It was the second week of school and when I walked into the Science class today, something was very strange. My teacher was dressed up as an astronaut. She had been waiting to tell us what we would be studying and after seeing her dressed up as an astronaut, it's safe to say, we are going to learn about Space.

Ms. E welcomed us to class like she did every morning, but today her voice sounded excitingly different. She said "today I have some exciting news about what we will be learning over the first semester. How many of you know who Neil Armstrong or John Glenn is? We are going to be learning about the planets of the Solar System and the Universe. Are you ready to take this journey to outer space with me?" We are going to have fun!

After she told us that we would be taking a journey to outer space I sat there wondering what it would be like to be an astronaut and what I might learn about each of the planets along my journey. After watching the Apollo 11 video, I left class ready for blast off but would have to wait until tomorrow to start my journey to outer space.

"I wonder if there are any aliens in space."

"Today class we are going to start our journey through the Solar System. Our first stop is Mercury. Mercury is the smallest and the fastest planet found in the solar system. It travels around the sun every 88 Earth days. That means it travels around the sun 4 times a year. Mercury is the most heavily cratered planet, similar to the moon. " Ms. E stated.

I could hardly wait to start this journey with my teacher. I wonder what planet we would explore first. I've always wondered what space looked like.

The second planet that we visited along our journey was Venus. Venus is named after a Roman goddess of love and beauty. Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system, even though it is not the planet closest to the sun. Venus has the slowest rotation of all the planets. One day on Venus is 243 Earth days, and the sun only rises every 117 days. That's crazy! I don't think I could handle only seeing the sun every 117 days. That's only 3 times a year!

Venus was out of this world hot. I think I burned a hole in my space boots. I was relieved to find out that our next stop would back to Earth. I was glad to be back home after being in space for so long. Earth is the third planet. Did you know that Earth is 4.5 billion years old? I thought I was old. Earth has one satellite, which is the moon. While we were back home, I rested up and got ready for my next adventure, which seemed it would take a light-year to get here. I wonder what planet we are off to next.

After spending a night back home on Earth, it was time to report back to school to finish our space journey of the Solar system. I went to school and prepared for take off in the space shuttle, however, Ms. E said we wouldn't be leaving today due to a problem with the space shuttle. We would be exploring Mars by taking a virtual field trip. I was sad that I would have to explore Mars via a virtual field trip.

Did you know that Galileo observed Mars in 1610? He was the first person to observe the red planet. I wonder if there is life on Mars like predicted in the movies. While exploring virtually, I found that there is a volcano on Mars and a canyon, not the Grand Canyon, but one that is bigger! The Rover helped discover the canyon I'm sure. Mars is also very cold. No wonder Ms. E didn't want us exploring it in person, the average temperature is -80 degrees Fahrenheit. BRR, that's cold! Next stop, Jupiter.