X-treme Facts: Space Machines

X-treme Facts: Space Machines — page 1 — Magnificent Space Machines People have always gazed up at the night sky and marveled at the moon and stars These objects shining in the darkness were once a mystery But when people built machines to explore what they saw in the sky they began to understand the wonders of space From the earliest telescopes to spacecraft that have traveled to other planets magnificent space machines have allowed us to explore our solar system and beyond No one knows who invented the telescope But the famous astronomer Galileo Galilei was the first person to use it to explore space THEY’RE RIGHT BY THE PLANET JUPITER GALILEO I CAN SEE THE STARS BUT WHERE ARE YOUR MOONS I PAVED THE WAY TO GET TO THOSE STARS In 1610 Galileo used a telescope to discover some of Jupiter’s moons Robert Goddard invented the first rocket powered by liquid fuel He launched it in 1926 4

X-treme Facts: Space Machines — page 2 — The first satellite was launched into space in 1957 It was the size of a beach ball OFF TO THE MOON WE GO In 1969 a Saturn V rocket sent the first astronauts to the moon Since 1971 space stations have allowed humans to live and work in space ARE WE THERE YET YOU’RE GETTING CLOSE In 1977 two remote-controlled spacecraft called Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 started their mission to explore Jupiter Saturn and beyond No spacecraft had ever traveled that far 5

X-treme Facts: Space Machines — page 3 — Rockets Rev It Up To travel to space you need a rocket to blast off from Earth Rockets work by burning fuel and turning it into hot gas The hot gas is pushed out of the back and that moves the rocket forward After Robert Goddard launched the first liquid-fuel rocket in 1926 people kept working to make better ones Modern rockets are so powerful they’ve traveled billions of miles from Earth The first flight of Goddard’s rocket lasted only 2 5 seconds The rocket climbed just 41 feet 13 m before falling into a nearby cabbage patch The very first rockets were probably invented in China in the 1200s They were made from bamboo cases filled with gunpowder Rockets need oxygen to burn their fuel They carry oxygen with them because there’s none in space DO WE HAVE ANY GUNPOWDER NO BUT WE HAVE PLENTY OF OXYGEN IS THAT CABBAGE 6

X-treme Facts: Space Machines — page 4 — I’VE BEEN ALL AROUND THE WORLD In 1961 Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin traveled on the Vostok-1 rocket and became the first person to orbit around Earth Rockets have carried machines that have photographed all the planets in our solar system as well as moons asteroids and comets WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE I TOOK A RIDE ON A ROCKET TO TAKE PICTURES OF YOU Powerful rockets have even sent spacecraft beyond our solar system 7

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