TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 Blasting Off 5 CHAPTER 2 It's Rocket Science 11 CHAPTER 3 Trial and Error 17 CHAPTER Ч Grasshopper and Falcon 23 FOCUS ON TECHNOLOGY Landing a Rocket 26 CHAPTER 5 Blue Origin 29 CHAPTER 6 Multiple Methods 35 CHAPTER 7 To the Moon and Beyond 41 PERSON OF IMPACT Elon Musk 44 Focus on Building Reusable Rockets 46 Glossary 47 To Learn More 48 Index 48
CHAPTER 1 BLASTING OFF Imagine boarding a capsule at the top of a tall rocket You and five other space tourists strap yourselves in to a reclined seat that faces upward The countdown reaches zero and the rocket engines fire launching the spacecraft A few minutes after liftoff the capsule separates from the rocket As the rocket heads back to the launch site the capsule coasts upward Large windows give spectacular views of the blue curve of Earth Someday reusable rockets may allow space tourists to orbit Earth
