Information Desk
The questions visitors ask most often, answered briefly. Each answer points to the room where the full exhibit hangs.
Who invented the rocket?
No single person. Gunpowder rockets developed in China between roughly the 10th and 13th centuries through the work of many anonymous artisans. See Room I.
How does a rocket work in the vacuum of space?
It pushes against its own exhaust, following Newton's third law. Air is not needed; rocket engines are actually more efficient in a vacuum. See Room II.
What was the first liquid-fuelled rocket?
Robert Goddard's rocket, launched on 16 March 1926 in Auburn, Massachusetts, burning gasoline and liquid oxygen. It rose about 12.5 metres.
What is the rocket equation?
Published by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in 1903: Δv = ve ln(m0/mf). A rocket's change in velocity depends on exhaust speed and on how much of its mass is propellant.
Why do rockets have stages?
Dropping empty tanks and engines lets what remains accelerate more efficiently, working around the logarithmic penalty in the rocket equation.
Where can I see a real Saturn V?
At Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, Space Center Houston in Texas, and the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. See Room IV.
Was the story of Wan Hu true?
There is no early Chinese source for it. The tale appears to be modern folklore, popularised in 20th-century Western writing, and we label it accordingly.
What were "the rockets' red glare"?
British Congreve rockets fired at Fort McHenry, Baltimore, in September 1814, witnessed by Francis Scott Key.
Where does space begin?
By the most common convention, at the Kármán line, 100 kilometres above sea level, as used by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.
Question not on the list? Leave a visitor card.