Barbara J. Davis - How Does A Spacecraft Reach The Moon - (Science in The Real World) (2009)

How Does a
Spacecraft Reach
the Moon?
by Barbara J. Davis
Science and Curriculum Consultant: Debra Voege, M.A.,

Science Curriculum Resource Teacher
SpacecraftFNL.indd 1 8/10/09 4:42:02 PM

Science in the Real World: How Does a Spacecraft Reach the Moon?
Copyright © 2010 by Infobase Publishing
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Davis, Barbara J.
How does a spacecraft reach the moon? / by Barbara J. Davis;
science and curriculum consultant, Debra Voege.
p. cm. — (Science in the real world)
Includes index.
ISBN 978-1-60413-470-4
1. Space flight—Juvenile literature. 2. Astronautics—Juvenile literature.
3. Aerospace engineering—Juvenile literature. I. Title. II. Series.
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Table of Contents
Destination: The Moon............................................. 4

Motion Is Relative.................................................... 6
Speed........................................................................ 8
Acceleration........................................................... 10
Forces...................................................................... 12
Inertia..................................................................... 14
Gravity.................................................................... 16
Friction................................................................... 18
Mass and Payload.................................................. 20
Action and Reaction.............................................. 22
Engines Big and Small........................................... 24
Fueling Moon Flights.............................................. 26
50 Years of Moon Shots.......................................... 28
Glossary.................................................................. 30
To Learn More........................................................ 31
Index....................................................................... 32
Words that are defined in the Glossary are in bold type

the first time they appear in the text.

Destination:
The Moon
T he temperature is perfect.
The surface on the half-pipe
is smooth. There’s a nice breeze
at your back. You’re thinking this
is going to be a really cool run on
your skateboard. As you zip along
the ramps, you notice a big full
Moon starting to rise above the
skate park’s lights. You have a quick
thought about how much fun it
would be to skateboard to the Moon.
But skateboards have nothing to do
with the Moon, do they?
Actually, they do. You and your
The rocket being launched skateboard rely on some of the same
here sent American astro-
nauts on their way to the
science principles as a spacecraft
Moon in 1969. heading for the Moon. These

principles deal with motion and with gravity.
They govern how things move. They also de-
scribe the effects of gravity—such as Earth’s
gravity, which holds us all on the ground.
Rocket Power
Another set of science principles also plays
a big role in how a spacecraft works. These
have to do with what makes the spacecraft
go. You yourself make your skateboard go,
but spacecraft are powered by rockets. Most
space rockets get their power by burning
fuel. This involves a reaction between two
or more chemicals. So along with the science
of motion and gravity, the science of how
chemicals react with each other is important
in understanding how a heavy spacecraft
can leave Earth and reach the Moon.
DID YOU KNOW ?
Moon Shots
The Moon is about 238,000 miles (383,000 kilometers) from Earth. Dozens
of spacecraft have flown there. Some of them simply flew past the Moon.
Some went into orbit around it—that is, they circled around it. Some land-
ed on it. Several of these “Moon shots” included a return trip to Earth.
Missions between 1968 and 1972 in the Apollo program of the United
States carried people. All the rest of the flights had no crew and were
controlled by signals from Earth and by onboard computers. Most Moon
shots have been launched by just two countries: the United States and the
Soviet Union (which is now split up into Russia and many other countries).

Motion Is
Relative
T o understand how a spacecraft
can reach the Moon, you first
have to understand a basic fact
about motion.
Say you watch a bird fly away from
a tree. What really happens? The
bird changes its position. A scientist
wanting to study this movement will
measure how much and how quickly
the bird’s position changes in rela-
Earth is spinning around an
imaginary line through its cen- tion to the tree. In other words, the
ter called its axis. Earth is also bird’s motion is relative to the tree.
going around, or orbiting, the
Sun. At the same time, The tree serves as what is called a
the Moon is orbiting Earth. reference point.
Earth and the Moon in Motion
Sun
Moon
Earth

