Kevin Collins, age 13, of Chadwicks, NY., for his question:

Why do our rockets take off toward the east?

The work of riding a bicycle is easier when the wind blows from behind and you get a forward boost from the friendly breeze. A rocket picks up speed as it leaves the earth and needs all the boost it can get at launching time. It cannot, however, be he1ped by a friendly breeze, but it can get an added boost from the rotation of the earth  and the earth rotates toward the east.

The path or trajectory of every rocket is figured out in detail before the launching. The many factors to be considered are enough to make even a computer scratch its mechanical head. One of these factors is the eastward rotation of the earth and the boost it can add to launchings from various latitudes on the earth's surface.