Space exploration

Rockets reach space by throwing hot gas downwards fast, which pushes them up; to stay in a low orbit they must reach about 8 km a second. People first orbited the Earth in 1961 and walked on the Moon in 1969, and astronauts now live for months on the International Space Station. Most of what we know about the planets comes from uncrewed probes and rovers, such as those driving on Mars and looking for signs of ancient water and life. Space is hard on the body: there is no air, weightlessness weakens muscles and bones, and radiation damages cells. Beyond the solar system astronomers have found more than 5,000 exoplanets, mostly by the tiny dip in a star's light when a planet passes in front of it.

Depth 1 · Foundation

You know how a rocket reaches space, the main steps of human spaceflight, what probes and rovers do, the dangers of space for the body, and how astronomers find exoplanets and where they look for life.

Depths of understanding

1
Foundation
You know how a rocket reaches space, the main steps of human spaceflight, what probes and rovers do, the dangers of space for the body, and how astronomers find exoplanets and where they look for life.
Opens after
Planets, depth 2Probes are sent to the planets of the solar system.SatellitesGetting into orbit is the first step of every journey into space.

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What's still between you and Space exploration, depth 1, in the order you can learn it.

Where it fits

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PlanetsDepth 2 SatellitesEngineering and technology

This concept

Space explorationExoplanets and Life

Builds onThis conceptPlanetsDepth 2 SatellitesEngineering and technology Space explorationExoplanets and Life