Once there was a little boy named Alex.

Alex had a wild imagination and he often daydreamed. When he daydreamed, it was often about race cars,

Cowboys,

Or pirates.

Today, he daydreamed about something a little different. In school, his class was learning about the solar system.

So today, he daydreamed of astronauts!

The next thing Alex knew, he was inside a space shuttle!

“Where are we going?” Alex asked one of the seven astronauts that were on the trip with him.

“Well, we’re going to visit all nine planets. The first stop is Mercury, and we’re almost there!” replied the astronaut.

A few minutes later, the shuttle landed at their first destination. They really were on the planet mercury!

Everyone got out of the shuttle and stepped onto the planet. It was very rocky and had a lot of craters on it.

There was not much else to see on the planet, and since it was the closest to the sun it was very hot.

Since it was so hot, Alex and the other astronauts decided to board the shuttle again and head to the next planet.

“Now on to Venus,” stated one of the astronauts.

It wasn’t long before they reached their second destination. When Alex looked out the window of the shuttle all he could see were think, dark clouds. “Are we on Venus or

someplace else?” he thought to himself.

When everyone got out of the shuttle they could see a little clearer but there were still many thick clouds. Unlike Mercury, there were on many craters on this planet and it was also much larger. However, it was still very hot. That could be because Venus is the second planet closest to the sun.

Since it is so hot, there is no life on Mercury or Venus. That did not give the astronauts much to look at. So they decided they would head toward Mars.

When it was time to get out of the shuttle, Alex was a little bit nervous to get out. “Are their really aliens out here?” he asked one of the astronauts. “Guess we’ll have to find out,” he replied.

The astronauts got out of the shuttle and Alex followed carefully. He was going to be on the lookout for any strange space people. When he got out, he saw that almost everything around him was red. That is probably why Mars is called the “Red Planet”.

There were some craters on the planet as well.

It was warm, but not too hot to be on. “It must be like our summer or spring here,” said one of the astronauts. “You know they have seasons just like us.” He was right. Mars

does have different seasons and is the planet that is the most similar to Earth.

Like the other planets, there was not too much to see on Mars. Alex was especially happy to find there were no aliens! So the crew jumped back onto the shuttle and headed off to

Jupiter.

When they landed the shuttle and stepped outside, Alex noticed that Jupiter was bigger than any of the other planets they have been to so far. That is probably because it is the largest

planet in the solar system.

As they were walking along the planet, Alex noticed it was very easy to walk on, kind of like they were all floating. That is because Jupiter is made up of gasses.

After Jupiter, the group went to Saturn. Alex knew where they were because of the rings around the planet.

“We’re on the sixth planet from the sun..and did you know it’s the second biggest,” said one of the astronauts. “It’s made up of all gasses, just like

Jupiter.”

Since there isn’t life on any of the planets, and there isn’t much to see the group quickly headed on to Uranus.

“What do you know about Uranus?” on of the astronauts asked Alex.

“It’s the seventh planet from the sun..and it’s pretty big too!” Alex replied.

“Good job! I bet you didn’t know that it was made up of an ice substance instead of gas. But, unfortunately we’re running out of time

so if we want to see the other planets we have to move on.”

The group was then headed off toward Neptune.

“Alex, did you know that Neptune is the furthest planet from the sun? It’s also seventeen times the size of Earth. It too is made up of ices,” one of the

astronauts stated.

“Now for Pluto!”

“Pluto used to be the ninth planet, but in 2006 they took the title away from it. Instead, it is now called a dwarf planet. Pluto also has three moons.”

one of the astronauts

told Alex.

It was getting late, so the group decided to head back to Earth.

The next thing Alex knew, he was sitting in his classroom at his desk.

His teacher

was asking the class if anyone knew about the solar system.

Alex was going to raise his hand, but decided not to. “If only you knew!” he thought to himself.