Hey it's me Destin. Welcome to
Smarter Every Day. So, I am very passionate about rockets. You probably know that
by now. But the reason I am is because my grandfather worked for NASA and he introduced me to
rockets. I knew from that moment when he introduced me that I wanted to explore
space, I want to be an astronaut. So here's what we did. My hero says
to him who much is given much is required, and I grew up in the shadow of that. I've been given
a lot. So we recognise that there are people who don't even know what rockets are.
So a buddy of mine, and I, we lauched this operation.
It took us a year and a half to plan and execute, but we took rockets to people who'd
never seen rockets before. But in order to do this, the first thing we had to do logistically
was figure out how to get rockets to the smallest nation in Africa.
[music]
We have a class B
Estes model rocket and we're gonna let it fly and let these kids learn a little bit more about
science, and math and technology.
[music]
(To students) In order for the fins to hold it straight
it has to be going fast. Before it goes fast, you have to
hold it straight. The answer is science, OK.
When your teacher gets ready to fire, we're going to count down. Now,
what we do when you shoot rockets is you count from 5 down to zero.
1.. zero
[students excited screams]
This is the inauguration
of the Gambian space program.
5..4..3..2..1..Fire
Did you see that? Look, let me play it back. Watch this kid.
right here. That guy. Ignore the other ones. He's having the moment.
This is the very first time that this kid's ever seen a rocket in his entire life.
Did you like it? -[laugh]
Do you remember what that's like for you? Well, here's the deal. You've been given many
opportunities that other people in the world haven't got. It's like this.
To him who much is given, much is required. What have you been given?
So me and Stevo's plan to get people excited about science technology engineering math was the initiation
of the Gambian space program. So it's simple. What are you going to do?
Tell us, and then subscribe so you can get Smarter Every Day. I'm Destin. Have a good one.
5..4..3..
2..1..Fire! [rocket launch]
[ Captions by Andrew Jackson ]
Captioning in different languages welcome. Please contact Destin if you can help.