Rocket science really isn’t complicated. The physics is little more than A Level stuff.
What makes the whole business mind-boggling is the engineering – getting a massive, extremely complex collection of machinery working together in tight timescales and with tough conditions like the vacuum of space, while handling difficult substances like liquid oxygen.
The reason we need the power of vast rocket motors, like those used to get宇航员to theInternational Space Station, is the difficulty of getting away fromthe Earth’s gravitational pull.
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This takes a lot of (heavy) fuel, which is why we can’t land on the Earth using rockets the way the Apollo lunar module did on the Moon.
Getting to the International Space Station
Boosters -Four booster rockets strapped to the outside of the rocket give extra thrust during take-off before falling away. The boosters use kerosene and liquid oxygen.
First stage -This is also known as the core stage. The first stage RD-108A motors join the boosters in accelerating the rocket away from the surface of the Earth.
Second stage -In less than five minutes, the first stage has dropped away and the second stage RD-0110 rocket motors kick in to push the Soyuz TMA-M capsule into orbit.
Brian is a writer of popular science books, with a background in experimental physics. The topics he writes on range from infinity to how to build a time machine. He has also written regular columns, features and reviews for numerous magazines and newspapers, and given lectures at the Royal Institution in London, Oxford and Cambridge Universities, and Cheltenham Festival of Science.
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