Albert Hopper, Science Hero: Blasting Through the Solar System! Read online

  “Junior Science Hero Polly?” said Albert Hopper.

  “Yes, Uncle?”

  “That was just amazing.”

  “Saturn?” she asked.

  “Saturn,” said her uncle.

  Chapter 8

  COMETS AND ASTEROIDS

  “Pigeon is tired,” said Polly.

  “How can a ship get tired?” asked Tad.

  “It’s been through a lot,” said his sister.

  “I agree,” said the professor. “And help is on the way.” He pointed out the window. “See that comet? It is heading straight for Saturn.”

  “Oooh!” said Polly. “It can give Pigeon a piggyback ride!”

  They landed on the comet.

  “Comet suits, everyone! We’re going outside!” said the Science Hero.

  They stepped onto the comet. “Watch your step! Comets are big hunks of ice that orbit the galaxy. If you slip, you fall into space!”

  “I’m going to look at the tail,” said Tad.

  “Be back for dinner,” said his uncle. “And DO NOT slip!”

  A few hours went by. Albert Hopper and Polly finished their dinners.

  “Tad should have been back by now,” said Polly.

  “Can I eat his dinner?” asked her uncle.

  “Of course not!” said his niece. “I’m worried about him.”

  “Oh, he’s okay,” said the professor.

  “How do you know?”

  “Because he’s right over there.” Her uncle pointed to a nearby asteroid. Junior Science Hero Tad stood upon it.

  The professor waved to his nephew. His nephew waved back. “He must have fallen off the comet. Luckily, that asteroid was there to catch him.”

  “Now what?” asked Polly.

  “SPACE WALK!” said her uncle. He went to the ship and returned with a long rope. “Tie this around your waist, and take off your gravity boots. I will hold on to the other end. You float out and grab him.”

  “Why don’t you float out there?”

  “I’m heavier,” said Albert Hopper. “I will make a better anchor.”

  “Weight doesn’t matter in space!” said Polly.

  “Also, I just ate. I get spacesick,” said her uncle.

  “Just don’t let go,” said Polly.

  “NEVER!” promised the professor.

  Polly drifted over to her brother.

  “Hi, Polly,” said Tad.

  “Hi, Tad,” said Polly.

  “I fell off the comet,” said Tad.

  “I know,” said Polly. She grabbed her brother. Their uncle pulled them back to the comet.

  “Who ate my dinner?” asked Tad.

  “ONWARD TO SATURN!” bellowed his uncle.

  Chapter 9

  ONWARD TO SATURN!

  They soon reached Saturn. Pigeon left the comet. The ship’s well-rested engines cooed softly.

  “Pigeon’s computer says that Saturn’s winds are twice as strong as Jupiter’s,” said Polly.

  “The two planets are very similar. Both are big, windy balls of gas,” said her uncle.

  Tad grinned and started to say something.

  “Don’t, Tad,” said his sister. She looked back at the planet. “Both have rings of ice and rocks, too,” she said. “But Saturn’s are prettier!”

  “Saturn’s rings are made from cleaner ice,” said her uncle. “Jupiter’s rings are all dusty, so they are harder to see. But we will not land on Saturn. We shall observe the planet from its LARGEST MOON!”

  “Titan!” said Polly.

  “Take us there, Junior Science Hero Polly!”

  They landed on the hazy orange moon.

  “Titanian suits, everyone,” commanded the Science Hero. “The air is unbreathable nitrogen. And today it is … MINUS 280 DEGREES!”

  They stepped onto the surface. “The gravity is weak, but the air is thick,” said the professor. “We’ll be a little bouncy.”

  “This looks like Earth,” said Tad. “Except for the orange air and orange clouds.”

  “Those clouds will soon be raining liquid methane!” said his uncle.

  “Gasoline?” asked Polly.

  “Sort of. It’s why we are here—to fill up Pigeon. We’ll pump it from that lake.”

  “Our ship runs on methane gas?” asked Tad.

  “That, and other things,” said his uncle.

  “What other things?” asked his niece.

  “Just other things,” said her uncle.

  They filled the ship with gas from the lake. “This should get us the rest of the way,” said Albert Hopper.

  “Do we have to go?” asked Tad. They watched Saturn peek from behind the horizon.

  “This is so beautiful,” said Polly. They sat for a few more moments. Then their uncle shot to his feet.

  “URANUS!” he said, and strode to the ship.

  Tad and Polly looked at each other. “I guess we’re on our way to Uranus,” said Tad.

  Chapter 10

  URANUS!

  “URANUS!” announced the hero of science as they approached the pale blue planet. “Notice anything?”

  “No,” said Polly and Tad.

  “It is spinning from top to bottom,” said their uncle. “All the other planets spin from side to side.”

  “Because of the ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN button?” asked Tad.

  “No. And that hasn’t come into play this whole trip,” said his uncle.

  “That makes me nervous,” said Polly.

  “Me, too,” said her uncle. “Notice the dark rings? They spin from top to bottom, too.”

