The Game Space
The Game Space
Home Our Rockets Prep and Safety The Pricing The Science The Games
A space capsule reentering the atmosphere
The Science of Rocketry
A diagram showing the basics of the Hohmann Transfer

To enter space, the primary principle used is Newton's 2nd law of motion. This declares that force is equal to mass times acceleration, meaning that mass and acceleration are inversely proportional (as one increases, the other decreases). Now think about a rocket. There's a lot of material, and therefore mass, onboard, most of which is fuel. The thing about fuel is that it must be burned in order to be useful, meaning that the mass of the fuel on the rocket decreases. Due to Newton's 2nd Law, since the mass decreased, the acceleration of the rocket must increase, meaning that the rocket rises quicker and quicker into space. This is why a rocket launch will start off slow, but gradually increase in speed.



Dokcing to a space station is yet another complex problem that great scientists have worked long to decipher. After intensive research and trials, this is the solution that they came up with:

  1. Once the rocket is in space, it will fire its rockets parallel to Earth so it can reach Low Earth Orbit (LEO)
  2. The ship than does a "Hohmann Transfer," where the engines burn twice; the first time the ship is pushed further from Earth and the second stabilizes the ship in its new, higher orbit
  3. Due to a variety of factors, a series of correction burns must be fired to reach the proper distance from Earth - 1 orbit every 86 minutes, exactly 4 minutes faster than the space station
  4. A second Hohmann Transfer is performed and the ship is now right out in front of the space station
  5. The ship turns around and stabilizes itself, letting the space station catch up to it, where the two can be aligned

It's important to note though, that this is a very basic overview of the procedures that we use. If you would like to learn more about these processes, the links down below provide excellent further information:


The Game Space 2023 Contact References