FAR OUT Human beings have always been fascinated by the universe We are curious by nature We want to explore the unknown We want to discover new worlds Space travel allows us to push the boundaries of our knowledge It tests the limits of our abilities Space travel allows us to question our role in the universe It helps us understand the history of our solar system Space travel allows brilliant minds to create solutions to problems It is challenging to build a ship to go into space Spaceships must be able to exit Earth’s gravity survive extreme temperatures and handle the impact of space debris In many cases they must also be able to make the return trip to Earth When it is a manned mission many other challenges arise Humans are needy beings Every day we must meet our basic needs for food water shelter and oxygen Spaceships have to fulfill these needs They must also protect astronauts from the hazards of space The risks of space travel are magnified when astronauts step outside their protected environment This is sometimes necessary for maintenance and repair of the spacecraft Stepping out into space requires the right knowledge and the right tech 4 UP UP AND AWAY
Scientists and researchers must plan for every possibility In the case of the Apollo 13 mission to the Moon brainstorming was done on the fly An oxygen tank exploded before the lunar landing The crew’s living area was losing oxygen One of the astronauts famously reported Houston we’ve had a problem Scientists and engineers on the ground then had to come up with a quick solution to save the lives of the crew Discovery exploration problems and solutions all go hand-in hand with space technology It is a new frontier that brings out the inventive spirit in people It is an exciting challenge waiting to be met Days are long and full of wonder when astronauts leave Earth’s gravity behind as they head for the Moon and beyond 5
GETTING THERE AND BACK The Chinese invented the first rockets in the 1200s They were called fire-arrows These rockets were not very reliable Many exploded when launched Others flew off without a sense of direction and landed in the wrong place Today rockets stay on course They go fast enough to escape Earth’s gravitational pull Orion is NASA’s new spacecraft It will carry astronauts farther into the solar system than has ever been possible before A rocket is a vehicle that contains everything needed to put a payload into space A payload can be anything from satellites to astronauts to spacecraft that will travel to other planets or moons Rocket engines are devices that produce the thrust necessary to lift a rocket into space The rocket must also be stable in flight Large rockets heading into space need systems that stabilize the rocket and allow it to change course while in flight Large rockets that can carry a spacecraft into space are heavy To gain enough speed they need a lot of fuel or propellant The storage containers for propellant become so large they weigh down the rocket even more A solution was invented to strap small rockets on top of bigger ones When the small rocket uses all of its propellant the empty rocket shell drops off 6 ROCKET SCIENCE
NASA is now focusing on heading into deep space It is planning to send astronauts to an asteroid by 2025 and eventually to Mars in the 2030s NASA’s new Space Launch System SLS will be the most powerful rocket ever SLS will produce 13 percent more thrust at launch than the space shuttle It will carry three times as much cargo including the Orion spacecraft This spacecraft will take humans farther than they have ever gone before It will provide everything the crew needs to survive It is designed to provide safe reentry on the return from deep space This technique of building a rocket is called staging From 1981 to 2011 the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA used the space shuttle program to take astronauts into space The space shuttle used staging to get its massive payloads into orbit These rockets carry spacecraft that take astronauts safely into space and back to Earth again 7 techno PLANET
