Space facts for kids

The Sun is a star, the closest star to us. About 13 lakh Earths could fit inside it.

Sunlight takes about 8 minutes to reach the Earth.

There are 8 planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Since 2006, Pluto is called a dwarf planet.

Jupiter is the biggest planet. More than 1,300 Earths could fit inside it.

Venus is the hottest planet, even though Mercury is closer to the Sun. Its thick clouds trap the heat like a blanket.

A day on Venus (243 Earth days) is longer than its year (225 Earth days)!

Saturn’s rings are made of billions of pieces of ice and rock.

Mars looks red because its soil is full of rust. It has Olympus Mons, the biggest volcano we know of, about two and a half times as tall as Mount Everest.

The Moon is about 3,84,000 km away from the Earth.

We always see the same side of the Moon from the Earth.

Neil Armstrong was the first person to walk on the Moon, in 1969.

The Moon has no air and no wind, so footprints left there can stay for a very, very long time.

The Moon’s pull makes the sea rise and fall every day. These are called tides.

ISRO, the Indian Space Research Organisation, is India’s space agency. It was set up in 1969.

India’s first satellite, Aryabhata, went into space in 1975. It was named after the great Indian mathematician and astronomer.

Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian in space in 1984. Asked how India looked from space, he said: “Saare Jahan Se Achha”.

Mangalyaan reached Mars in 2014. India was the first country to get to Mars orbit on its very first try.

Chandrayaan-3 landed near the Moon’s south pole on 23 August 2023, the first mission ever to land there. India now celebrates 23 August as National Space Day.

In 2025, Shubhanshu Shukla became the first Indian to visit the International Space Station.

Astronauts grow a little taller in space, because their spine stretches without gravity. They shrink back on Earth.

The International Space Station goes round the Earth about 16 times a day, so astronauts see about 16 sunrises every day.

In space, water does not pour. It floats around in wobbly balls.

Space is silent: sound needs air to travel, and space has none.