Space vehicles
The International Space Station (ISS)
The ISS is the biggest object ever to fly in space.
The ISS travels around the Earth 16 times each day. It gets its power from the Sun. Its 16 solar panels turn the Sun's light into power. |
Its speed is around 4 miles per second. So it can fly between school and Romford in 1 second! |
Astronauts live and work in modules that are attached to the middle of the ISS. They do experiments and take pictures of the Earth and space. They also fix things that go wrong on the ISS.
There is a robot on the ISS as well.
There is a robot on the ISS as well.
The ISS started out as just one part that was launched in 1998. The ISS got bigger because more parts were sent up into space, and attached to the ISS. Astronauts have attached its different parts sent from Earth.
The ISS in 2007
16 countries including the UK, USA, Russia and France worked together to build the ISS.
ISS is not the first space station.
Soyuz (saw-yooz) spacecraft
The Soyuz spacecraft takes astronauts and cargo to the ISS.
The Soyuz spacecraft must dock with the space station so the astronauts can come aboard.
The Soyuz rocket takes the Soyuz spacecraft into space. The spacecraft is inside the top of the rocket. The spacecraft is inside the rocket to protect it from heat. The outside of the rocket gets very hot when the rocket flies fast in the air.
Parts of the rocket separate. Then, the rocket's panels (called fairings) come off around the spacecraft. Now, the astronauts can see outside. Later, the spacecraft's solar panels can come out.
USA's space agency NASA are making the world's biggest rocket.
The rocket is called the Space Launch System or SLS.
The rocket is called the Space Launch System or SLS.
Public domain image from NASA
Rocket fuel
Space shuttle
The space shuttle took astronauts into space until 2011. Astronauts flew in the orbiter. The orbiter looked like a plane but it had rocket engines.
To get into space the orbiter was attached to 2 white rockets and a big, orange tank. The orange tank had rocket fuel in it. The fuel went into the orbiter's rocket engines. When the orange tank and the white rockets were no longer needed, they came off and fell back to Earth.
When the astronauts needed to come back to Earth they flew the orbiter back to Earth and landed it just like a plane.
Space shuttle from take-off to landing
We see the shuttle take off, detach from its rocket, open cargo bay doors, and land back on Earth.
Crawler transporter
This crawler transporter is enormous! Its job is to carry a rocket to its launch pad. It was built in 1965 and at that time it was the biggest land vehicle.
The crawler travels even slower than a person walking. It travels 1 mile per hour when it is carrying a load and 2 miles per hour without a load.