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
Then the capsule begins falling back to Earth It plows into the atmosphere Next its parachutes open Just above the ground thruster rockets slow the capsule for a soft landing You leave the capsule and it is prepared for the next flight The capsule is mounted on top of a rocket again This rocket is refueled Soon the next group of space tourists will board People have used rockets for hundreds of years Chinese fireworks began using rockets in the 1200s CE Large arrows were attached to tubes filled with gunpowder When the rocket was ignited the arrow flew a long distance In the 1950s scientists and engineers worked to launch satellites into space One of these scientists was Wernher von Braun Von Braun was the main designer of the Saturn V rocket This rocket launched astronauts to the moon But
Dr Wernher von Braun stands in front of the Saturn V launch vehicle's engines the Saturn V rocket could be used only one time Von Braun wanted to build rockets that could travel to and from space many times He designed a giant rocket with a winged spacecraft on top
