Physics and Motion of Rockets

Summer 2020, SpaceX performed a successful human spaceflight to the International Space Station. Model rockets have fins to keep the rocket stable as it careens through the atmosphere. Lift, weight, thrust, and drag are the four forces that affect rocket motion. Thrust is the force that produces lift-off, or upward movement of a rocket. Model rockets have fins to provide stability and control direction. To control big rocket flights, they rely on a lot of things, such as, rockets rely on momentum, airfoils, auxiliary reaction engines, gimballed thrust, momentum wheels, deflection of the exhaust stream, propellant flow, spin, and gravity.