An ‘Xkcd’ Video Explains How to Get to Space in the Most Basic Terms Possible

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An ‘Xkcd’ Video Explains How to Get to Space in the Most Basic Terms Possible

"If the fire end points toward space, you are having a bad problem and will not go to space this day."

Do you have a hypothetical five-year-old on your hands asking how people get to space? Do they not know what a rocket even is? This video might just just be the ticket.

The YouTube channel Minute Physics teamed up with Randall Munroe, creator of the popular webcomic xkcd, to explain how to get to space using only the 1,000 most used words in the English dictionary.

So in case you have (or are) a five-year-old who doesn't know how space works and what a rocket even is, there's no way to get confused here: rocket fuel is "fire water," rockets are "up-goers," and to become an astronaut you have to make sure you're "good and lucky and all the important people say 'OK!'" Or sneak into a rocket and risk going to jail, which is not good.

Aside from explaining rocket science in the most basic terms possible, the video also exposes a number of details kids don't often consider thinking about how rockets actually get to space. For instance: rockets don't go straight up, because they won't be able to end up orbiting the Earth unless they shoot up at an angle. It also explains how rockets return from orbit and increase air resistance, otherwise the rocket would crash straight into the Earth.

Up-goer science isn't so hard now, isn't it?