I’ve said it before. This isn’t the world I grew up in.
Today’s focus on safety, for example, feels over-enthusiastic.
But then, I’m one of those people who launched rockets in the basement. With the permission and cooperation of my father.
I’m not sure how old I was at the time. Early teens is my guess. We were still living at 818, so it could have been while I was in sixth grade, or maybe fifth. Anyway, the Space Age was very much in progress.
I don’t know where I learned about making a rocket with a match, aluminum foil, and a pin; but seeing how it worked seemed like a good idea.
It’s quite simple.
Paperclips, Pins, and Tiny Rockets
Take a match, a scrap of aluminum foil, and a pin. Set the match and the pin on the aluminum foil, with the pin sidelong the match with its point touching the match head.1
Contemporary sensitivities being what they are, I’ll point out the obvious:
- Contains flammable materials
- Do not swallow
- May have been in contact with peanuts
- Burning your fingers hurts
- Do not use as earplugs
I’ve probably missed something, but will assume that you have a smidgen of sense.
Keeping the pin where it is by the match, wrap the aluminum foil around both, then pull the pin out.
Bend a paperclip so that one end will lie flat on the ground or floor, with the other at about a 45 degree angle. Put the paperclip on the ground or floor.
Put the wrapped match on the little ramp, being careful not to crush the tiny tube left when you pulled out the pin, with the open end of the tiny tube at or near the bottom of the ramp.
Light a match, hold the flame under the aluminum-foil-covered match head.
The enclosed match head should light, hot gas and smoke should shoot out the tiny tube, and the whole tiny rocket should fly off the ramp.
Technically Flammable, But Our Safest Option
That Science Guys video says you should try launching your matchstick rockets outside. That’s a good idea, actually, if the only inside spaces you can use contain carpeting, paper, wood shavings, or open containers of gasoline.
But for me and my father, the basement hallway was probably the safest spot we had.
Outside, even if we launched from a concrete surface, the matchstick rocket might have landed in grass or among leaves. Likely, maybe not; but possible, yes.
The basement hallway, on the other hand, was concrete with linoleum flooring. The walls were, technically, flammable; but igniting them would take much more than one match.
The test flights were a great success. The longest one, my memory tells me, went more than four feet from the paperclip launching ramp.
I only remember launching those matchstick rockets one time. But it’s among my happy memories, and connects with my interest in making and flying model rockets later on.
Technology, Thinking, and Taking it Easy
I was surprised at how many folks have been writing about how you can make and fly matchstick rockets.
Some, most of the ones I noticed, included unnecessary extras like making little tiny fins for the things.
My oldest daughter pointed out that those fins would probably make the tiny rockets more stable. She’s right, but in such a short flight there’s not much time for the match-and-foil rocket to tumble.
I’m taking it easy this week, so I’ll skip talking about why I think that developing new technology, using our brains, and remembering that hope is an option — all make sense.
Besides, I’ve talked about that before; along with a quick recollection of 818:
- “Remembering a House I Grew Up in, and Gratitude” (November 22, 2025)
- “Aftershock II: USC Students Reaching for the Stars” (November 21, 2024)
- “Doom, Gloom, and Dystopias: But Hope is an Option” (January 20, 2024)
- “Single Stage to Orbit, Eventually” (December 17, 2022)
1 More than you need, or maybe want, to know about:
- Match Stick Rocket
Glenn Learning Technologies Project (LTP), NASA
(no longer funded, but the following links remain active (November 25, 2025))- Aeronautics Resources
- Guides
- Lessons & Activities
- Simulations (Free Software)
- Wind Tunnels
- Science Resources
- Glossary of Terms: Looking at Earth from Space
- Aeronautics Resources
- Wikipedia
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This got me remembering kids who would play with little fireworks, as in the ones that make big noise rather than stuff like sparklers. I don’t think I’d ever like that sort of play, not with how I feel like those little fireworks have too little room for safety with their little sizes packing so much sonic punches. I do get giddy about explosions, but only ones that are mediated enough.
Oh, boy – big noises. I **do** like that. And, although I don’t like my region’s restrictions on what’s legal and what’s not – and think the restrictions are extreme – I may understand the well-meaning motives behind them.