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Inventors The History of Rockets

Redstone RocketThe evolution of the rocket has made it an indispensable tool in the exploration of space. For centuries, rockets have provided ceremonial and warfare uses starting with the ancient Chinese, the first to create rockets. The rocket apparently made its debut on the pages of history as a fire arrow used by the Chin Tartars in 1232 AD for fighting off a Mongol assault on Kai-feng-fu. The lineage to the immensely larger rockets now used as space launch vehicles is unmistakable. But for centuries rockets were in the main rather small, and their use was confined principally to weaponry, the projection of lifelines in sea rescue, signaling, and fireworks displays. Not until the 20th century did a clear understanding of the principles of rockets emerge, and only then did the technology of large rockets begin to evolve. Thus, as far as spaceflight and space science are concerned, the story of rockets up to the beginning of the 20th century was largely prologue.

All through the 13th to the 18th Century there were reports of many rocket experiments. For example, Joanes de Fontana of Italy designed a surface-running rocket-powered torpedo for setting enemy ships on fire. In 1650, a Polish artillery expert, Kazimierz Siemienowicz, published a series of drawings for a staged rocket. In 1696, Robert Anderson, an Englishman, published a two-part treatise on how to make rocket molds, prepare the propellants, and perform the calculations.

During the early introduction of rockets to Europe, they were used only as weapons. Enemy troops in India repulsed the British with rockets. Later in Britain, Sir William Congreve developed a rocket that could fire to about 9,000 feet. The British fired Congreve rockets against the United States in the War of 1812. Francis Scott Key coined the phrase the "rocket's red glare after the British fired Congreve rockets against the United States. William Congreve's incendiary rocket used black powder, an iron case, and a 16-foot guide stick. Congreve had used a 16-foot guidestick to help stabilize his rocket. William Hale, another British inventor, invented the stickless rocket in 1846. The U.S. army used the Hale rocket more than 100 years ago in the war with Mexico. Rockets were also used to a limited extent in the Civil War.

During the 19th century, rocket enthusiasts and inventors began to appear in almost every country. Some people thought these early rocket pioneers were geniuses, and others thought they were crazy. Claude Ruggieri, an Italian living in Paris, apparently rocketed small animals into space as early as 1806. The payloads were recovered by parachute. As far back as 1821, sailors hunted whales using rocket-propelled harpoons. These rocket harpoons were launched form a shoulder-held tube equipped with a circular blast shield.

By the end of the 19th century, soldiers, sailors, practical and not so practical inventors had developed a stake in rocketry. Skillful theorists, like Konstantian Tsiolkovsky in Russia, were examining the fundamental scientific theories behind rocketry. They were beginning to consider the possibility of space travel. Three persons were particularly significant in the transition from the small rockets of the 19th century to the colossi of the space age: Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in Russia, Robert Goddard in the United States, and Hermann Oberth in Germany.


The Men Behind the Space Rockets
Robert Goddard
The father of modern propulsion is the American, Dr. Robert Hutchings Goddard.
Konstantin Eduardovitch Tsiolkovsky
Early Russian scientist (1857-1935).
Hermann Oberth
German scientist.
Wernher von Braun
Wernher von Braun (1912-1977) was one of the most important developers and champions of space exploration during the period between the 1930s and the 1970s.
The Invention of Rockets
The inventors behind the history of rockets: from ancient fire arrows to today's modern rockets.

The Evolution of Rockets
History of Rockets Timeline: 3,000 BCE - 1700 AD/1700 AD - 1850 AD/1850 AD - 1957/1957 AD - 1989
The ancient Chinese had once fastened a myriad of small rockets to a wooden chair, where they positioned their emperor. And in their attempt to reach the heavens, the chair (and their emperor) disappeared in a cloud of fire and smoke.

How Rockets Work
A device shooting out a fast jet of gas, in order to produce a force in the opposite direction.
How a Firework Rocket Works
Developed in the second-century BCE, by the ancient Chinese, fireworks are the oldest form of rockets and the most simplistic model of a rocket.
How a Solid Propellant Rocket Works
Preluding the liquid fueled rocket, this rocket type began with contributions to the field by such scientists as Zasiadko, Constantinov, and Congreve. Although currently in a further advanced state, solid propellant rockets remain in wide spread use today, as seen in rockets including the Space Shuttle dual booster engines and the Delta series booster stages.
How a Liquid Propellant Rocket Works
Liquid fueled rockets were first theorized by Tsiolkozski in in 1896.
How Rocket Engines Work
Introduction to how rocket engines work.
Rocket Staging and Technology
Each of the above rockets had a single engine, on which it rose until it ran out of fuel. A better way to achieve great speed, however, is to place a small rocket on top of a big one and fire it after the first has burned out. The US army, which after the war used captured V-2s for experimental flights into the high atmosphere, replaced the payload with another rocket, in this case a "WAC Corporal," which was launched from the top of the orbit. Now the burned-out V-2, weighing 3 tons, could be dropped, and using the smaller rocket, the payload reached a much higher altitude. Today of course almost every space rocket uses several stages, dropping each empty burned-out stage and continuing with a smaller and lighter booster. Explorer 1, the first artificial satellite of the US which was launched in January 1958, used a 4-stage rocket. Even the space shuttle uses two large solid-fuel boosters which are dropped after they burn out.
Newton's Three Laws applied to Rockets
Practical Rocketry

The Rockets of NASA
A history of NASA and space rockets.
NASA Timelines
Detailed chronologies of air and space developments.
Historical Subject Reference Guide - NASA

The History of Rocketry
Great site on the history of rocketry.
18th & 19th Centuries
1945 to Nasa
Related Innovations

Spacesuits
Missile Systems
The History of Satellites
Airplane
Flying Saucers
Understanding Engines

©Mary Bellis

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