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Strapping yourself to a controlled explosion until gravity gives up arguing.
means Travel beyond Earth's atmosphere using rockets, whether crewed, robotic, orbital, or hurled toward distant worlds.
from A plainspoken English compound, popularized in the 1930s as rocketry stopped being pulp fiction and started filing patents.
Escape speedAbout 40,000 kilometers per hour to leave Earth.
Weightless mythAstronauts fall endlessly, not float free of gravity.
First humanYuri Gagarin orbited once in 1961, lasting 108 minutes.
Reusable shiftLanding rockets upright slashed launch costs dramatically.