Hidden Figures Vocabulary

Hidden Figures Vocabulary

The science of flying.

​​Aeronautics

​The gasses surrounding Earth or other planets.

Atmosphere

The force that attracts a body toward the center of Earther to another large mass.

Gravity

A speed exceeding Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound.

Hypersonic

about 761.2 miles per hour

Mach 1

The US agency that started in 1915 to watch the study of flight.

National Advisory Committee of Aeronautics (NACA)

The independent government agency responsible for the civilian space program; was founded in 1958.

National Aeronautics and Apace Administration (NASA)

The curved path of an object or spacecraft as it revolves around a star, planet, or moon.

Orbit

The first human space fight program in the US from 1958-1962.

Project Mercury

A high-speed streamlined vehicle propelled by burning fuel.

Rocket

A man-made project placed in orbit around Earth, its moon, or another planet to collect information or assist with communication.

Satallite

The sound associated with shock waves created by an object moving faster then the speed of sound.

Sonic Boom

The competition between nations regarding space exploration. Ex: US vs. Soviet Union

Space Race

The distance traveled by a sound wave in a fixed period of time; sound travels most slowly in gasses, faster in water, and fastest in solids.

Speed of Sound

A series of satellites launched by the Soviet Union to orbit Earth.

Sputnik

Speed that is faster than the speed of sound.

Supersonic

An engineer using mathematics to solve problems, without testing in real-world simulations.

Theoretical Engineer

The path of an object as it moves through space.

Trajectory

The unsteady or irregular movement of air or water.

Turbulence

A factor or value that is likely to change, in a math equation, the variable is the symbol representing the number we don't know yet.

Variable

a tool used in aeronautics research to study the effect of air moving over an object.

Wind Tunnel