David F. Wright, age 8, of Newport News, Va., for his question:

How many miles is the sky from the earth?

You can always look up and see the sky overhead. You can do this from a ship on the ocean, from Africa and from Australia, which is on the opposite side of our big round globe. The sky is always overhead, and on a clear night it looks close enough for you to reach up and pick a star.

The sky is really a vast ocean of space reaching around the earth in all directions. Our round globe is swinging through the sky as a fish swims through the sea, the sky, then, touches the giobe on every side. It reaches down and touches you right where you are.