Kerbal Space Program

I was never into computer games growing up.  However, my children introduced me to minecraft and we have been playing that together.  I find that I really enjoy games where you can build new things and see how they work.  Recently, in a round about way, my children have introduced me to Kerbal Space Program, which you can try as a free download.  Basically, you try to build different types of rockets and see how they work under the physics simulation.  It is a lot of fun.  I've played around with it and I must say I've learned something about rocket design (staging, fuel weight, thrust, areodynamics, air breaking and reentry speeds, etc.) and orbital mechanics (apoapsis, periapsis, inclination, attaining and adjusting orbits, matching orbits, docking, orbital transfers, etc.).  I've built an orbital station with a huge fuel tank and engine on one end and a lander on the other.  In between is space for 8 shuttles to dock.  I assembled it in orbit and do supply runs to build up the fuel supply.  In the picture below I've just completed a Hohmann transfer orbit from the planet (in the background) where I assembled it to the first moon.  The transfer used more fuel than I planned so I need to ferry some more fuel out there to fill up the tanks. (Click image to enlarge.)

The kids and I have had a lot of fun seeing how each others designs work or don't work. 

While I'm on this game topic I want to mention one other game I came across recently.  It is A Slower Speed of Light.  It is not as addictive as KSP but is a free download and is designed to illustrate relativity.  The problem with relativistic effects like time and space dilation is that we are too slow.  These effects don't show up until speeds (near the speed of light limit) that are far beyond our daily experience.  So this game takes the opposite approach and slows down the speed of light in increments as you play, so you can see what the effects of relativity are like first hand.