To capture students' excitement and engage their interest in rocketships and visiting planets in the solar system, the author designed lessons that give students the opportunity to experience the joys and challenges of developing straw rockets, and then observing which design can travel the longest distance. The lessons are appropriate for students in grades 4 and 5. In the straw rockets unit, the students work with both controlled and manipulated variables to determine the ideal flying design for their straw rocket. Throughout this unit, the students are actively engaged in the learning process. They look at the flight data they collect. They analyze the results of their straw rocket flights, and they redesign their rockets to improve upon their original design.