Air & Space Class

I wasn't in band in high school so I always had to take a lot of electives. From Journalism to British Literature; from Sewing to Air & Space.

Ahh, Air & Space. I probably remember more from that class than any other class I took in high school. Well, maybe not sewing class, but you know what I mean.

In Air & Space I learned the difference between a piston and a crankshaft. My husband is impressed that I even know those words.

I learned what the term V-6 means. I know what a cylinder is and how it works to make your car run. (This would be associated with the piston and the crankshaft in some way.)

I learned what makes an airplane fly and the laws of aerodynamics. I learned how to land an airplane on a real simulator. Did you know when an airplane is on the ground you steer it with pedals at your feet?

And then there was my favorite part of the class, the Space part.

I learned about rockets. I used to have the sequence of an Apollo launch memorized but I don't remember it all anymore. To this very day I have an obsession with Apollo 13.

I learned about shuttle launches, too, only a couple months before the Space Shuttle Columbia broke up during re-entry.

Air & Space was probably one of my favorite classes of all time. Better than AP English, better than AP World History, and definitely better than AP Calc and Physics. I actually did enjoy all my AP classes, but nothing beats Air & Space. I couldn't even tell you how little I remember from all those AP classes. Well, I could. Here is is:

AP English: Octogenarian. Person in their 80s.
AP Calc: The derivative of xcubed is 3xsquared.
AP World History: The Industrial Revolution changed the course of history.
Physics: I don't even remember anything from Physics. Obviously it wasn't too important.

The sad thing is I took those AP classes only five years ago, and I had Air & Space eight years ago.

I'd take it again if I could.