In fact, every example of motion you can
find is relative. You see the motion in rela-
tion to some reference point or some frame
of reference. Watch a kid on a skateboard, for
instance. He seems to be moving relative to
the ground.
Everything’s Moving
If you’re sitting at a desk reading this book
and you use the objects around you as a
frame of reference, it doesn’t seem like you
are moving at all. Actually, Earth is constantly
spinning. So the ground, you, and everything
else on Earth’s surface are always moving
relative to Earth’s center. Earth is moving in
another important way as well, with the Sun
as a reference point. It circles the Sun follow-
ing a path called an orbit. It takes one year
for Earth to go once around the Sun.
DID YOU KNOW ?
Moon Motion
Several types of motion affect the path taken by a spacecraft going from
Earth to the Moon. Scientists have to take these into account when plan-
ning the spacecraft’s course. One example is the upward movement, rela-
tive to the ground, of the rocket launching the spacecraft as it blasts off.
Another important motion is the spinning of Earth, relative to its center,
from west to east. A spacecraft launched from Earth’s surface shares this
motion. Mission planners also have to pay attention to movement of the
Moon as the spacecraft is in flight. The Moon is constantly traveling in an
orbit around Earth.
7

Speed
S peed is one important way

of describing the motion of a
skateboard, a rocket, or any other
object. Speed is the amount of dis-
tance something travels in a certain
amount of time. It is talked about
as a unit of distance divided by a
unit of time, such as miles per hour
(mph) or kilometers per hour (km/
hr). For example, a car moving at 50
mph (80 km/hr) will travel 50 miles
(80 kilometers) in one hour. A rocket
launched from Earth has to reach a
speed of about 25,000 mph (40,300
km/hr) to escape the pull of Earth’s
gravity.
Changing Speed
An object that always stays at the
same speed is said to travel at con-
stant speed. Most things do not
travel at a constant speed, though.
Their speed changes to fit the situ-
ation. For example, a runner might
run quickly on level ground. Then, as
she starts to go up a hill, her speed
drops. Coming down the hill, her
speed increases again.
8

Speed of Apollo 17 Spacecraft as It Headed for the Moon
Time After Takeoff Approximate Speed

0 seconds (resting on launch pad) 0 mph (0 km/hr)
2 minutes, 42 seconds 5,300 mph (8,500 km/hr)
3 hours, 18 minutes, 28.5 seconds 23,300 mph (37,500 km/hr)
When a spacecraft is
launched to the Moon, it starts
slowly on takeoff but quickly
increases its speed. On many
Moon missions, the spacecraft
picks up enough speed to go
into orbit around Earth. It has
a certain speed in this orbit.
When the time comes to head
The table shows how
for the Moon, the spacecraft
the Apollo 17 spacecraft
increases its speed in order to break out increased its speed in the
of orbit. As it comes near the Moon, the first hours after launch. The
craft’s three astronauts are
craft adjusts its speed in order to go into shown shortly before liftoff.
orbit around the Moon or land on it.
DID YOU KNOW ?
Velocity and Speed
Besides knowing the speed at which an object is traveling, it is also im-
portant to know the direction in which it is traveling. Velocity describes
the speed of an object in a given direction. When scientists calculate the
time it takes a spacecraft to reach its destination, they look at both the
speed at which the spacecraft has to travel and the direction in which it
needs to go.
9

Acceleration
I magine a track meet. The runners

all line up at the starting line. At
this point, their velocity is 0—they
aren’t moving. Then, the starting gun
goes off, and the runners push off.
They begin to increase their speed.
We say that they accelerate.
To most people, acceleration
means simply “speeding up.” In
science, though, the word has a
different meaning. It is the rate at
The powerful rockets that which velocity changes. Remember
launch spacecraft to the that velocity involves the direction
Moon often have stages. As
the fuel in each stage gets in which an object moves as well as
used up, that stage drops off its speed. So accelerating the object
and the next stage takes over
the job of accelerating the may involve changing its speed or
spacecraft. changing its direction (or both).
A Two-Stage Rocket
Spacecraft Going
to the Moon
Launch Rocket
Second Stage
Launch Rocket
First Stage
10

Rocket Acceleration
Scientists planning a space mission have to
think carefully about acceleration. Spacecraft
traveling to the Moon have rocket engines
in them. Whenever the spacecraft needs to
change its speed or change its direction dur-
ing flight, it has to use its engines. Flight plan-
ners need to make sure the craft has the right
amount of fuel and the right engines to follow
the correct flight path to get it to the Moon.
In order to get enough acceleration to get
off the ground and out into space, a spacecraft
going to the Moon is put on top of a big, very
powerful rocket. Big rockets like those used
to launch Moon shots usually have stages.
Each stage carries fuel and engines. The
stages are usually arranged in a stack. When
the fuel in each stage is used up, that stage
separates and drops away. (Often it falls
into the ocean or onto an empty area of land.)
Eventually, all of the stages of the launch
rocket drop away, and only the spacecraft
going to the Moon is left.
DID YOU KNOW ?

