Also in this video of a rocket ship, why is there some gas leaking out of the sides? [https://youtu.be/gA6ppby3JC8?t=81](https://youtu.be/gA6ppby3JC8?t=81)
In: Technology
/u/Eulers_ID did a far better job explaining the mechanical ways rocket ships maneuver than I could ever hope to.
The really general answer is that rocket ships work on Newton’s Third Law: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. This means if you’re in space, and you throw a bowling ball away from you, your arms are also “pushing off” of the bowling ball, so you’ll be recoiled backward.
So, to maneuver in space, a rocket ship just needs to “throw” something (fuel exhaust, ions, or heck, even bowling balls) in the opposite direction that it wants to move. The change in velocity (rocket scientists call this “delta-V”) is the mass of the thing you’re throwing, multiplied by how fast you throw it away, divided by the mass of the rocket. (Not exactly brain surgery, eh? :D)
The most common way to steer rockets is with gimbaling. This is where the nozzle of the rocket swivels so that it can point in different directions. [You can see it in action in this video](https://youtu.be/J9F0WzdV4fI?t=37).
Another method is through a reaction control system (commonly referred to as RCS). This is a series of small nozzles that act like mini-rocket engines that can push in different directions. [Picture.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/LM_RCS.jpg/220px-LM_RCS.jpg)
A third method is to use aerodynamics. They use control surfaces the same way that airplanes do to steer the craft. An example would be the Falcon 9 rocket which uses grid fins [picture](https://i.stack.imgur.com/AMiHX.jpg) to help control itself during descent. If you watch the onboard videos of the rocket you can see them wiggling around to steer the spent stage as it comes back down, which is pretty neat.
> Also in this video of a rocket ship, why is there some gas leaking out of the sides?
There’s a lot going on, and not many people are privy to the details. ( So this is mostly educated guess )The fast puffs are cold gas reaction control thrusters, the puffs concurrent with engine shutdowns are probably part of the shutdown procedure, e.g. purging propellant lines. The big sustained puff… maybe just dumping propellant that’s not going to be needed.
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