Space Exploration Facts for Kids from the "Apollo 11 - Mission to the Moon Adventure" at the Wonder Rotunda
This material is drawn from the "Learn More" reading opportunities in the "Mission to the Moon" adventure at the Wonder Rotunda, an on-line children's adventure museum, for kids, ages 7-12.
Planet Earth
Life is possible on Earth because of its unique atmosphere. It is composed of 21% oxygen and 78% nitrogen. The remaining 1%, consists of argon, water vapor and other gases such as carbon dioxide. I
n addition to providing the air that we breathe, the atmosphere protects the earth from harmful radiation from space and the Sun and helps control the Earth's temperature. The Earth moves in three different ways. It spins on its own axis, it orbits the Sun and it moves with the Sun and the rest of our solar system in an orbit around the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.
You will learn more about the Milky Way later in this mission. Earth rotates on an imaginary axis which is tilted at a 23.5 degree angle. The rotation is what causes the change from day to night. The tilt is what determines our change in seasons. If the Earth was not tilted, we would have the same season all year long.
The water and land on earth sit on top of a crust of rock. The crust has plates of rock that sit on top of several layers, known as mantles, of hot melted rocks and metals. Below the mantels, at the center of the earth, is the inner core, composed of liquid iron and nickel. Like the rest of the solar system the earth is about 4.6 billion years old.
The International Space Station
The International Space Station is a unique science laboratory. Since October 2000, when the first crew arrived, humans have had a continuous presence in space.
The countries that have participated in building the Space Station are: USA, Russia, Canada, Japan, Brazil and the European Space Agency which includes, France, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom, Switzerland, and Norway.
The space station has been assembled from different components, known as modules, that have been launched into space and then assembled by the crew. Additional work remains to be done before it is completed. When finished, the space station will cover the area of a football field, including the end zones. The space station is powered by the energy of the Sun.
The space station's laboratories allow crew members to do scientific research. For example, scientists are studying what happens to the human body when people live in space for a long time. The results of this research will be helpful in preparing for future space missions.
Satellites
A satellite is an object that orbits any planet. Natural satellites are typically referred to as moons. The earth's moon is an example of a natural satellite.
Man-made satellites, also known as artificial satellites, are used for things such as communication, scientific research, weather forecasting, telephone and television signals, navigation systems, like the GPS in cars, and to take aerial photos. Satellites have also been used to explore other planets, the sun and the moon. Satellites are launched into space by rockets or carried into space by the space shuttle.
They are placed in different orbits depending upon the job they do. Once in orbit, a satellite can continue its job for a long time. They are powered by solar cells which convert the sunlight which falls on them into electricity.
Eventually, all satellites stop working when they get old and wear out. In time, they fall out of orbit and burn up as they drop through the earth's atmosphere.
The Moon
The Moon has less mass and is much smaller than Earth. Gravity on the Moon is 16% of the gravity of the Earth. So, a visitor to the Moon will feel about 84% lighter than on earth. Even though the Moon has less gravity than earth, its force is still enough to create tides in the Earth's waters
The Moon has very little atmosphere, and there is no life of any kind present. The Moon gives off no light of its own, but is the brightest object in our sky because it reflects the light of the Sun.
One half of the Moon is always in darkness and the other half is illuminated by the Sun.
As the Moon orbits the earth we see more or less of the sunlit half. This is what creates the different shapes, or phases, of the Moon that we see in the sky.
The Sun
The Sun is a medium size star known as a yellow dwarf that exists within the Milky Way Galaxy. We'll learn more about the Milky Way later in this mission. Scientists believe that the Sun was formed from a cloud of gas and dust about 5 billion years ago. It is about halfway through its current life as a yellow dwarf star.
In about 5 billion years when all of its hydrogen has been converted to helium, it will cool, change color and become what scientists call a red dwarf star. At its center, or core, the temperature of the Sun is over 59,000,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The Sun's energy is created by the transformation of the hydrogen gas of the Sun's core into helium gas. The energy projects out into space in the form of heat, light and other forms of radiation. The heat and light are essential to life on Earth, but the other radiations such as ultra-violet light can be very harmful.
The Earth's atmosphere shields us from much of it. The Sun is massive in size (109 times the diameter of the earth), and therefore, exerts a powerful gravitational pull on everything in our Solar System. The earth orbits the Sun, as do the other planets in our Solar System, because of the Sun's gravitational pull.
Mercury
Mercury is smaller than any other planet in our solar system and about one-third the size of the Earth. Without an atmosphere and given its close proximity to the sun, the surface of Mercury has the greatest temperature range of any planet or natural satellite in our solar system.
The surface temperature on the side of Mercury closest to the Sun reaches 800 degrees Fahrenheit. On the side facing away from the Sun, or the night side, the temperature drops to -297 degrees.
Mercury's is the fastest moving planet and has an elongated orbit around the sun. Mercury does not have any natural satellites (the scientific name for moons.)
Much of the information we have learned about Mercury is the result of the mission of Mariner 10, a space probe launched by the United States, which flew past Mercury in 1974 and 1975.
