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Ellis Abel Learns.

In my own words

Why I love rockets

A Rocket Lab Electron rocket lifts off from its launch pad, trailing a bright orange exhaust plume. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Rockets" page.
A Rocket Lab Electron rocket lifts off from its launch pad, trailing a bright orange exhaust plume. NASA · Public domain
  • It pushes down and goes up.
  • Every part has to work or none of it does.
  • People rode one of these to the Moon.

What it really is

A rocket throws mass out the back hard enough to push itself forward.

Three things to try today

  1. Blow up a balloon and let it go.
  2. Do it again and predict where it lands.
  3. Change one thing and see what happens.
Members of the European Service Module processing team work around the Orion spacecraft during solar array wing installation. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Rockets" page.
Members of the European Service Module processing team work around the Orion spacecraft during solar array wing installation. NASA · Public domain

For the grown-up reading this

The balloon is a real rocket. Same physics, no chemistry. Start there.

Why I love rockets — 4,299 places across America

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Love something else too

NASA's long-nosed X-59 quiet supersonic aircraft flies over the California desert alongside an F/A-18 chase plane. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Planes" page.Why I love planesA FreeFly Alta X quadcopter drone hovers in the air during wildfire response flight tests near Redding, California. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Drones" page.Why I love dronesTwelve gold-coated hexagonal mirror segments of the James Webb Space Telescope installed side by side on the telescope's backplane at Goddard. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Telescopes" page.Why I love telescopesThe Cold Atom Laboratory, two white equipment containers packed with lasers and vacuum hardware, on a bench before flight. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Physics" page.Why I love physicsFive labeled water-quality sample bottles lined up in a bag, ready to be carried to the laboratory for analysis. Real USGS photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Chemistry" page.Why I love chemistryA Keyence optical microscope set up on a laboratory bench with its monitor and sample stage. Real USGS photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Microscopes" page.Why I love microscopesAn optical bench in the Laser Optics Laboratory at Ames Research Center, crowded with mirrors, lenses and beam paths. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Lasers" page.Why I love lasersThe last of four gold solar array wings is lowered into place on the Orion spacecraft's European Service Module. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Solar Power" page.Why I love the sun

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