Booster Rockets
Big rockets may also have booster rockets attached. Like stages, boost-
ers carry engines and fuel, and they drop away when their job is finished.
11

Forces
H ow do you make something ac-

celerate? How do you make it
move, change its speed or direction,
or stop? You give it a push or a pull.
Pushes and pulls are examples of
what scientists call forces. When you
pull at the zipper on your jacket, you
are using force. Scientists designing
a Moon rocket have to take into ac-
count all the forces that will act on
it. These include not only the forces
generated by its engines to make it
go, but also other forces that affect
its motion, such as gravity.
Force is described by the amount
of push or pull. It is also described
by the direction of the push or pull.
When you push on a door, you are
using force in one direction. When
you pull on that same door, you are
using force in the opposite direction.
Balanced and Unbalanced Forces

In a tug-of-war, two teams pull on
a rope in opposite directions. The
team that uses the most force pulls
the other team across a line. This
is an example of how motion is af-
12

Thrust Lifts a Rocket
fected by unbal-
anced force. The
force of the pull
from one team is
greater than the
force of the pull Gravity
from the other
team. Unbalanced
forces acting on
an object will
change the ob- Thrust
ject’s motion.
If the two tug- Rockets that launch
of-war teams are evenly matched, however, spacecraft to the Moon
the situation is different. The teams both produce a powerful up-
ward force called thrust
pull as hard as they can, but the one force that is stronger than the
is exactly balanced by the other force. force of gravity pulling
down on the rocket and
When balanced forces act on an object, spacecraft.
they will not change that object’s motion.
DID YOU KNOW ?

Measuring Force
The strength of a force is often measured in units called newtons. One
newton is not a very big force. It is about the force you would need to
lift a normal-sized empty glass. The thrust, or upward force, produced
by a Moon rocket’s engine is much greater. The engines in the first stage
of the huge Saturn V rocket used to launch the Apollo spacecraft to the
Moon could produce about 34.5 million newtons—enough to lift the
colossal rocket, which weighed about 6.7 million pounds (3 million kilo-
grams), off the launchpad.
13

Inertia
T he unit of measurement for force

called the newton is named in
honor of the English scientist and
mathematician Isaac Newton. In
the late 1600s, Newton discovered
three basic laws, or principles, that
describe how forces affect objects.
Scientists still rely on these laws of
motion when figuring out how to get
a spacecraft to the Moon.
Newton’s first law of motion deals
both with objects that are at rest
(that is, not moving at all) and with
objects that are moving. It says that
an object at rest will remain at rest
unless it is acted upon by a force
strong enough to make it move. The
first law also says that an object
in motion will move at a constant
Seatbelts in a car stop the
continued forward motion
of the people when the
car is stopped suddenly.
In this photo, the strength
of these seatbelts is being
tested using crash
dummies.
14

speed in a straight line unless acted upon by
a force strong enough to make it change its
speed or direction.
The first law is sometimes called the
law of inertia. Inertia is the tendency of an
object to resist change in its motion. For
example, the passengers in a moving car
keep moving forward when the car stops
suddenly. The passengers have inertia.
The only way to stop inertia is to exert an
opposite force. That is what seatbelts do.
Mass and Inertia

The inertia an object has depends on its
mass. Mass is the amount of matter in
the object. Think of two glass jars that
are exactly alike in size and shape.
Fill one jar with nickels. Fill the other
jar with feathers. The mass of the jar
with the nickels is much greater. You
have to use more force to move the
jar of nickels. It has greater inertia.
DID YOU KNOW ?
Isaac Newton (1642–1727)
Isaac Newton lived from 1642 to 1727. He was one of the greatest
scientists of all time. In addition to the three laws of motion, he made
important discoveries about gravity, light, and color. He also developed
new ideas about mathematics.
15

Gravity
G ravity is a force that acts to pull

objects straight down toward
the center of Earth. It pulls you down
to the ground when you fall off your
skateboard. Actually, everything—
not just Earth—has this sort of pull.
Even you have a gravitational pull
on things.
The planet Jupiter, much
larger than Earth, has more Weight and Mass
mass. Therefore, the pull of
Jupiter’s gravity is stronger. People sometimes think the words
For this reason, a person
who weighs 100 pounds
weight and mass mean the same
on Earth would weigh 236 thing. But for scientists, they mean
pounds on Jupiter!
Weight and Gravity

