This site is part of the Science Museum's	STEM Project	and it was completed by a student of North London Collegiate School,	based on a visit to the 'Exploration of Space' Gallery, and called
			The Development of Space Travel and the First Moon Landing.

Glossary

Ablate to burn away, absorbing heat in the process

Astronaut a person who travels in space

Atmosphere the layer of gases around a large body, such as the air around Earth. It is 'thickest' near the ground and becomes thinner with height.

Booster a secondary rocket fitted to a launch vehicle

Cosmonaut what the Russians call an astronaut

Docking joining up with another spacecraft

Escape velocity speed needed for an object to escape from Earth's gravitational attraction. For the surface of the Earth, it is 11.2km/s (6.95 miles /sec) and for the Moon, 2.4km/s (1.5 miles/sec).

EVA extravehicular activity, or work outside a spacecraft

Fission splitting, division

Gibbous having the bright part greater than a semicircle, but less than a circle

Gimbal a swivel joint, which allows, for example, a rocket nozzle to move for guidance purposes.

Gravity the pull exerted by one body on another. Spacecraft are kept in orbit by the pull of the Earth's gravity.

Gyroscope a device that tends to remain in the same position. It usually has a fast-rotating disc as the stable part.

Launcher a launch vehicle - a rocket engine (or several engines) that takes a payload into space

Lift-off the moment when a spacecraft leaves the launch pad

Liquid-fuel a fuel normally in gas form, but made so cold that it condenses into a liquid to save space (see also liquid fuel)

MMU Manned Manoeuvring Unit. This is the device an astronaut uses to move around outside the spacecraft.

NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the American organisation responsible for space activities

Orbit the path taken by a small object going round a larger one

Oxidiser a substance that provides the oxygen required when a rocket fuel is burned in the 'airlessness' of space

Payload extra load that can be carried, beyond that needed by an aircraft or rocket for its operation

Pioneer original explorer, settler or investigator of subject

Planetesimal a large body about the size of Mars

Probe, space an unmanned craft that journeys far from the Earth, to other planets and beyond.

Propellant a mixture of fuel and oxidiser burnt in a rocket engine to produce thrust

Rocket jet propulsion engine that uses its own supplies of fuel and oxidant.

Satellite object in orbit around another body. Generally describes an artificial satellite launched by a rocket.

Solar panel an array of cells that uses the Sun's rays to produce electricity for powering a spacecraft

Solid fuel a fuel in solid form, often used in boosters (see also liquid fuel)

Soviet USSR - now mainly Russia

SpaceLab a special scientific laboratory that is carried on some Space Shuttle missions

Space Shuttle one of the fleet of American spacecraft that separates from its rockets and fuel tank and returns to Earth like a plane after each mission

Space station a spacecraft that stays in orbit for a long period of time and is visited by other spacecraft, which often bring a change of crew

Space walking same as EVA (see before)

Stage one part, or section, of a rocket

USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. It has now split up and is mainly Russia

Weightlessness when an object is beyond the gravitational pull of a much larger object (a planet or a moon), and so has no gravity acting on it

If there are any words which are not here that you wish to look-up, then visit the site http://www.cup.cam.ac.uk/elt/dictionary/ - it is a much bigger dictionary.