Space vehicles
This page is about rockets and shuttles and the International Space Station. You can also read about astronauts, the solar system, and what happens in space.
Rocket fuel
Crawler transporter
This crawler transporter is ginormous! Its job is to carry a rocket to its launch pad. It was built in 1965 and at that time it was the largest 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. The crawler is controlled from two cabs. The two cabs at either end of the vehicle.
Space shuttle launch
Space shuttle Endeavour detaches from Boeing 747
Space shuttle Endeavour's trek across Los Angeles
Space shuttle from take-off to landing
We see the shuttle take off, detach from rocket, open cargo bay doors, and land back on Earth.
Rocket launch
This rocket took off into space. It carried a satellite that is taking pictures of the world.
At 2m 38s the boosters separate from the rocket. At 3m 25s the video shows the height, distance and speed.
Camera view from the rocket
The Sentinel satellite flies around the Earth in space
'Rocket Robin' - Top Gear's Robin Reliant Space Shuttle
As Top Gear have done almost everything you can do to a car on Earth, they tried to put one into space. James and Richard got help from some engineers to turn the car into a shuttle and to create the rocket and boosters. They also got help from scientists to test the shuttle's aerodynamics. Aerodynamics is the way air moves around things. The better you are aerodynamically the quicker you move through the air. Top Gear say this was the largest non-commercial rocket launch attempt in European history.
Spoiler alert! Only read if you have watched the clip .................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................................This was Top Gear's biggest ever explosion.
......................................................................................................................................................................This was Top Gear's biggest ever explosion.
The International Space Station (ISS)
The ISS is the biggest object ever flown in space. It travels around the Earth 16 times per day. Its speed is around 4 miles per second which is 17,000 miles per hour. The ISS gets power from 16 huge solar panels.
Astronauts live and work in modules that are attached to the centre of the ISS. They take pictures of the Earth and the Universe. They also look after the station’s systems. There is also a robot on the ISS.
Astronauts live and work in modules that are attached to the centre of the ISS. They take pictures of the Earth and the Universe. They also look after the station’s systems. There is also a robot on the ISS.
The ISS today
The biggest project is the Columbus science laboratory, where astronauts can carry out scientific experiments in weightless conditions. Many different types of experiments can take place both inside and outside this space laboratory.
At night it can easily be seen from Earth, as it flies 200 miles above us.
The ISS was originally just one part that was launched in 1998. But the ISS got bigger because more parts were sent up into space, and attached to the ISS. Astronauts assemble its different parts sent from Earth.
At night it can easily be seen from Earth, as it flies 200 miles above us.
The ISS was originally just one part that was launched in 1998. But the ISS got bigger because more parts were sent up into space, and attached to the ISS. Astronauts assemble 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.
The ISS was not the first space station. USA and Russia each had a space station in the 1970s. USA's first space station was called Skylab.
Automated Transport Vehicle (ATV) supplies the International Space Station (ISS)
It is an unmanned spacecraft designed to take cargo to the ISS. The cargo includes food, fuel, and equipment.
ATV launch and docking with the ISS