'5, 4, 3, 2, 1, - and then, boom'

Kavanagh College pupils (from left) Conor Griffiths (14, obscured), Michael McLennan (13), Blake MacDade (14), Adam Corson (13), Anton Stuck (13, obscured), Finn Bartlett (13), Tobias Brennan (12), Josh Meikle (15) and Jess Blyth (16) get ready for a test
Kavanagh College pupils (from left) Conor Griffiths (14, obscured), Michael McLennan (13), Blake MacDade (14), Adam Corson (13), Anton Stuck (13, obscured), Finn Bartlett (13), Tobias Brennan (12), Josh Meikle (15) and Jess Blyth (16) get ready for a test launch of a rocket they have been preparing as part of the Dunedin Space Programme. Photo by Peter McIntosh.
The Dunedin Space Programme is gearing up for space flight - or, at least, atmospheric flight.

About 10 dry powder-powered rockets would be launched from Robin Hood Park tonight, Dunedin Space Programme co-ordinator Amadeo Enriquez Ballestero said.

''We have a countdown: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, - and then, boom,'' he said, of what can be expected.

While the rockets made a spectacular display to those who witnessed them, they would not be visible from anywhere other than the immediate vicinity of Robin Hood Park, he said.

Those who wanted to see them in flight should be at the park by about 8pm, and everyone was welcome, he said.

The space programme had employed its own ''rocket mentor'', Dr Romain Garby, whose PhD was in rocket propulsion.

About 30 children, most of them from Kavanagh College, attended the weekly programme at the Beverley Begg Observatory.

The programme was designed to have ''fun with science'', Mr Enriquez Ballestero said.

''Kids like blowing things up and most [people] say to that, `Well, no', but I say, `Well, yes, but in a particular way'.

''We are choosing to do the right thing with science.''

The children will be building the rockets from 7pm, with the display starting about 8pm.

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