the-BA : Powerful take-off

At take-off, the Saturn V rocket that carried Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to the Moon, developed more than 34 million newtons of thrust. This rose to nearly 41 million newtons at an altitude of 45 km. After a flight time of one minute the rocket is travelling at Mach 1 (330 m/s) with an acceleration of about 4g. This phenomenal machine lifted the astronauts and their payload into orbit and on to the Moon.

Have you ever wondered how space rockets work?

You might like to …

• investigate how a model rocket works; you could use a pressurised water or a compressed air rocket.
• find out about and compare the different types of launch rocket used today and in the past; how is the Space Shuttle different to a conventional Saturn V type rocket?
• find out about launchers made by the European Space Agency (ESA), at http://www.esa.int/.

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