Venus
Venus is about the same size and mass as Earth. Venus is easily visible from Earth because its heavy cloud cover is an excellent reflector of light from the Sun. The average temperature during the day on Venus reaches 903 degrees Fahrenheit.
What makes Venus so hot?
Its dense atmosphere, consisting mostly of carbon dioxide, sulfur dust and sulfuric acid, acts as a greenhouse and traps the Sun's heat.
Venus spins slowly on its axis in a clockwise direction, which is the opposite of the other planets in our solar system. Venus circles the Sun once every 225 Earth days.
Scientists believe that Venus' surface and atmosphere have been shaped by erupting volcanoes. We have learned much about Venus by sending the probe Magellan to Venus. Launched in 1989, by the United States, it orbited Venus from 1990 to 1994.
Mars and the Phoenix Mission
Mars is about half the size of Earth. Its surface is rocky and dusty. It was shaped by volcanoes. Its volcano, Olympus Mons, is believed by scientists to be the largest volcano is the solar system. It is three times taller than Mt Everest, the tallest mountain on Earth, and as big as the State of New Mexico.
The red dust on Mars, which gives it its red color, contains iron oxide, also known as rust. Mars is about one and half times further from the Sun than the Earth, which is why it is much colder there. Its average temperature is well below freezing. The thin atmosphere on Mars contains mostly carbon dioxide. Mars has two moons.
The Phoenix spacecraft which landed in the polar region of Mars confirmed the existence of water on Mars. Phoenix has completed its work and scientists have lost contact with the spacecraft.
Mars is currently home to two roving robots, Spirit and Opportunity sent to Mars by the United States in 2004. Both rovers have cameras that continue photographing Mars and sending images to Earth.
Asteroid Belt
Millions of asteroids orbit the Sun. Most can be found in, what scientists call the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter. Asteroids are fragments left over from the formation of our solar system about 4.6 billion years ago. Asteroids are made up of a combination of rock and metal.
The largest known asteroid, Ceres is 579 miles wide, one quarter of the size of the moon. Other asteroids are considerably smaller.
Asteroids are often knocked out of the Belt and their orbit around the Sun by the gravitational pull of Jupiter. Scientists believe that stray asteroids may have hit Earth in the past.
Scientists believe the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago was the result of an Asteroid hitting the Earth and changing the Earth's climate.
Jupiter
Jupiter is the most massive planet in our solar system. It is large enough for 11 planet Earths to fit across its diameter. With 16 moons larger in diameter than 6 miles and many smaller ones, Jupiter has been described by scientists as a kind of miniature solar system.
Jupiter's beautiful appearance comes from rotating layers of clouds composed of ammonia. The best known feature of Jupiter is the Great Red Spot, which is believed to be a storm.
Jupiter also has a faint system of rings. Jupiter's composition is similar to that of a star, which is made of mostly hydrogen and helium.
Scientists believe that beneath the gases is a solid core of rock and ice about the size of the Earth. In 1995, the United States sent the Galileo spacecraft to explore Jupiter. It orbited for seven years collecting data and dropped a parachuted probe into Jupiter's atmosphere to take measurements.
Saturn
Saturn is best known for its rings. The rings are created by super fast winds which are much faster than the strongest hurricane winds we have on Earth. The winds, combined with heat rising from Jupiter's interior cause the yellow and gold bands visible in the atmosphere.
Saturn has more than 50 natural satellites (moons). It's largest, Titan, has an atmosphere of nitrogen that might be similar to what Earth's was like billions of years ago. Scientists are studying Titan to learn how planets form and about the early period of the Earth's existence. Scientists believe Titan possesses many similarities to Earth, including lakes, rivers, channels, dunes, rain, snow, clouds, mountains and possibly volcanoes.
Much of what we know about Saturn is the result of the Cassini Huygens space probe launched by the United States in 1997 to explore Saturn. The spacecraft is still orbiting Saturn and sending scientific information back to Earth.
Uranus
Uranus is 19 times farther from the Sun than the Earth. As a result, it receives little heat and light. Uranus experiences seasons that last over twenty years. But, the temperature differences between summer and winter are not very different because Uranus is so far from the Sun.
Uranus spins horizontally as if it had been knocked on its side compared to the other planets in our solar system. Scientists believe that Uranus horizontal rotation may have resulted from a collision with another planet sized body.
The atmosphere of Uranus is composed mostly of hydrogen and helium. The blue green color of Uranus is created by the reflection of sunlight from Uranus' cloud tops through an outer layer of a gas known as methane. Uranus has more than 27 natural satellites (moons).
Neptune
Neptune is about 30 times as far from the Sun, as is Earth. It is the fourth largest planet, and has 17 times the mass of Earth. Neptune has a faint system of rings that orbit the planet.
Neptune is a cold and windy planet. Because of its distance from the Sun, the temperature of its cloud tops is below -360 degrees Fahrenheit. The planet is surrounded by dense layers of fast moving clouds moving at speeds up to 700 miles per hour. Neptune's atmosphere is composed primarily of hydrogen and helium.