236 Pounds
100 Pounds
Earth Jupiter
16

different things. Weight is the force of grav-
ity on a person or object at the surface of
a planet. When you stand on a scale, the
scale measures the force with which Earth
pulls on you. Mass is something different. It
is a measure of the amount of matter in an
object. Far out in space, far from the pull of
Earth’s gravity, your weight might go down
to just about zero, but you would still have
the same mass.
The gravitational pull of an object de-
pends on the amount of mass it has. The
greater the mass, the stronger the pull.
When you fall off your skateboard, you pull
Earth to you at the same time Earth pulls
you toward its center. But your mass is tiny
compared to that of Earth. So the pull you
exert on Earth is much, much weaker than
the pull of Earth’s gravity on you.
DID YOU KNOW ?

Pulling Away from Earth…and from the Moon
A spacecraft heading to the Moon has to deal with the force of gravity
before it can get anywhere. The thrust of a powerful rocket is needed
to overcome the pull of gravity, lift it up, and send it on its way. As the
spacecraft gets farther from Earth, the pull of Earth’s gravity decreases. Of
course, the Moon has its own gravity. As the spacecraft gets closer to the
Moon, at a certain point it will be pulled toward the Moon by the Moon’s
gravity. For a spacecraft that has landed on the Moon to return to Earth,
it has to first pick up enough speed to escape from the Moon’s gravity.
17

Friction
L ike gravity, friction is a force

that can affect the motion of an
object. Friction occurs when two
surfaces rub together. Think of the
wheels of a skateboard on pavement.
It may seem that the wheels and the
pavement are both smooth. But ac-
tually both have bumps and ridges.
Friction is created when the bumps
and ridges of the two surfaces come
into contact with each other.
The launch rocket in the right-

hand photo has a streamlined
shape to reduce friction as it
travels through the air. The
spacecraft in the left-hand
photo does not need a stream-
lined shape. It travels in space,
where there is no air.
18

Friction Opposes Motion
If a moving object meets continuous fric-
tion, sooner or later it will be brought to
a stop. Without friction, the object would
keep moving at a constant speed forever.
With friction, the only way the object can
keep moving is if it gets a push (or a pull)
from some other force. For the skate-
board, you supply the push.
How strong the force of friction will be
depends on a couple of factors. One is the
type of surfaces involved. For example,
the rougher the surfaces, the greater the
friction. Another factor is how hard the
surfaces push together. There is more
friction if you rub your hands together
with some force than if you rub your
hands together lightly.
DID YOU KNOW ?
Friction and Rockets
Air can also be a source of friction. Air particles hit an object as it moves
through the air. The faster the object goes, the more it is hit with air par-
ticles. The more air particles that collide with it, the greater the resistance
it meets from the air. Designers of rockets have to pay attention to this
fact. They want to make this air resistance, or “drag,” as small as possible.
That is why rockets are given a streamlined shape. Such a shape reduces
the surface hit by air particles, making it easier for the rocket to move
smoothly through the air and lift its spacecraft. Of course, drag is not a
problem for spacecraft that operate only in space, where there is no air.
Such spacecraft do not need to be streamlined.
19

Mass and
Payload
I magine an empty cardboard box.
It has very little mass. It is very
easy to push. Suppose you fill it with
rocks. Now the mass is much greater,
and you have to use a lot more force
to push it. This fact is explained by
Isaac Newton’s second law of motion.
This science principle says that the
amount of force needed to move an
object—that is, change its speed or
direction—depends on the size of the
object’s mass. The greater the mass,
the greater the amount of force re-
quired. The law also says that for a
given mass, a greater force will pro-
duce a greater change in speed
or direction.
Astronaut Neil Armstrong

was part of the payload of
the spacecraft that took
him to the Moon in 1969.
20

The change in speed or in
direction, by the way, will oc-
cur in the same direction as the
force. The cardboard box will
move in the direction you push.
Tying Together Force, Mass, Acceleration These rocks brought

