Space, Part I

To go into space, people use the Space Shuttle,

or rockets, like this,

or a rocket like this.

On Earth, if you drop something, it falls right to the ground On Earth, if you drop something, it falls right to the ground. That’s called “gravity.”

But in space, things are “weightless But in space, things are “weightless.” They don’t fall to the ground like they do on Earth!

And on Earth, there is lots of air to breathe.

Air is what makes the sky blue.

But in space, there is no air. That is why space is black But in space, there is no air. That is why space is black! And, it is very, very cold in space.

That’s why, when astronauts float in space, they have to wear spacesuits. So they can breathe and stay warm!

Here is an astronaut floating in space Here is an astronaut floating in space. He has a special suit he uses to fly around in space.

Here is an astronaut standing on the Moon!

This astronaut took his helmet off. His spacesuit is very big and heavy.

As an astronaut goes out to space, first he sees this,

but when he gets farther away from the Earth, it looks like this.

As you go around the Earth, you see that the sun lights up only some of it. The other part is dark.

Where it is dark, it is night on Earth.

The Moon and the Earth make up a system, called the Earth-Moon System.

The Earth is much bigger than the Moon. Look!

Our Moon is actually very far from the Earth Our Moon is actually very far from the Earth. But it is the closest celestial body to the Earth.

If you were floating over the Moon, the Earth would look like this!

If you get close to the Moon, or you look at it through a telescope, it looks like this. This is the near side of the Moon.

And this is the far side of the Moon. We never see this side from Earth. We only see the near side.

Here are the near side and the far side of the Moon—together.

Back in the 1960s and 1970s, American astronauts stood on the surface of the Moon. Here is what it looked like.

Here, an astronaut comes down from the “lunar lander,” his spaceship.

The first man to walk on the Moon was Neil Armstrong.

The astronauts drove this lunar rover.

This astronaut is driving the lunar rover! Look at him go!

The Moon is completely dead, or lifeless The Moon is completely dead, or lifeless. Nothing can live there, and it is extremely cold.

Today, people don’t go to the Moon Today, people don’t go to the Moon. They visit the International Space Station.

Here is what it looks like inside the Space Station.

The End