The Amazing Facts Of Planet Earth ¦ The Planet Story

The planet we live on is called earth. It is the third planet from the sun. Each planet orbits the sun. Scientists believe that the earth is around 4.6 billion years old. Planet earth has one moon. The moon and earth are the only two places in space that humans have stepped foot on. Planet earth rotates. This is why we have night and day. When the side of the earth you are on is facing the sun, it will be daytime. On the other side of the earth, it will be night time. Like all planets in our solar system, earth travels around the sunday. It takes 365 days for earth to travel all the way around. This is the length of a year. Earth tilts to one side. This causes seasons. When our part of the earth is tilted towards the sun, it is summer. When our part of the earth is tilted away from the sun, it is winter. Earth is covered mostly by water. Huge oceans and seas cover much of the planet as well as rivers and lakes on land. The surface of earth has changed a lot over time. Land on the earth varies from sandy, hot, dry deserts to lush, green rainforests to freezing lands of snow and ice. The earth is home to towering mountains. As the human population grows, towns and cities that have been constructed by humans are also covering more of the planet. Earth is the only planet in our solar system that is known to have life on it. Planet earth is the only planet in the solar system known to have water in liquid form on its surface. We have learnt a lot about earth from science. There are many satellites and spacecraft high above the earth that take photos and measurements and send them back to us. A satellite is an object in space that orbits a bigger object. The moon is a natural satellite of earth. This helps us learn more about the planet, including information about the weather and oceans. Humans have been exploring space since 1957. On 4 October 1957, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics launched a satellite called Sputnik. The Russian cosmonaut or astronaut Yuri Gagarin was the first human to go into space on 12 April 1961. In 1969, the American astronaut Neil Armstrong was the first person to step on the moon. Helen Shalman was the first British astronaut to space. In 1991, Helen spent 8 days on the Mir space station. She was part of a Soviet scientific space mission called Project Juno. In 1983, Diane Bluford became the first black person to travel into space. In 1978, Gagarin was selected as only one of 35 people to become a NASA astronaut. Gagarin was part of 4 space missions and has spent a total of over 688 hours in space. The International Space Station is a spacecraft that moves earth. Lots of countries around the world built it together. Astronauts and cosmonauts live and work on the ISS. It was launched in 1998 and astronauts have been living on it since 2000. Photos of earth are taken from the ISS, including 4 city growth and volcanoes. We use them to learn more about earth. Jessica Watkins made history as the 5th black woman to go into space. In 2022, she was also the first black woman chosen for a long-term mission on board the International Space Station. Timothy Peake is a British astronaut. He became the first British astronaut to go on the ISS after being chosen by the European Space Agency. Tim was the first British astronaut to walk in space. In November 2020, the European Space Agency announced a list of people that had been chosen to train to become astronauts. Among the lucky few to be chosen was a British man, John McFaul. John will become the first disabled astronaut in the world.