Uploaded October 2022 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
Movies portray flying a rocket in space a lot like piloting an airplane, but it’s actually nothing like that at all! Unlike in Star Wars, for instance, if you tried to point your rocket toward a planet, you wouldn’t end up anywhere close to it - you’d just run out of fuel! Unfortunately, we're not piloting X-Wings or the Millennium Falcon; we're stuck with old fashioned rocket fuel.
Today, I’ve recruited my wife and my brother to help show how flying a rocket in space actually works. To do this, I’ve loaded up a video game called Spaceflight Simulator. They start with a rocket already in orbit around Earth and have one job - get those astronauts home! Most people know that the reentry part- the part when the astronauts actually fall through the atmosphere- is really dangerous. What you may not know is that even getting out of orbit so that you can reenter the atmosphere is not as straightforward as you'd expect.
Spaceflight Simulator isn’t a sponsor of this video or anything, but it is a fun, free game you can find in the App Store to play around with some realistic ways to travel in space. In this episode, we used Spaceflight Simulator to learn a little about orbital mechanics.
Video Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
00:54 - Spaceflight Simulator challenge
01:31 - The wrong way to land
02:03 - The right way
02:17 - Why it works
03:13 - It seems backwards
03:52 - What we learned
04:48 - Sorry, astronauts
👨🚀 Follow us on Instagram for behind-the-scenes content and quick space-facts from our videos instagram.com/digitalastronaut.tv
🎥 Want to help us make more videos and reach more people? Like this video and subscribe to our channel!
Episode Credits:
Written, Directed, and Edited: Jared Belcher
3D Animation: Andy Belcher (instagram.com/andy__animates/)
2D Animation and Compositing: Jared Belcher
Original Theme Music: Branded.
Episode Music: “Get Wild” by Prty Anml, “HWY 103 - Traveling Trail” by Makeup and Vanity Set
💻Equipment Used:
iPhone 13 Pro
Tascam DR-10L Portable Digital Audio Recorder With Lavalier Microphone amzn.to/3pCXF0g
Sony a6500 amzn.to/3yARkqT
2022 MacBook Air (M2) amzn.to/3ADHtlC
2019 MacBook Pro
Autodesk Maya
Final Cut Pro
Apple Motion
Movies portray flying a rocket in space a lot like piloting an airplane, but it’s actually nothing like that at all! Unlike in Star Wars, for instance, if you tried to point your rocket toward a planet, you wouldn’t end up anywhere close to it - you’d just run out of fuel! Unfortunately, we're not piloting X-Wings or the Millennium Falcon; we're stuck with old fashioned rocket fuel.
Today, I’ve recruited my wife and my brother to help show how flying a rocket in space actually works. To do this, I’ve loaded up a video game called Spaceflight Simulator. They start with a rocket already in orbit around Earth and have one job - get those astronauts home! Most people know that the reentry part- the part when the astronauts actually fall through the atmosphere- is really dangerous. What you may not know is that even getting out of orbit so that you can reenter the atmosphere is not as straightforward as you'd expect.
Spaceflight Simulator isn’t a sponsor of this video or anything, but it is a fun, free game you can find in the App Store to play around with some realistic ways to travel in space. In this episode, we used Spaceflight Simulator to learn a little about orbital mechanics.
Video Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
00:54 - Spaceflight Simulator challenge
01:31 - The wrong way to land
02:03 - The right way
02:17 - Why it works
03:13 - It seems backwards
03:52 - What we learned
04:48 - Sorry, astronauts
👨🚀 Follow us on Instagram for behind-the-scenes content and quick space-facts from our videos instagram.com/digitalastronaut.tv
🎥 Want to help us make more videos and reach more people? Like this video and subscribe to our channel!
Episode Credits:
Written, Directed, and Edited: Jared Belcher
3D Animation: Andy Belcher (instagram.com/andy__animates/)
2D Animation and Compositing: Jared Belcher
Original Theme Music: Branded.
Episode Music: “Get Wild” by Prty Anml, “HWY 103 - Traveling Trail” by Makeup and Vanity Set
💻Equipment Used:
iPhone 13 Pro
Tascam DR-10L Portable Digital Audio Recorder With Lavalier Microphone amzn.to/3pCXF0g
Sony a6500 amzn.to/3yARkqT
2022 MacBook Air (M2) amzn.to/3ADHtlC
2019 MacBook Pro
Autodesk Maya
Final Cut Pro
Apple Motion
