Rockets propel spacecraft away from Earth's gravity and into space.
How does a rocket work?
Like all objects, rockets are held to Earth's surface by the pull of gravity. Rockets need to achieve a speed of 11 kilometres per second or 40000 kilometres per hour to escape Earth's gravity. Rockets have different sections or stages which help them to achieve this.
Two or three stages are stocked on top of each other to form the rocket. Each stage has its own engines as well as separate tanks of liquid fuel and liquid oxygen. The liquid fuel and liquid oxygen are pumped into a combustion chamber within the engine where they mix and burn. Hot gases are produced and rush backwards out of the engine. It is the escape of these gases that propels the rocket forward.
The stages burn their fuel one after the other. Once the fuel in a stage has been used, the stage falls away from the rest of the rocket. The rest of the rocket has less weight to carry into space.
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