Clues to the Universe

The rocket is a key symbol in the story, representing Ro’s discoveries about The Science of Living, Friendship and Its Power to Inspire, and Finding Meaning in the Face of Loss. Ro names her rocket after Gemma Harris’s own rocket in the comics, honoring her new friendship with Benji and their agreement to help one another. The rocket started out as a project with her father, who shared Ro’s love and curiosity for outer space, but it sat unfinished for months after he died. One day, Ro decided she would finish the rocket and hopefully use it to launch her father’s treasures into space, the same way the Voyager probes carried samples of life on Earth to the far reaches of the galaxy. In doing so, Ro hoped that she could recover meaning in her life and find a way to honor her dad. Letting Benji help with such a personal project is a major step for Ro, but it becomes the best decision she ever made, as it leads to a meaningful friendship, winning the science fair, and most importantly, the realization that “sometimes you have to travel to the deepest of jungles or to the edges of space to figure things out” (287).