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In 400 BC, Gellius, an ancient Roman tells of a flying wooden pigeon. Steam propelled this pigeon up and enabled it to fly.
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In the 1st century, the Chinese invented gunpowder, allowing for a true propulsion system. Fireworks were born!
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In 1200, the Mongols and Chinese were at war. They would fire rockets at each other, used as a war weapon.
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In the 16th century, step rockets are invented. These were invented by a German engineer, Johann Schmidlap, with the idea that they could reach space one day.
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In the late 1600s, Isaac Newton made rocketry into a science. His three laws on defining motion help explain how rockets work and how they can work in space.
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A British colonel, William Congreve, was one of the first to reintroduce rockets as a weapon of war. This is what inspired Key to write "rocket's red glare" for the Star Spangled Banner
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In 1898, a Russian, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, proposed that rockets could be sent into space. Instead of gunpowder, he wanted to use liquid propellants to succeed.
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During WWII, it is well-known that the Nazis were developing rockets. Led by Hermann Oberth, the Nazis were able to create the V2 rocket, using a mixture of oxygen and alcohol as fuel.
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In 1957, the Russians launched the first ever world orbiting satellite. This was known as Sputnik and launched the Soviets ahead in the space race.
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In 1958, NASA was officially formed, marking the expansion of rockets. NASA's goal was to explore space using rockets, eventually putting a man on the moon 11 years later.
