Airships

📖 In short

An airship is a huge flying craft that's lighter than air. Its big long body is filled with a light gas that lifts it into the sky like a balloon, and it has engines and propellers to push it and a rudder to steer it wherever the pilot wants.

🤩 Did you know?

Some small airships are less than 30 meters long.
Some big airships of the past were more than 200 meters long.
Old airships used hydrogen, which catches fire easily, so it was replaced by safe helium.
An airship flies slowly, but it can stay in the air for a long time.

🔎 Find out more

🌟 How does it rise?

An airship is filled with a gas lighter than air, like helium. Just as wood floats on water, an airship floats in the air.

🔍 Balloons and airships

An ordinary balloon goes wherever the wind takes it, but an airship has engines and a rudder, so it can fly in whatever direction the pilot wants.

💡 The age of giants

About a hundred years ago there were enormous airships, longer than a football field, carrying passengers across the ocean, with rooms for sleeping and eating.