Neptune's vivid blue color results from the existence of the methane gas and possibly another gas or element that makes the color particularly intense. Neptune has at least 13 natural satellites (moons).
The largest is Triton which orbits in the opposite direction of Neptune's rotation. Voyager 2, one of the two Voyager probes launched in 1977, reached Neptune in 1989 and returned the first detailed photos of the planet, its moons and atmosphere.
Pluto
Until 2006, Pluto was known as the coldest, smallest and most distant planet in our solar system. It was reclassified from an official planet to a "dwarf planet" by an organization, called the International Astronomical Union, in 2006 because Pluto does not have enough mass to clear objects out of the way of its orbital neighborhood.
Pluto is mostly brown and icy. No spacecraft has visited Pluto, but the New Horizons spacecraft launched in 2006 is expected to encounter Pluto in 2015 and send images and scientific information back to Earth. Pluto's largest moon is Charon, which is about half the size of Pluto. The pair form something known as a binary planet, whose gravitational balance point is between the two bodies. New Horizons will be the first mission to a binary object of any type in space.
Comets
Comets are icy balls of snow, rocky dust, ice and frozen substances such as methane, ammonia and carbon dioxide. Most Comets are about 10 miles or less in length. Some are much, much larger.
Usually it is very hard to see a comet without a telescope. But, when a comet gets close to the Sun it grows in brightness and size, and can be seen by the eye alone. This is because the Sun's heat turns the snow on the surface of the comet to vapor leaving a trail of gas and dust particles.
The gas and dust form what is known as a coma. Radiation from the Sun pushes the dust particles away from the coma creating what is known as a dust tail. Comets also can have a tail composed of gas, known as an ion tail.
There are trillions of comets within a spherical cloud, known as the Oort Cloud, that surrounds our solar system. Some comets leave the Oort Cloud and travel on a long elliptical orbit around our Sun, taking more than 200 years to orbit the Sun.
Other comets come from the Kuiper Belt which lies beyond Pluto's orbit. Comets from the Kuiper Belt are typically categorized as short period comets because they take less than 200 years to orbit the Sun.
Milky Way
Our solar system exists within the Milky Way Galaxy, which scientists believe was formed about 14 billion years ago.
The Milky Way is a beautiful spiral of stars, planets, clouds of dust, gas, nebulae and asteroids. It is approximately 100,000 light years in diameter, which is enormous. A light year is the distance light can travel in one year, which is about 5,900,000,000,000 miles.
The Sun and our solar system is 26,000 light years from the center of the Milky Way. Our solar system completes one orbit around the center of the Milky Way every 250 million years!
The Big Bang and the Universe
The Universe is a vast expense of space that consists of everything in space, and space itself. Know one knows how big the Universe is, but we know it contains all the planets, stars and galaxies.
Scientists believe the Universe is still expanding outward as a result of a violent, gigantic explosion that occurred about 13.7 billion years ago. This explosion is referred to as the Big Bang. Scientists believe that the Big Bang created energy which eventually changed into gases which later grouped together to form stars, planets, and other objects in space.
Scientists believe that before the Big Bang, the matter and energy we see today must have been crammed together in a tiny region of unimaginably high density and temperature.
Scientists do not know if the Universe will expand forever or if it will someday start to contract.
Apollo Program
The Apollo program began with a tragedy. The astronauts of Apollo 1 lost their lives when a fire broke at during a launch pad test. Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission, conducted many tests that were important to later missions.
It was followed by Apollo 8 which used the Saturn V rocket and looped around the Moon. Apollo 9 tested the lunar module. Apollo 10 orbited the moon and brought the lunar module within 9 miles of the lunar surface. And, as you just learned, Apollo 11 landed on the Moon and planted the American flag.
Five additional missions - Apollo 12,14,15,16 and 17 went on to land on the Moon, and study the lunar environment and surface. An oxygen tank explosion forced Apollo 13 to scrub its Moon landing, but the astronauts were able to return safely to Earth. Twelve men in all walked on the Moon during the Apollo program.
NASA stands for the National Atmospheric and Space Administration, the US government agency that is responsible for space exploration. Thousands of people at NASA, including scientists, physicists, engineers and astronauts are working to learn more about the planets, stars, galaxies and our Universe.
About the Wonder Rotunda
The Wonder Rotunda is an online children's adventure museum(for ages 7-12) that sparks curiosity, helps kids find their interests and passions, and inspires them to think about making a mark in the world. Topics explored include marine life, space exploration, animal life, classical music, nutrition, American government, globalization, climate change, money and business, the visual and performing arts, film making and climate change. Take the Free Tour.
About the Apollo 11--Journey to the Moon Adventure
This is the amazing story of man’s journey to the Moon. You experience each phase of the original Apollo 11 mission, maneuver the command-module to the moon and then descend to the lunar surface. Along the way, explore the planets in our solar system, the asteroid belt and the Milky Way. A thrilling moon-walk caps the excitement of this adventure.