How To Go To Space (with XKCD!)

1,257,094

36,174 1,569

Published 2015-11-10

Do you want to go to space? Do you want to learn about bending computers and boxes that make clothes smell better and sky boats with turning wings? Then point your pointer here and press down:
Hudson - www.hudsonbooksellers.com/thingexplainer
Indie Bound - www.indiebound.org/book/9780544668256
Barnes & Noble - www.barnesandnoble.com/w/thing-explainer-randall-m…
Amazon - amzn.to/1GCXMJ5

Thanks to Randall Munroe (of XKCD, What If?, and Thing Explainer) and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for making this video possible!

Link to Patreon supporters here: www.minutephysics.com/supporters.html

MinutePhysics is on Google+ - bit.ly/qzEwc6
And facebook - facebook.com/minutephysics
And twitter - @minutephysics

Minute Physics provides an energetic and entertaining view of old and new problems in physics -- all in a minute!

Music by Nathaniel Schroeder www.soundcloud.com/drschroeder Created by Henry Reich

All Comments (21)

@NorthForkFisherman 8 years ago

"if the fire end points toward space....you are having a bad problem and will not go to space today....." A slight understatement if there ever was one.
@itsFisch 8 years ago

Everything changed when the fire nation attacked using fire water...
@AP-fo5cf 7 years ago

Saying 1000 as 'ten hundred' caught me off guard.
@lucykitsune4619 4 years ago

Row, Row, Row you boat gently through the sky. Merily, merily, merily, just don't fall and die.
@smartereveryday 8 years ago

(trying to use only the 1000 most common words). I really like the picture you put on the sky boat on the right. I want to go to space, and this video makes me happy.
@nathanlee7078 6 years ago

Weirdly, this is slightly harder to understand than if you had used the normal words.
@melody_florum 6 years ago

UPGOERS BURN FIRE WATER
@filipinordabest 8 years ago

If I say "rocket" very often, it might become the 1000th most used word.
@RVD_Gaming 8 years ago

I want to go to space but I don't have enough OKs, can you guys help me out?
@Clever_Catchphrase 8 years ago

To be completely honest, when I first discovered minute physics I thought you and the author of XKCD were the same person due to your art styles. I'm glad your a fan of XKCD as well!
@doriancostley9075 8 years ago

The simplified language at first appears to make things easier to understand, but then you some across phrases like "up goer", "fire water", and "the kind of air that once burned a big sky bag and people died". Those groups of words are more confusing than just saying "fuel", "Rocket", and "Hydrogen like what was in the Hindenburg". It's kind of funny that things being too simple can make things more confusing than the more complex words.
@christopherweeks89 8 years ago

Nice code at 2:00
@chimkinNuggz 8 years ago

im pretty sure "fuck" is within the 100 most used words
@jbz3 8 years ago

You guys should do this with quantum mechanics and special relativity.
@gavin5410 7 years ago

Cx 1. Fire water. Love it. 2. The word boat is used more commonly than plane, or jet, or helicopter, or even vehicle?
@Slayer_Jesse 8 years ago

yes! "Up goer five" is still one of my favorite XKCD strips.
@luxtenax9175 8 years ago

>tfw couldn't even learn how to fly a skyboat because of poor vision ;(
@Clone2572 8 years ago

How to go to space? It's easy. Capsule + Fuel Tank + Thruster. THERE!! APPROVED BY AN EXCELLENT ENGINEER BILL KERMAN
@DgtlRnn042 4 years ago

As a huge fan of BOTH xkcd and Minute Physics any/all collaboration between you is the best thing ever.
@link4universe 8 years ago

_ can we start calling rockets "upgoers" ? :D i would love to see serious space engineers and administrators say "upgoer" :D anyway, nice challenge, it really made my day! Funny and smart! P.S. i really loved the "OKs" part, because it mad me thing a lot about how many many many people all over the world are involved in deciding who gets to go to space and who doesn't! Great job as allways guys!