back from the Moon
Remember that a change in the speed or by Apollo program
direction of motion of an object is known astronauts were part
of the payload on the
as acceleration. So Newton’s second law trip home.
shows the connection between mass, force,
and acceleration.
If you want the box full of rocks to move
quickly, you have to push hard. In other
words, you have to use a lot of force to
accelerate it to a fast speed. If you want
the full box to move slowly, you use less
force. According to the second law, however,
there is a way you can make the box move
quickly without pushing hard. You can re-
duce the box’s mass: Take some rocks out!
DID YOU KNOW ?
Payloads and the Second Law
The payload of a spacecraft consists of the things it carries. Payload can
include cargo, scientific instruments, and (for some missions) the crew.
When scientists design spacecraft, they must take into consideration the
mass of the payload. Many factors affect how big a payload a spacecraft
can carry. However, in simple terms, if everything else is equal, you can
make the spacecraft go faster simply by lightening the payload.
21

Action and
Reaction
T he third of Newton’s three laws
of motion says that forces are
not “one-sided.” Whenever one ob-
ject exerts a force on a second ob-
ject, the second object also exerts
a force back on the first object. The
second force is equal in strength to
the first force. However, that second
force acts in the opposite direction
from the first force.
Newton’s third law is often stated
in the following easy-to-remember
The downward force
of the hot gas created
when fuel is burned in
a rocket produces the
opposite upward force—
the thrust—that lifts the
rocket off the ground.
22

way: “For every action,
there is an equal and op-
posite reaction.”
Look Around
You can see examples
of the third law every-
where. When you walk, you push against When you ram another
car on a bumper car
the ground with your feet. The ground ride, an equal and
pushes back on your feet with an equal opposite force pushes
your car back.
and opposite force. If you use a hammer
to pound a nail into a piece of wood, the
nail exerts an equal force back on the
hammer. That’s why the act of hitting
the nail with the hammer causes the
hammer to stop moving. Bumper cars
at amusement parks are so much fun
because of Newton’s third law. If your
car rams another car, your car bounces
back. The other car pushes your car
with a force equal to yours, but in the
opposite direction.
DID YOU KNOW ?
Thrust and Newton’s Third Law
Rockets lift spacecraft because of the principle of action and reaction. A
rocket engine contains fuel inside it that produces hot gas that rushes out
the rocket’s back end. The downward force of this stream of hot gas has
an equal and opposite reaction: the upward thrust that lifts the rocket off
the ground—and lifts the spacecraft the rocket carries.
23

Engines
Big and
Small R ockets that launch spacecraft
from Earth’s surface have a
tough job. They have to produce
enough thrust to overcome gravity
and drag and to lift a heavy payload
off the ground and into space. This
is why the Apollo missions that took
people to the Moon and back used
the huge Saturn V rocket. The Saturn
V stood about 360 feet (110 meters)
tall. It had three stages, with five
engines in each of the first two stages
and one engine in the third stage.
The small landing craft

that brought Apollo 15
astronauts to the Moon’s
surface in 1971 is on
the left in this photo. The
“rover” the astronauts
used to ride around
the landing area is on
the right.
24

Launching from Space
The job is easier if you
launch a spacecraft to
the Moon from space—
say, from orbit around
Earth, where Earth’s
gravity is weaker and
there is no air resis-
tance. The European Space Agency’s In this photo, the
second stage of a
Smart-1 spacecraft was launched to the huge Saturn V rocket
Moon from orbit in 2003. Of course, is unloaded from its
Smart-1 first had to be lifted into orbit shipping container at
the Kennedy Space
by a large rocket. Perhaps someday it Center in Florida.
will be possible to put together space-
craft in orbit, using parts lifted into
orbit by smaller rockets.
DID YOU KNOW ?
Apollo Engines
The Apollo missions had a special spacecraft atop the Saturn V rocket.
On some missions this spacecraft had to go into orbit around the Moon,
send a small craft to the Moon’s surface, receive the craft back, and re-
turn to Earth. The little craft that visited the Moon’s surface had engines
for landing and takeoff as well as more than a dozen small engines called
thrusters for maneuvering. Only part of the Apollo spacecraft returned to
Earth. Called the command module, it included the crew’s living space
and had several thrusters. Another part of the Apollo spacecraft, called
the service module, was linked to the command module for most of the
mission. It had thrusters along with an engine for getting into and out of
lunar orbit. The command module separated from the service module
before reaching Earth.
25

