Published in 2018 by Britannica Educational Publishing a trademark of Encyclopædia Britannica Inc in association with The Rosen Publishing Group Inc 29 East 21st Street New York NY 10010 Copyright 2018 The Rosen Publishing Group Inc and Encyclopædia Britannica Inc and Ency clopædia Britannica Britannica and the Thistle logo are registered trademarks of Encyclopædia Britannica Inc All rights reserved Distributed exclusively by Rosen Publishing To see additional Britannica Educational Publishing titles go to rosenpublishing com First Edition Britannica Educational Publishing J E Luebering Executive Director Core Editorial Andrea R Field Managing Editor Compton’s by Britannica Rosen Publishing Kathy Kuhtz Campbell Senior Editor Nelson Sá Art Director Brian Garvey Series Designer Greg Tucker Book Layout Cindy Reiman Photography Manager Karen Huang Photo Researcher Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names Furgang Kathy author Title Rocket science and spacecraft fundamentals Kathy Furgang Description First edition New York Britannica Educational Publishing in association with Rosen Educational Services 2018 Series From Earth to the stars Audience Grades 5 to 8 Includes bibliographical references and index Identifiers LCCN 2016057940 ISBN 9781680486766 eBook Subjects LCSH Astronautics Juvenile literature Aerospace engineering Juvenile literature Outer space Exploration Juvenile literature Classification LCC TL782 5 F8344 2018 DDC 629 4 dc23 LC record available at https lccn loc gov 2016057940 Photo credits Cover p 1 Ben Cooper Science Faction Getty Images cover and back cover background nienora Shutter stock com pp 5 26 33 37 NASA p 6 AFP Getty Images p 9 U S Air Force photograph provided by Donald Boelling p 10 Bettmann Getty Images pp 12 16 Encyclopædia Britannica Inc p 14 NASA Allison Stancil p 19 Eric Préau Sygma Getty Images p 20 8383 Gamma-Rapho Getty Images p 22 United States Government p 24 NASA MSFC Emmett Given p 29 Bruce Weaver AFP Getty Images p 30 Stephane Corvaja ESA Getty Images p 31 NASA Corbis Historical Getty Images p 39 NASA Getty Images p 40 NASA MAF Steven Seipel cover banner Titima Ongkantong Shutterstock com interior pages graphic pp 8 18 28 35 Hallowedland Shutterstock com
Contents IntroductIon 4 CHAPTER1 rocket Power 8 CHAPTER2 tyPes of sPacecraft 18 CHAPTER3 Launches and Ground controL 28 CHAPTER4 rocketInG Into the future 35 GLossary 42 for further readInG 45 Index 47
One day humans may be able to wake up on the dry barren surface of Mars This amazing feat would be the result of decades of research and technology dating back to the earliest study of rocketry A key moment in modern rocket science came in 1926 when American scientist Robert Goddard built and tested the first successful rocket using liquid fuel Goddard became known as the father of modern rocketry The full potential of his invention was not understood at the time At first the science of rocketry was put to use in designing and building weapons During World War II 1939 1945 German-born engineer Wernher von Braun designed a rocket for Germany called the V-2 The first long-range guided ballistic missile the V-2 was propelled by liquid oxygen and ethyl alcohol to a maximum range of about 200 miles 320 kilometers After World War II scientists began thinking of ways to use rocketry for a more positive purpose exploring space Before that time people could look to the stars only with telescopes placed on Earth’s surface While scientists worked to make telescopes as strong as possible the next logical step in studying the solar system was to launch equipment and humans into space to get a closer look Scientists needed to learn more about the temperature atmosphere and other conditions beyond 4 IntroduCtIon
IntroduCtIon Robert H Goddard a professor and inventor is generally considered to be the father of modern rocketry He poses here with a liquid oxygen-gasoline rocket in its frame The rocket was first fired in 1926 5
