Blast Off! A Rocket Launch Story for Kids
Stars only twinkle because of Earth's air. Above it, they shine perfectly still. Ride a rocket up to space in this pick-your-path adventure. For kids 3–7+, free to preview.
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Ready, space explorer? See that giant rocket? It's about to roar up into space! Look how tall it is. As high as ten houses stacked on top of each other! Let's pull on our helmet, ride the lift to the top, and climb in!
Hands on the controls. Count it down: three, two, one! The engines light up and WHOOSH! Look below! A splash of water big enough to fill a hundred fire trucks bursts out to quiet the roar, then puffs into a cloud of steam. Liftoff!
Up we GO! A giant push presses us back into our seats, just like the biggest drop on the fastest roller coaster! Watch the clouds drop away, far below now. Can you feel that rumble buzzing right through you? Up, up we climb!
Higher and higher we climb! Every dial and switch has something to tell us. What shall we check first?
Why Do Stars Twinkle?
Stars twinkle because their light has to pass through Earth's air on its way to your eyes. The air is always moving, with warm and cool pockets that bend the starlight a tiny bit this way and that, so the star seems to flicker. Above the air, out in space, stars don't twinkle at all: they shine perfectly still.
What Happens in the Story
In Blast Off!, your child rides a rocket from the launch pad all the way up to space, and chooses what to check and where to go next. Four paths lead to four different endings:
One last giant push to reach space, and the secret to staying up there.
A climb so high that the sky starts to change color.
A booster with one more amazing trick before its job is done.
A surprise hidden in the rocket's nose, with an important job to do.
More Rocket Facts
Space starts about 62 miles (100 km) up, roughly an hour's drive if you could drive straight up.
Most of a rocket is fuel: about 90% of its weight at liftoff. The crew rides in a small space at the very top.
Rockets are built in stages, usually two or three, and each one drops away when its fuel runs out.
Some boosters fly themselves home and land upright on a ship at sea, so they can fly again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is space black?
Because there's almost no air in space. Our blue sky is sunlight bouncing off tiny bits of air, and up in space there's nothing for it to bounce off, so the sky looks black, even in the daytime.
Why is the sky blue?
Sunlight is all the colors of the rainbow mixed together. When it hits the tiny bits of air around Earth, blue light gets bounced around the sky much more than the other colors, so blue is what we see when we look up.
More Space Stories
Where do astronauts go after launch? Spend a day aboard in A Day on the Space Station. Or browse all our space stories for kids.
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