Do you like watching fireworks display?! But does it have in common with rockets? Let’s learn five risky rockets facts for kids.
The first original rockets were invented in China using solid propellants over 800 years ago and they were mainly used as weapons and fireworks. The Chinese developed these rockets even further during the war with Mongol invaders, devising gunpowder-fueled arrows as weapons.
The largest rocket is NASA’s Saturn 5 rocket which stands at 363 feet tall. That’s taller than Big Ben! Saturn V has a thrust of 7.6 million pounds. The thrust of a rocket is the mechanical force which moves the rocket through the air, and through space. NASA’s Saturn 5 rocket is the largest rocket to date and was used for Lunar missions between the 1960s and early 1970s. It is also the most successful one with 13 completed launches. The Space Launch Systems, developed by NASA, are the most powerful rocket systems ever created.
Solid-fuel rockets were invented first but it was liquid-fuel rockets that paved the way for space travel. Liquid-fuel rockets are equipped with more reactive oxidizers, causing a stronger chemical reaction. To enter into space, rockets must travel at great speeds which liquid-fuel rockets allow for. Solid-fuel rockets are safer than liquid-fuel rockets. It costs more to store and handle liquid-fuel rockets safely.
Rockets aren’t one solid piece of metal, they are actually split into three different parts. When a rocket launches it breaks off into sections as it is in flight. The first stage of a rocket launch is ignition. This is when the first rocket engine engages and provides the initial thrust to send the rocket up into the sky. When the fuel runs out from this engine it will separate itself from the rocket. From there, the second stage fuel reserve will be used until the payload reaches orbit. Once in orbit, the rocket’s final stage falls away, and the spacecraft is left with smaller rockets that have engines that can be used multiple times.
A rocket will go at different speeds depending on where it is going. If a rocket is going into orbit around the Earth, it needs to reach speeds of over 4 miles per second, or about 17,000 miles per hour. Whereas if a rocket wants to completely escape Earth’s gravity and travel to another moon or planet, it will need to be going even faster. A rocket can reach a speed of at least 7 miles per second or about 25,000 miles per hour, in these instances. That is about twelve times as fast as a speeding Bullet!
We hope you enjoyed learning more things about rockets as much as we loved teaching you about them. Now that you know how majestic these rockets are, you can move on to learn about our Space like: The Universe, Asteroids and Meteors.
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