Fueling
Moon Flights
T he chemical reaction produced
by rocket fuels has to be very
powerful. But it shouldn’t be too
powerful. If it is too strong, and if the
fuel burns too fast, the rocket en-
gine will explode. Also, the reaction
must occur at a more or less steady
rate, so the engine can give a reliable
amount of power for a certain period
In a liquid-fuel rocket, the fuel
of time.
and liquid oxygen are stored
separately until the fuel is to
be burned in another cham- Two Different Types of Fuel
ber. In a solid-fuel rocket, the
fuel is stored in the chamber
Some rocket engines use liquid fuel.
where it is burned. Others use solid fuel. Liquid-fuel
Liquid-Fuel and Solid-Fuel Rockets

Liquid-Fuel Spacecraft Solid-Fuel Spacecraft
Rocket Rocket
Igniter
Liquid
Oxygen
Fuel
Chamber
Where Fuel
Burns
Pumps
Chamber
Where Fuel
Nozzle Burns Nozzle
26

engines usually combine two chemicals
to produce a reaction. The chemicals are
stored in tanks. One chemical is the basic
fuel. It is fed to the engine, where it burns
when the other chemical, liquid oxygen or
something similar, is added to it. Solid-fuel
engines are something like giant fireworks.
The solid fuel is kept in the engine. When it
is ignited (lit), it usually continues to burn
there once the reaction is started.
Military missiles that launch weapons
often use solid-fuel engines. Solid fuel, unlike
liquid fuel, can be loaded well in advance,
so the missile can be fired at a moment’s
notice. Liquid-fuel engines are easier to
control. For that reason, they are more
often used in space rockets.
Some big rockets use both solid-fuel and
liquid-fuel engines. The European Space
Agency’s Ariane 5 rocket has liquid-fuel
main stages and solid-fuel boosters.
DID YOU KNOW ?
A Different Kind of Fuel
Smart-1 used a third, and quite different, approach to getting to the
Moon: a kind of electric engine! This engine produced a thrust that was
very weak. The spacecraft had a very small mass, however, and it was
launched from space. The engine also worked for a long time, so the
thrust was enough to slowly move the craft toward the Moon. Smart-1
began to orbit the Moon more than a year after it was launched.
27

50 Years of
Moon Shots
P eople began sending spacecraft
to study the Moon in 1959. The
Soviet Union’s spacecraft Luna 1
flew past the Moon early that year.
A couple of months later the U.S.
spacecraft Pioneer 4 also did a flyby.
The following years saw many Moon
missions by both the United States
and the Soviet Union, ending with
the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 in 1976.
Only the U.S. Apollo program sent
people to the Moon. Apollo 8 orbited
the Moon at the end of 1968. So did
Apollo 10 in May 1969. Landings were
made on the Moon by Apollo 11 and
12 in 1969, Apollo 14 and 15 in 1971,
and Apollo 16 and 17 in 1972. Apollo
13 in 1970 was also supposed to land
This rocket launched a

Chinese spacecraft to
the Moon in 2007.
28

on the Moon, but there was
an explosion. The damaged
craft with its three astronauts
barely made it back to Earth.
A few Soviet spacecraft
without crews that landed
on the Moon also returned
to Earth. The U.S. and Soviet
missions brought scientists
valuable data and samples
of Moon rocks.
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin
looks at the American
Back to the Moon flag he and Neil Arm-
strong placed on the
After Luna 24 people focused on developing Moon in 1969.
space stations and on sending space probes
to other parts of the solar system. Eventually,
space scientists again started sending space-
craft to study the Moon. In the past twenty
years, Japan, China, India, the European Space
Agency, and the United States have launched
missions to the Moon, all without crews.
DID YOU KNOW ?

One Small Step…
People in the United States and around the world were proud and excited
when Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the
first people to walk on the Moon on July 20, 1969. Armstrong got out of
the spacecraft first. When he set foot on the Moon, he said: “That’s one
small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
29

