A rocket burns fuel. The fuel makes hot gas. The engine pushes the gas out its back. That makes the rocket move forward. At liftoff, the push is called thrust. The rocket's thrust is stronger than its weight. So it rises off the launch pad.

A rocket starts off slowly. It goes faster and faster as it climbs. There is no air in space. A rocket engine still works there. The rocket carries its own oxygen. Rockets burn two kinds of fuel. One is liquid. One is solid.

Long before 1926, the first known rockets were used in China. That was in the 1200s. On March 16, 1926, Robert Goddard sent up the world's first liquid-fueled rocket. He did it in Auburn, Massachusetts. It rose only 41 feet.

Rockets send satellites into orbit around Earth. A satellite about 300 km (190 miles) above Earth goes around the planet once in about 90 minutes. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union sent up Sputnik. It was the first human-made satellite.

Sputnik sent out a radio "beep-beep" signal. People around the world could hear it. Sputnik fell back to Earth and burned up on January 4, 1958. In April 1961, Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union was the first person in space.

Apollo 11 lifted off on July 16, 1969. It rode on a Saturn V rocket. The astronauts were on their way to the Moon. The Saturn V rocket stood 363 feet tall. That is taller than the Statue of Liberty.

Most rockets drop the parts of themselves that are used up. The pieces are called stages. The first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket can land upright after launch. Then it can fly again. That is true as of November 2026.

Words to know

• thrust: the rocket's push
• satellite: goes around Earth
• stages: dropped rocket parts
• fuel: what rockets burn