How do rockets go to space?
Rockets burn fuel to make a giant blast of hot gas, whoosh!

Pip’s answer
- Rockets burn fuel to make a giant blast of hot gas, whoosh!
- The gas shoots down, so the rocket shoots up, zoom!
- It goes so fast it can escape Earth's pull and reach space, wow-ee!
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Can you stretch your arms up tall like a rocket?
For grown-ups
Rocket engines burn fuel to produce hot gas that blasts out of the bottom at high speed. Because every action has an equal and opposite reaction (Newton's third law), the rocket is pushed upward. To reach orbit it must go roughly 28,000 kilometers per hour, about eight kilometers every second.
Ask your child: What would you pack for a trip to space?
More questions kids ask
- 🌕Why doesn’t the moon fall down?
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- ☀️Why is the sun so hot?
- 🌙Why does it get dark at night?
- 🌓Why does the moon change shape?
- 🌖Why can we see the moon in the daytime?
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