Glossary
acceleration—A change in the payload—The things carried by a

velocity of an object. rocket or other vehicle, such as a
booster—A rocket that is attached spacecraft with scientific instruments
to a main rocket and helps provide and crew.
the thrust it needs. reaction—(1) A process in which
force—A push or pull. Forces are substances act on each other. Some
what cause, accelerate, or stop the reactions can produce energy. (2)
motion of objects. A force opposite to another force.
friction—A force that resists the rocket—An engine or vehicle that
movement of one surface over an- carries all its own fuel and is powered
other when the two surfaces are in by the reaction force created by hot
contact. gas rushing out of the back end.
gravity—A force that pulls objects stage—A part of a rocket that
toward the center of a body. Its contains one or more engines and
strength depends on the mass of the separates away when its fuel is used
body. up. Usually stages are arranged in
a stack.
inertia—The tendency of objects to
resist a change in their motion. thrust—The reaction force that
pushes a rocket forward.
lunar—Having to do with the Moon.
velocity—The rate at which an
mass—The amount of matter in an
object changes position. In the
object.
strict sense, velocity involves both
newton—A unit of measurement the speed and the direction of an
for force. It is the amount of force object’s motion.
that can give a mass of 1 kilogram
weight—The force of gravity on an
an acceleration of 1 meter per
object, especially as measured at the
second per second.
surface of a planet, such as Earth.
orbit—The path followed by a body
as it circles around another body
because of the pull of the second
body’s gravity.
30

To Learn More
Read these books:

Green, Carl R. Apollo 11 Rockets to First Moon Landing. Berkeley Heights, N.J.:
MyReportLinks.com, 2004.
Jedicke, Peter. Great Moments in Space Exploration. New York: Chelsea House,
2007.
Miller, Ron. Rockets. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books, 2007.
Thimmesh, Catherine. Team Moon: How 400,000 People Landed Apollo 11
on the Moon. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006.
Look up these Web sites:

European Space Agency
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEM2S8WJD1E_index_0.html
Fear of Physics: Learn about Position, Velocity, and Acceleration
http://www.fearofphysics.com/Xva/xva.html
NASA: Solar System Exploration
http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/gallery.cfm?Category=Spacecraft
Yahoo! Kids: Spacecraft
http://kids.yahoo.com/science/space/article/spacecraft
Key Internet search terms:

Apollo Program, Moon, NASA, Isaac Newton, rocket, Smart-1
31
5

Index
Acceleration 10–11 Mass 15, 17, 20

Air resistance see Drag Motion 5, 6–7, 14–15, 20–21, 22–23
Aldrin, Buzz 29 Newton, Isaac 14–15
Apollo program 5, 9, 24, 25, 28, 29 Newtons (unit of measure) 13, 14
Armstrong, Neil 20, 29
Orbit 5, 6, 7
Axis (Earth) 6
Payload 20, 21
Balanced force 13
Planning of space mission 7, 11
Booster rockets 11
Rocket engines 5, 11, 13, 23, 24–25,
Chemical reaction 5, 26–27
26–27
Command module 25
Computers (on spacecraft) 5 Saturn V rocket 13, 24, 25
Constant speed 8 Seatbelts 14
Course of spacecraft 7, 9 Second law of motion 20–21
Shape of rockets 18, 19
Design of rocket 12
Skateboard 4, 8, 17, 18
Drag 19, 24
Smart-1 (spacecraft) 25, 27
Earth (planet) 5, 6, 7, 17 Solid-fuel engines 26–27
Engines see Rocket engines Soviet Union 5, 28, 29
European Space Agency 25, 27, 29 Speed 8–9, 10
First law of motion 14–15 Speed of rockets 8
Forces 12–13 Stages of rockets 11, 24, 25
Friction 18–19 Sun 6, 7
Fuel for rockets 5, 11, 22, 23, 26–27 Takeoff 9, 25
Gravity 5, 16–17 Third law of motion 22–23
History of Moon shots 5, 28–29 Thrust 13, 22, 23
Two-stage rockets 10
Inertia 15
Unbalanced force 13
Jupiter (planet) 16
Velocity 9, 10
Liquid-fuel engines 26–27
Weight 16–17
About the Author

Barbara J. Davis has written books on science topics for kids for
more than fifteen years. She has published books on ecosys-
tems and biomes, as well as earth science subjects.
32

Barbara J. Davis - How Does A Spacecraft Reach The Moon - (Science in The Real World) (2009)

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Earth and the Moon in Motion

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S peed is one important way

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Balanced and Unbalanced Forces

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T he unit of measurement for force

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Mass and Inertia

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Weight and Gravity

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L ike gravity, friction is a force

The launch rocket in the right-

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Astronaut Neil Armstrong

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Tying Together Force, Mass, Acceleration These rocks brought

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The small landing craft

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Liquid-Fuel and Solid-Fuel Rockets

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This rocket launched a

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acceleration—A change in the payload—The things carried by a

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Read these books:

Look up these Web sites:

Key Internet search terms: