Astronaut Reid Wiseman was wrong about how rockets get to space
Astronaut Reid Wiseman was wrong about how rockets get to space
Every week on “Make Me Smart,” we ask an expert, celebrity, author or other prominent figure: “What’s something you thought you knew but later found out you were wrong about?” It’s called the Make Me Smart question.
Few people understand how spaceships work. Even fewer get to fly them. NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, the Artemis II commander, is one of those people. But he wasn’t always so knowledgeable about how rocket ships get to space.
When I was a kid growing up, I would watch space shuttles launch from Kennedy Space Center on the coast of Florida. And I truly thought rocket ships just went up into space and that was it. And honestly, it wasn’t until I was far too old that I realized rocket ships accelerate “down range” almost parallel to Earth, like throwing a baseball as fast as possible. And that is how you get into orbit, achieving about 17,000 miles an hour for low Earth orbit. I can’t wait to see that on Artemis as we’re heading out to the moon because we’re going to go to some fantastic orbits on our way.
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