Space For Children

Some people say that space is the final frontier. But robots are making space much less mysterious. Robots and robotic probes have been exploring the planets and helping astronauts do research since the 1970s. Listen to learn about incredible space robots and the amazing things that they have discovered about our solar system.

Many things look very different seen up close. To us, the sun is a giant ball of light in the sky, but to other solar systems, it might look like just another star! Those tiny lights you see in the night sky are what our sun might look like from another planet far out in space. The sun gives light and energy to our entire solar system, and is necessary for many other things. Can you name them all?

Where do all the metals on earth come from? They were all made by stars! In this science story, you'll discover how the fusion of atoms in dying stars in space creates enough heat and energy to make metals.

Over time, cultures from around the world have given us many different myths about our home galaxy. When you look up at the sky at night, what stories would you tell about what you see?

The Sun is our closest star. Stars produce heat, light, and do not orbit other celestial objects.

One way astronomers search for planets is by looking for the shadows they cast in front of stars.

Our sun is great at shining down light and heat on earth, but was the sun always that bright? With the help of gravity, the sun is eventually able to produce enough energy to give off light. Our sun has kept this up for four billion years and will keep shining for another five billion years!

How can the moon or sun seem to disappear right before our eyes? When the moon, the Earth, and the sun align just right in their orbits, they can cause a solar or lunar eclipse! Find out how light and shadow work together to trigger these cool events.

Earth burns. After generations in exile, we returned to our long-lost planet. Scarred. Haunted. Survivors. We - the last humans - are finally home. But our enemies still crave our blood. Seven alien species unite. Seven fleets bombard our planet. Seven armies invade our beautiful world. They have one goal: To kill us all. We refuse to lose Earth again. We will resist. We will fight for every hill, every valley, every stone, and blade of grass. We will defend our planet. At any cost. Together, we will raise our voices. We will sing the song of Earth. We will tell the enemy: Earth is ours!

This edition of Margot Lee Shetterly’s acclaimed book is perfect for young students. It's the powerful story of four African-American female mathematicians at NASA who helped achieve some of the greatest moments in our space program. Before John Glenn orbited the earth, or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as “human computers” used pencils, slide rules, and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space.

Mars is famous for its coloring, but the fourth planet from the sun has more than that going for it. Discover more interesting facts and secrets about the famous "red planet."

Just how big is the universe? Find out all about the universe and its planets, stars, and more in this fact-filled book. It's perfectly designed to introduce young children to the power of nonfiction.

Keep your eyes down and your feet moving, or this planet will rust you. That’s what Lunar Jones tells the other kids at the relocation clinic. All of them were born on Mars, a planet that never wanted people in the first place. With resources scarce and hope even scarcer, it’s easy to get distracted looking up. After all, their ancestors descended from the stars. Martian history always starts with Earth. The first astronauts discovered that space was already occupied. Not by little green men or flying saucers. It was full of dragons.

Twelve-year-old twins Raz and Kiley are headed underground, along with everyone else aboard the asteroid station. Their home is about to pass through a band of deadly space radiation, and in the lower level they'll be safe. But soon, the kids spot ghostly figures flickering in the halls. Rooms suddenly appear abandoned and rundown.

In 1851 a mysterious visitor to Art Mumby's space home has plans for a calamity that will destroy not only the entire British Empire, but also the known universe. Can disaster be prevented with help from Art's irritating sister Myrtle, a few exotic space creatures, and an extraterrestrial pirate?

John Farrell takes kids on a rhyming tour of the night sky, from A to Z, with facts about the wonders of space. From distant Andromeda, a galaxy made up of billions of stars, to the constellation of the zodiac, Farrell covers the high points of outer space. How do you find Jupiter or Venus? How does the Moon cause the tides of Earth's shores? How can you find the North Star, and why do all other stars seem to go around it? The answers to these and many other questions are contained in this beautiful volume of science that will delight a young listener's imagination.

Kale Drayton knows his place. As a Ringer born on Titan, he's used to keeping his head down and his mouth shut--no matter how much the Earthers abuse him or his own kind berate him. So, when he's caught stealing from a wealthy merchant, he's lucky to be sentenced to low-paying maintenance work on a gas-harvesting ship instead of life in a cell... or worse. But when his mother is quarantined, Kale finds himself backed into a corner.

Anna must wake up late and struggle to keep warm outside so she can watch a meteor shower.

Who knows what is at the end of a black hole? Astrophysicists!

Galileo used his telescope to discover new and marvelous mysteries in the night sky!