Definitions list
Click one of the letters above to advance the page to terms beginning with that letter.
  • fairing
    Nose cone at the top of a launch vehicle that protects satellites during the launch campaign and during ascent through the dense layers of the atmosphere.
  • flight test
    Test that looks at the behaviour and performance of a vehicle or item of equipment to assess how it will perform in flight.
  • flight train
    The elements suspended underneath the envelope of a balloon.
  • flyby
    Passage of a spacecraft within the vicinity of a star, without being captured into orbit.
  • free fall
    State of a body moving freely in the presence of the gravitational attraction of a star. The laws of free fall established by Galileo state that in a vacuum all bodies fall at the same velocity independent of their mass.
  • free falling bodies
    Free movement of bodies in a state of free fall.
  • fuel
    Substance that burns in the presence of a source of oxygen (oxidizer) to generate thrust for a rocket engine.
  • fuelman
    Technician who handles and monitors propellants, and fills a launch vehicle’s fuel tanks.