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Rockets & Spaceflight: fun facts and quiz
The essentials in 7 ideas, with fun facts, an illustrated story and a quiz to see how much you know.
The essentials
How Rockets Work
Rockets push hot gas out of the back, and the gas pushes the rocket forward. They carry their own oxygen, so they work in the vacuum of space.
Key fact
Escaping Earth’s gravity takes about 11 km per second.
First into Space
The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first satellite, in 1957. In 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, orbiting Earth once.
Key fact
Gagarin’s flight lasted 108 minutes.
Apollo
On 20 July 1969, Apollo 11’s Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon. Twelve astronauts walked there between 1969 and 1972.
Key fact
Footprints on the Moon can last for millions of years.
The Space Station
The International Space Station has been continuously crewed since 2000. It orbits about 400 km up, circling Earth roughly every 90 minutes.
Key fact
Its crew sees about 16 sunrises a day.
Reusable Rockets
Rockets used to be thrown away after one flight. Since 2015, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 boosters have landed back on Earth and flown again, cutting costs.
Key fact
Some Falcon 9 boosters have flown more than 20 times.
Robot Explorers
Uncrewed probes have visited every planet. Voyager 1, launched in 1977, is the most distant human-made object, over 24 billion km away.
Key fact
Its signals take over 22 hours to reach Earth.
Next Stop: Mars
Rovers like Curiosity and Perseverance explore Mars, and the helicopter Ingenuity made the first powered flight on another planet, in 2021.
Key fact
A trip to Mars takes about seven months.
Fun facts
About 85% of the Saturn V’s weight at launch was propellant.
Gagarin was promoted from senior lieutenant to major while he was still in orbit.
Back from the Moon, the Apollo 11 crew had to fill in a customs form declaring their Moon rocks.
The ISS is often called the most expensive object ever built, at well over 100 billion dollars.
The Space Shuttle was partly reusable, but refurbishing it after each flight was so costly it saved little money.
Voyager carries a golden record of sounds and music from Earth.
The Ingenuity helicopter was planned to make 5 flights on Mars. It made 72.
Story: The Lifeboat Near the Moon
The Lifeboat Near the Moon
April 1970. Two days into Apollo 13’s trip to the Moon, an oxygen tank explodes. The landing is off.
The three astronauts crowd into the small lunar lander, built for two people for two days, and use it as a lifeboat.
Engineers on Earth invent fixes from what’s on board, like a square air filter in a round hole. All three get home safely.
True or false?
Tap your answer to see if you got it, and why.
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Question 1 of 10
Rockets carry their own oxygen.
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True. So their fuel can burn in space.
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Question 2 of 10
Yuri Gagarin orbited Earth in 1961.
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True. Aboard Vostok 1.
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Question 3 of 10
Apollo 11 landed on the Moon in 1969.
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True. On 20 July.
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Question 4 of 10
The ISS circles Earth about every 90 minutes.
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True. Around 16 times a day.
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Question 5 of 10
Some rocket boosters now land and fly again.
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True. Landing upright on pads or ships.
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Question 6 of 10
Voyager 1 is the most distant human-made object.
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True. Now in interstellar space.
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Question 7 of 10
A helicopter has flown on Mars.
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True. Ingenuity, from 2021.
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Question 8 of 10
Rocket exhaust shoots out of the front.
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False. Out of the back, pushing the rocket forward.
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Question 9 of 10
Sputnik carried the first astronaut.
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False. Sputnik 1 was an uncrewed satellite.
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Question 10 of 10
Astronauts have walked on Mars.
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False. Only robots have been to Mars.
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