Rockets and Astronauts

Rockets have to go faste than 11 kilometres per second to get into space. The works out to about 40,000 kilometres per hour- and car drives can get into troubles for speeding at 120 kilometres per hour. If rockets didn't travel so fast they wouldnt be able to escape the enormously strong pull of earth's gravitiy.

The tallest rocket ever launched was the saturn v that look the Apollo 11 into space, and the first people to the Moon. Rockets are made up of two or three partrs called stages. Each stage is a giant fuel tank and engine, which separates and falls away as soon as its fuel used up.

Rockets are mainly used to put mschines called satellities into orbit around the Earth. Different sorts of satellite are launches to do many different jobs. Satellities can be used by one country to spy on another. Satellite photographs and maps help scientist to study earth and what it's made of.

There's nto air to breathe in space and, depending on whether a spacecraft is in or out of the sun's light,it's either very hot or cold. wihtout spacesuits to protect them outside their spacecraft, astronaus would die. Astronaunt have to wear seatbelts to stop them flowing away when they use the tiolet. Space tiolets dont flush but everything is sucked away instead.

Space stretches astrounauts can come back as much 5 centimetres taller. They sleep in bags which are strapped down to stop them floating.