  “What holds them together?” asked Tad.

  “Neptune’s gravity and the gravity of the little moons riding along with them.”

  “What’s our mission?” asked Polly.

  “To count the very rings of Uranus!” declared her uncle.

  “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13,” said Tad. “There are 13 rings around the planet Uranus.”

  “MISSION COMPLETE!” announced his uncle. “NEPTUNE!”

  “Wait, that’s it?” asked Tad.

  “Sometimes, my young nephew, science is just counting things.”

  “For what?” asked Tad.

  “Sometimes, Junior Science Hero, we don’t know until we know. Now, NEPTUNE!”

  Tad and Polly looked at each other. “I guess we’re on our way to Neptune,” said Tad.

  Chapter 11

  NEPTUNE!

  Professor Hopper pulled down his chart of the solar system. “Neptune is the eighth planet from the sun. And it’s a big one. Its core alone is the size of Earth. But, as with Uranus, wrapped around that core is a churning stew of ices and gases.”

  “Okay, so we’ll skip this one,” said Tad.

  “Precisely! We shall skip this one as we plunge into that deadly soup!”

  “That’s not what I’d call ‘skipping this one,’” said Tad.

  “Junior Science Hero Polly? Take us down into the swirling oceans of Neptune. And be of great care. The winds can blow up to … 1,500 MILES PER HOUR!”

  “Look, I can count the rings. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5,” said Tad. “Five rings. Mission complete!”

  “Mission INCOMPLETE! Dive, Polly, DIVE!”

  “The air is getting thick and slushy,” said Polly. “I can’t tell if we’re flying or swimming.”

  “It’s so dark,” said Tad.

  “The atmosphere is too thick for the sun’s rays to penetrate,” said his uncle.

  Kerploosh! went the ship.

  “I think we’re floating,” said Polly.

  “Neptunian suits on! We’re going in!” said her uncle.

  “They’re glowing!” said Tad.

  “Yes, so we can find one another in the dark. Careful, now. We are in a mix of ammonia, water, and methane ice. The smallest of sips would be … just awful!”

  “Our mission?” asked Polly.

  “To be the very first to do this!” said the Science Hero.

  “To do what?” asked Tad.r />
  “This!” answered his uncle as he bobbed in the Neptunian sea.

  The Science Heroes bounced in the sea for an hour or so.

  “How is this science?” asked Polly finally.

  “Sometimes science is doing something no one has done before,” answered her uncle.

  “Like floating in a chunky pitch- black ocean of ammonia?” asked Tad.

  “Precisely like floating in a chunky pitch-black ocean of ammonia, my nephew.” Suddenly, Albert Hopper shouted, “PLUTO!” He sloshed back to the ship.

  Tad and Polly looked at each other. “I guess we’re on our way to Pluto,” said Tad.

  Chapter 12

  PLUTO!

  They reached Pluto in a few days.

  “It has a big white heart on it,” said Tad.

  “Yes, my nephew. That area is filled with methane ice, carbon dioxide ice, and nitrogen ice.

  “Take us in for a closer look, Junior Science Hero Polly.”

  They approached the tiny planet. “So, you know it’s not a planet anymore,” said Polly.

  “Am, too,” said a tiny voice.

  “Who said that?” asked Tad.

  “Look out your window,” said the voice.

  “Pluto? That’s you?”

  “Yep,” said the dwarf planet.

  “Annnd…,” said Albert Hopper. “THERE! Right THERE is the ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN button doing what it does!”

  “Finally,” whispered Tad.

  “You are a dwarf planet,” said Polly.

  “Am not!” said Pluto.

  “Are, too!” said Polly.

  “Am not!” said Pluto.

  “Are, too!” said Polly.

  “Okay, that will be enough, you two,” said Albert Hopper.

  “I’m on Pluto’s side,” said Tad.

  “That’s just because it’s the opposite of my side,” said his big sister.

  “Thanks, kid,” said the dwarf planet.

  “To be a planet, you have to follow three rules,” said Polly. “You have to orbit around the sun.”

  “I do!” said Pluto.

  “But you go in a different direction from the other planets.”

  “So?” said Pluto.

  “Your gravity also has to pull you into the shape of a ball,” said Polly.

  “It did! It is! I am!” said Pluto.

  “Lastly,” said Polly, “to be a planet, you have to be able to push away OR pull in all the big objects in your path.”

  “That’s really, really hard!” said Pluto.

  “Because you’re too small,” said Polly.

  “YOU’RE too small!” said Pluto.

  “I’m not calling myself a planet!” said Polly.

  “Because you’re not one!” said Pluto.

  “Neither are you!” said Polly.

  “This will get us nowhere,” said science’s most annoyed hero.

  Polly ignored her uncle. “Not a planet!” she said.

  “Am so,” said Pluto.

  “Are not!”

  “Am so!”

  “We’re leaving,” said Albert Hopper. He took the controls and steered away from Pluto.

