Rocket science for the classroom

Printable worksheets and ready-to-teach lesson plans for ages 7–11. Every sheet has an answer key and prints on one or two pages.

No account, no email address, no adverts, and nothing to pay. Print them, copy them, use them in class.

Worksheets

Worksheet · Ages 7–10 · 20 minLabel the rocketA parts-of-a-rocket labelling sheet using a real Falcon 9, with a word bank and an answer key. One page, no signup.Worksheet · Ages 7–10 · 20 minPut the launch in orderNine real events from a Falcon 9 flight, jumbled. Children put them in order; the answer key gives the actual mission times.Worksheet · Ages 8–11 · 30 minDoes gravity stop in space?The misconception sheet. Children work out how strong gravity really is at the space station — about 88% of what it is in the classroom — and why astronauts float anyway.Worksheet · Ages 9–11 · 30 minWhy is a rocket almost all fuel?Real Falcon 9 numbers: 549,000 kg on the pad, 22,800 kg delivered to orbit. Children work out how little of a rocket is cargo — then test it in the Rocket Lab.Worksheet · Ages 8–11 · 15 minRocket words: matching sheetTen real rocket terms matched to plain-English meanings — Max Q, MECO, apogee, delta-v and more. Doubles as a glossary starter.

Lesson plans

Lesson plan · Ages 7–10 · 30 minLesson plan: what makes a rocket fly?A ready-to-teach 30-minute session on thrust, weight and why rockets carry oxygen. Needs one balloon and no preparation.

How we check the facts

Every number on this site — every altitude, mass, thrust figure and mission time — comes from a published source listed below. If a number cannot be traced to one of them, it does not go on the page. Making something simple enough for a child must not make it wrong.

One thing we deliberately correct

Most children’s material says there is no gravity in space. There is — about 88% of surface gravity at the space station, which you can work out from g = g₀ × (R ÷ (R + h))². Astronauts float because they are falling, and so is the station. We teach it that way because the myth has to be unlearned before orbits make any sense.

Privacy

There are no accounts, no adverts, no cookies, no analytics and no third-party requests of any kind. A child’s progress is stored only in their own browser and never leaves the device. Safe to put on a classroom whiteboard.

Our sources

Falcon 9 Block 5 — specifications — Sourced spec table: dimensions, mass, stage thrust, payload capacity.
Merlin rocket engine family — Per-engine thrust, specific impulse, chamber pressure, cycle, ignition.
Dragon 2 (Crew Dragon) — Crew capacity, dimensions, SuperDraco/Draco, heat shield, parachutes.
SpaceX Starship — Stacked height, Raptor counts, thrust, hot-staging, tower catch.
Falcon 9 Block 5 mission timeline (Starlink Group 17-38) — Published T+ event times for a real Block 5 flight with booster recovery.
Falcon 9 countdown timeline — Standard SpaceX countdown milestones from T-38 minutes.
SpaceX CRS-9 press kit (NASA) — Official countdown poll, propellant load and engine chill milestones.
International Space Station — Altitude, speed, orbital period, mass, size and crew.
Kármán line — Where space is agreed to begin — and where different countries disagree.
Extravehicular Mobility Unit — Spacesuit mass, life support duration and internal pressure.
Saturn V — Height, thrust and payload of the Moon rocket.
WMAP — mission overview — Cosmic microwave background at 2.725 K — the temperature of empty space.
ISS Environmental Control and Life Support System — Oxygen by electrolysis (OGS/Elektron), CO2 removal, Sabatier, 101.3 kPa cabin.
NASA achieves water recovery milestone on the ISS — 98% of the station’s water is recovered and reused — the water that becomes oxygen.
NASA Space Place — Why is the sky blue? — Shorter blue wavelengths scatter most off air molecules. No air, no scattering.
Escape velocity — Escape velocity from Earth’s surface: 11.186 km/s, about 40,270 km/h.
NASA Science — Black holes — Event horizon definition; stellar vs supermassive; lightest known at 3.8 solar masses.
Supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* — About 4 million solar masses, 26,000 light years away, at the centre of the Milky Way.

Found a mistake, or want a sheet on something else? Rocket School is built to be corrected — accuracy matters more here than tidiness.