A rocket burns fuel. The fuel makes hot gas.
The engine pushes the hot gas out. That moves the rocket.
A rocket's push is stronger than its weight. So it rises.
It starts off slowly. Then it goes faster and faster.
There is no air in space. The rocket carries its own oxygen.
Rockets launch satellites to go around Earth.
Sputnik, the first human-made satellite, launched on October 4, 1957.
Saturn V sent Apollo 11 astronauts toward the Moon in July 1969.
The first stage of a Falcon 9 can land upright.
As of November 2026, it can then be flown again.
Words to know
- fuel: what it burns
- gas: air-like stuff
- satellite: goes around Earth
