Rockets

Educator's Guide with Activities in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math

A guide from NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration)

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A Letter to Teachers

For more than 65 years, NASA has explored the sky and space. During this time, people have flown into space and walked on the Moon. Robot spacecraft have visited every planet. Satellites have given us new pictures of Earth. A huge space station was built in space, where astronauts from many countries live and do experiments. Other satellites have looked far out into space, almost back to the beginning of time.

All of these amazing things happened because of one invention: rockets.

Now we are starting a new age of space travel. New rockets will help people travel farther than ever before — back to the Moon, and even to Mars. These rockets will also help send robot spacecraft deep into space.

This guide will help you and your students learn about rockets. You will learn about early rockets and the people who dreamed them up. You will learn how rocket science and math work, and what rocket scientists do. You will see pictures from space history — like Sputnik, Apollo, and the space shuttle. You will also learn about the future of space travel, and why rockets are the only vehicles that can travel where no one has gone before.

Could your students grow up to build rockets or fly to space? Yes, they could! This guide will help get them ready.

The guide teaches about the history of rockets, NASA's new rocket called the SLS (Space Launch System), and the science behind how rockets work. It also has fun hands-on activities. These activities are based on Sir Isaac Newton's laws of motion — the science rules that explain how and why rockets move.

The activities are made for classrooms. Each one has clear instructions, background facts, a list of materials, and questions to think about. You can use this guide for two to six weeks, or just pick single activities to use on their own.

Our goal is simple: to excite young minds about space. The kids in your classroom today could become tomorrow's scientists, engineers, and space explorers!

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What's Inside This Guide

• A Picture History of Rockets
• What Comes Next (including NASA's SLS rocket, spacecraft parts, and rocket basics)
• How Rockets Work
• Newton's Laws in Action
• Rocket Activities (with fun projects like the Pop Can Engine, Newton Car, Water Rocket, and more)
• A Rocket Scientist Certificate
• Space Career Information
• Extra Learning (like how high rockets go, space stories, and space art)
• A Rocket Word List (glossary)
• More NASA Resources

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A Picture History of Rockets

The powerful space rockets we have today came from more than 2,000 years of ideas, testing, and discovery. People first watched the world around them, got new ideas, and then tested those ideas carefully. Step by step, this built the foundation for modern rockets.

Using everything learned over 2,000 years, new rockets will now help people travel to the Moon and Mars. These new rockets will do many jobs. They will carry supplies to the International Space Station, which circles Earth. They will also travel millions of kilometers away to explore new worlds.

We can already send robot spacecraft far out into space — even toward the stars! One day, human explorers may follow them.

Many early rocket inventors are almost forgotten today. But they took risks and tried new things. They built rocket-powered machines for use on land, at sea, in the air, and in space. Once scientists discovered the rules of motion, rockets changed. They were no longer just toys — they became powerful tools for travel, business, war, and science. This work led to some of the greatest discoveries in history.

The stories that follow show just a few important moments from rocket history. They are placed in order, like a timeline. Some stories connect to each other. Others are simply interesting side stories. Together, they show how people first dreamed of space — and how those dreams led to real space travel. NASA's new SLS rocket, along with other rockets built by companies today, all owe something to the rocket pioneers you're about to meet.