist for as long as she can remember, Professor Kim holds multiple art-education credentials. She is a Professor in the Department of Art Education at Hanyang University in Seoul, South Korea. She chairs three art-related graduate programs at HYU, as well as serving as Director of the university's Art Gifted Education Institute. In addition, she is the Director of the Hanyang Education in Art + Design Lab.

Professor Kim shared the story of the iBoda platform, offered a look at the ways it works and discussed the ways she'd like to expand the platform in the future.