Fun Facts About Rockets

1. Rockets work by pushing backward to go forward. They shoot gas and flames out one end, and the force pushes the rocket in the opposite direction (this is Newton’s Third Law: “for every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction”).
   
   
2. They work in space, too! Rockets don’t need air because they carry their own fuel and oxygen, so they can work in the vacuum of space.
   
   
3. Rockets can travel over 17,000 miles per hour to escape Earth’s gravity and reach orbit.
   
   
4. The Saturn V rocket, which took astronauts to the Moon, was as tall as a 36-story building and still one of the most powerful rockets ever built.
   
   
5. Modern rockets can be reusable, like SpaceX’s Falcon 9, which lands back on Earth for another flight.
   
   

Overview of Rocket Fuel

Rockets need two things to burn fuel: the fuel itself (something to burn) and an oxidizer (something to help it burn, like oxygen). Because there’s no air in space, rockets carry both with them. There are two main types of rocket fuel:

1. Liquid Fuel:
   
   
   • Uses liquid propellants like liquid hydrogen (fuel) and liquid oxygen (oxidizer).
     
     
   • Can be controlled easily (throttled, stopped, restarted).
     
     
   • Used in most big space rockets like NASA’s Artemis and SpaceX’s rockets.
     
     
2. Solid Fuel:
   
   
   • Fuel and oxidizer are mixed into a solid block (like a giant firework).
     
     
   • Simple, powerful, but can’t be turned off once it’s lit.
     
     
   • Often used for booster rockets to help a rocket launch off the pad.
     
     

Some rockets even use hybrid fuels (a mix of solid and liquid) for special missions.