Uploaded September 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago

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Huge thanks to Chris Hadfield and their amazing team for making these videos possible. chrishadfield.ca

You can watch just my rocket equation derivation without the coolest person in the world getting in the way. youtu.be/kqMQSJhRhlQ?t=52

You can go and watch Lucie Green's first two video with Chris Hadfield right now, the third one with 'aurora surfing' is out in a week.
youtu.be/1AeVys_dJ18
youtu.be/Avwip5hpVOE

Here is my previous video with Chris where we talk about Orbital Mechanics.
youtube.com/watch?v=PooFvQEN4n8

Our trip to NASA was organised by the fantastic folks over at Cosmic Shambles.
cosmicshambles.com
youtube.com/cosmicshambles

With thanks to NASA and the team at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex via agreement with Trunkman Productions Ltd and The Cosmic Shambles Network. To discover more about the KSC please visit kennedyspacecenter.com

Free resources for teachers!
We have a complete guide to the mathematics in this video as well as some student worksheets and activities.
think-maths.co.uk/standupmaths-videos?yt-rocket#rocket

CORRECTIONS
- One fantastic correction from Dogan Erbahar which I will paste a copy of here:
"When equating the momenta you already put the minus sign in front of v_e. But then at the end you are again substituting on the equation. The resulting equation is correct but that minus sign is there not because of v_e. It is there because your dm is negative that your rocket is losing mass. So should be placed in derivation."
- Let me know if you spot any other mistakes!

Thanks to my Patreons whose generous funding I used for a vacation to Cocoa Beech Florida NO REFUNDS.

(Or maybe everyone involved donated their time, covered their own expenses and my Patreons only had to pay for that flip-chart. True story: I bought that flip-chart in the USA as it seemed silly to fly one over from the UK and afterwards the NASA outreach team kept it, which I think means it officially 'works at NASA'. That flip-chart now has a cooler job than me.)

Here is a random subset of those fine Patreon People:

Baadrix
Stephen Tierney
Erin Eldridge
Christian Gruber
David Wagner
Richard Fourie
Nicholas Koceja
Kristian Joensen
Andy B
Jordan Scales

Filming and editing by Trunkman Productions
Extra help during the shoot thanks to Melinda Burton and Joanna Gostling
Flipchart by Matt Parker
Audio by Peter Doggart
Music by Howard Carter
Design by Simon Wright and Adam Robinson

MATT PARKER: Stand-up Mathematician
standupmaths.com