  “It’s not a planet,” mumbled Polly.

  “Is, too,” mumbled Tad.

  “Nevertheless!” said their uncle.

  Chapter 13

  AUTOPILOT

  “It is a long trip back to Earth,” said the professor. “We shall let the autopilot take us home! It will steer the ship as we relax.”

  “Has the autopilot ever actually worked?” asked Tad.

  “Someday!” said the hero of science.

  “I don’t think you answered my question,” said Tad.

  “No, I think he did,” said Polly.

  “Autopilot, wake up!” said the professor.

  *AWAKE,* said the autopilot.

  “Take us home, my good machine. We must rest our weary selves,” said the professor.

  *I’LL GET YOU HOME,* said the autopilot. The ship lurched ahead. The crew took a long nap.

  Polly argued with Pluto in her sleep. “Are not … are not…,” she muttered.

  Tad argued with Polly in his sleep. “Is, too … is, too,” he muttered.

  Their uncle argued with the two of them in his sleep. “Enough, enough,” he muttered.

  Tad woke up and looked out the window. His uncle woke up, too. “What do you see?” the professor asked.

  “It’s pretty dark out there,” said Tad. “And there are a lot of comets. And a bunch of asteroids. And tons of meteors.”

  “Meteors aren’t called meteors until they’re in the Earth’s atmosphere,” said Polly. “Until then they’re just parts of asteroids and comets.”

  “Are you correcting me in your sleep?” asked Tad.

  Polly woke up. “What?”

  “See any medium-sized stars we call the ‘sun,’ or watery blue planets we call ‘Earth’?” asked their uncle.

  “No,” said Tad. “None of those.”

  Polly went to the window. “Why are we in the Kuiper Belt?” she asked.

  *KUIPER BELT,* recited the autopilot. *PRONOUNCED “KI-PER”: A WIDE RING OF COMETS, ASTEROIDS, ROCKS, AND ICE BEYOND THE SOLAR SYSTEM. YOUR “HOME.” *

  “No, autopilot,” said Albert Hopper. “We do NOT call the Kuiper Belt home. Why, that wide ring of comets, asteroids, rocks, and ice is in the exact opposite direction of our home!”

  *OH,* said the autopilot. *SO DO YOU WANT TO STAY HERE, OR—*

  “TO THE THIRD PLANET FROM THE SUN!” commanded the professor. “TO EARTH!”

  *GOT IT,* said the autopilot.

  Chapter 14

  ALMOST

  The crew dozed as the autopilot made the long trip to Earth.

  “PLANET!” shouted Pluto as they whizzed by. The sun still looked like a tiny star in the distance. They had a long way to go. They rocketed past Neptune, and then past its icy twin, Uranus. Pigeon zoomed by Saturn, and then past its gassy twin, Jupiter.

  It flapped past Mars, home of their new Martian clubhouse.

  “Headquarters,” whispered Albert Hopper in his sleep. And then … CRAAASH!

  “What happened?” asked Polly.

  “I think we crashed,” said her uncle.

  *HERE WE ARE,* said the autopilot.

  “We’re on the moon!” said Tad.

  *WRONG WAY AGAIN?* asked the autopilot.

  “No, you came close. You just didn’t go far enough,” said Tad.

  *I WOULD SAY THAT’S AN IMPROVEMENT,* said the autopilot.

  “A little,” said the professor.

  *THANKS!* said the autopilot. *ALL YOURS NOW. SORRY FOR BREAKING YOUR SHIP.*

  “Moon suits, everyone,” said Albert Hopper.

  They went outside. The ship’s beak was bent.

  “We can knock that back in place,” said the professor. “We’ll be on our way in no time!”

  “Can we wait?” asked Tad.

  “Why?” asked Polly.

  “Look,” said Tad. The big, beautiful blue planet called Earth shone in the darkness of space. “I think that one’s my favorite,” said Tad.

  “I agree,” said Polly.

  “As do I, my niece.”

  “Thanks,” said Earth.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  John Himmelman is the author and illustrator of more than sixty books for children, including Chickens to the Rescue. He lives in Connecticut with his family. You can sign up for email updates here.

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  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  Chapter 1: Pigeon
/>   Chapter 2: Venus

  Chapter 3: Mercury? Nope. Yep.

  Chapter 4: Mercury

  Chapter 5: And Back to the Sun …

  Chapter 6: Next Stop, Mars

  Chapter 7: The Largest and Gassiest Planet!

  Chapter 8: Comets and Asteroids

  Chapter 9: Onward to Saturn!

  Chapter 10: Uranus!

  Chapter 11: Neptune!

  Chapter 12: Pluto!

  Chapter 13: Autopilot

  Chapter 14: Almost

  About the Author

  Copyright

  Henry Holt and Company, Publishers since 1866

  Henry Holt® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC

  120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271 • mackids.com

  Copyright © 2021 by John Himmelman

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Himmelman, John, author.

  Title: Blasting through the solar system! / John Himmelman.