Out of This World     

My own children, and kids like you, are growing up in a world where not only is space flight normal, but some very wealthy people travel to space as tourists. Is it possible that your children will be part of a world where kids brag, “We went to space on Chol Hamoed”?

Only time will tell, but maybe we should find out a little more about what’s beyond our beautiful planet. What’s so different out there?

No Atmosphere, No Gravity, No Air Pressure

You’ve probably seen pictures of astronauts floating through space in their space suits, so you know there’s no air and no gravity.

Well, you’d be correct about the air. Once you travel about 62 miles (100 kilometers) above Earth, you’ve left Earth’s atmosphere and are in the vacuum of space. Vacuum means that there’s nothing there — no air, no molecules. (To be honest, there are some molecules out there, but so few, spread so far apart that it doesn’t really make a difference.) Being in a vacuum changes a lot of things, so this is very important.