The last time that people went to the Moon they built special rockets to do it. These rockets were very large and one rocket all by itself could make the trip. These rockets cost so much money that people soon stopped building them and stopped going to the Moon.

The rocket on the left is the N-1 rocket which was built by the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union contained many countries including Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. The rocket on the right is the Saturn 5 rocket which was built by the United States. You can learn more about either rocket by clicking on it.

But even though people stopped building rockets to go to the moon they did not completely stop building rockets. They continued to build and improve rockets which launch satellites to relay television signals and telephone calls, and satellites which photograph clouds and land and water, and satellites which which watch other country's armies to make sure that they are not going to attack.

The picture on the top left shows the H-2 rocket built by Japan. The picture on the top right shows the Ariane 5 rocket built by the countries in Europe. The picture on the bottom left shows the Proton rocket built by Russia and launched by Kazakhstan. The picture on the bottom right shows the United States Space Shuttle. You can click on any rocket to learn more about it.

(N-1 image courtesy of the Tsiolkovsky Museum ; H-2 image courtesy NASDA ; image of Arianespace's Ariane 5 courtesy ESA ; Proton image courtesy International Launch Services ; Shuttle and Saturn 5 images courtesy NASA.)

Today's rockets are much smaller than the rockets which people used to go to the Moon, and they are too small to make the trip there using only one rocket. But if you make smaller pieces, called modules, and place them in space, and then launch a seperate rocket to fly each of them to the moon, then you could use rockets this small to build an observatory or radar station on the Moon!

To build an observatory this way you will also need to build a small space station in orbit around the Moon, so that you can capture each module and land it on the Moon in the right place. You will need what is called a landing frame, and a gas station in orbit around the Moon where it can get fuel.

So that the landing frame will have fuel for its engines you will also need tankers to carry fuels to the gas station.

This NASA picture by artist Pat Rawlings shows a landing frame carrying a module to the Moon. After it has landed, it will leave the module and go back to the Gas Station to get another piece.

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