Fun Space Stuff for Children

A Mercury Rocket, named Freedom 7, blasts off on May 5, 1961. Inside the small blue crew capsule at the top was Alan Shepard, the first American Astronaut to fly.

The very first American astronauts were known as The Mercury Seven.  

Why?  Because they flew aboard Mercury Rockets, and there were seven of them.

For that first group, NASA selected only the healthiest, strongest, smartest, best men it could find.  Only test pilots could apply, and that meant only men, because there were no women test pilots in those days.  

Not only that, they could not be very tall or fat, because they had to be able to fit into the small space capsule. 

They were real pioneers!  And brave ones, too.  The Mercury rocket carried just one single person, so each astronaut had to go by himself.

Their space suits, which they wore for the entire flight,  were shiny silver.

By NASA (Great Images in NASA)
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

See Freedom 7, the Mercury Redstone Rocket blast off with Alan Shepard aboard.  He's inside that dark blue capsule at the top of the rocket.  

After the short flight, the capsule landed in the ocean.  At the end of the video, you can see the capsule being lifted onto the deck of an aircraft carrier.  Then, Astronaut Shepard gets out.

Photo courtesy NASA, P.D.

Here's a picture of Shane Kimbrough and Sandra Magnus, on the Space Shuttle Endeavourn that you can use to help explain the concept of zero gravity to your young aspiring astronaut.

 Perhaps the space scientists were planning to have some apples, oranges, and pears for a snack.  But, look what's happened to all that fresh fruit - it's floating around!

And, that's not the only thing that's floating.  So are the astronauts.

In zero gravity, anything - or anyone - that isn't fastened down floats freely. That's a condition we call weightlessness.  All your weight doesn't really go away in space, but it feels like it does.  So, that's we call it.

Just look at Sandra Magnus' hair! See how it sticks out in all directions?  Yes, even her hair is weightless.  Its a good thing that one end of each strand of hair is attached to her head!  Can you  imagine what would happen if it wasn’t?

Space Shuttle Endeavour Lands at Kennedy Space Center

After the Mercury Program came the Gemini and Apollo programs, and finally, the Space Shuttles.  

Shuttles were the first reusable spaceships.  That meant they could go to space, land safely, and go back to space again.  

When they returned to earth, they came down on a runway, like an airplane, except they had no engines running.  They were like really big, very fast gliders when they landed.  They had a parachute that would pop out to help slow them down.

Space craft changed a LOT from the days of Mercury.  Now, we've sent whole teams into space on the shuttles, and those teams include both men and women. 

By the time of the shuttle program, what the astronauts were wearing changed a lot, too.  On the shuttles, while orbiting, the crew wears casual clothes or blue flight suits.  For lift off and re-entry, there are orange pressure suits, and special white ones for space walks.  To read more about that, see NASA's Shuttle Space Suit Colors.

Image by NASA/Robert Markowitz 

[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

If your youngster needs a fun Halloween costume, think astronaut!  They are really fun and will be different from the next door kid's ghost, witch or pirate costume.

If there's a school play in your child's future, maybe they will get to play the part of a spaceman.

Or, maybe they'd just like to play pretend.  

In any event, there are some cool costumes available that are sure to thrill a young space cadet.

Endeavour was the last shuttle built.  She first went to space in 1992, and made her last space flight in 2011.  If you would like to see Endeavor, you can.  She's now on display at the California Science Center.

• On Line Space Coloring Book

  Color pictures on line with virtual crayons, or print out the pages you want, and color them with real ones.

• Make a Starfinder

  Download and print a starfinder page for any month, then learn how to fold it and play the starfinder game. You'll learn about constellations , too!

• Picture Dictionary of Space Terms

  (from NASA) Geared to younger children, to help them easily build their space vocabulary.

• ESA - Space for Kids 

  From the European Space Agency - news, games, information, and more for 6 to 12 year olds