β All stories
The Story of the Rocket
How we threw ourselves at the sky
Put on your space helmet and get ready to zoom through time to see how humans built giant flying tubes!
1/6
- 1200s
Fiery Bamboo
Inventors in China stuffed bamboo tubes full of gunpowder to make noisy fireworks. They soon noticed that fiery gas rushing out the back made the tubes zoom through the air!
The big idea
Rockets fly by blasting heavy gas out of their tails to push themselves forward.
Fun facts
- β¨ The Saturn V moon rocket was as tall as a 36-story building!
- β¨ To stay in space, a rocket has to travel at a super speedy 17,500 miles per hour.
- β¨ Long ago, the very first rocket tubes were used to put on sparkly night shows.
Science words
- Thrust β The strong pushing force that shoots a rocket into the sky.
- Orbit β The circular path an object takes as it flies around a planet.
- Propellant β The special mix of fuel and air that rockets burn to fly.