CHAPTER 1 5 A RECORD BREAKING LAUNCH The rocket stood on a launch pad in India Engineers watched with hope and a bit of anxiety Six countries were involved in the mission The project involved great risks This rocket would be releasing satellites into outer space But it would do so while traveling 17,000 miles per hour 27,400 km h An Indian rocket launches to send more than 100 satellites into outer space
6 The rocket was launched into outer space on February 14 2017 It released one satellite Then it released the others one after the other It took 18 minutes Finally all 104 were sent into outer space It was a success This mission carried the most satellites ever on a single rocket A rocket is an object that moves through the sky as a result of burning combustible material As the material burns gases shoot from the back of the rocket at high speed This creates a strong force It pushes the rocket forward A rocket is often shaped like a cylinder with a pointed nose cone But rockets come in many shapes and sizes A simple
7 A drawing shows an early Chinese rocket homemade rocket can be a few inches long and made with a few items A space rocket has computers and many electrical parts Some are several hundred feet tall The Chinese created the earliest known rockets in the 1200s These rockets were likely used for war The rockets had tubes of gunpowder attached to sticks
