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Jan 1, 1050
First Rocket Idea
Heron, a Greek mathmatician and engineer, thought up the first rocket, which was a spinning, spherical steam-powered device. -
Jan 1, 1200
Chinese Used First Gunpowder Rockets
It is recorded that in about 1200 CE, the Chinese were the first to use gunpowder arrows similar to rockets which they called 'fire arrows'. -
Military Research and Uses
17th-century military engineers and strategists began to revisit the role of the rocket in warfare, and both the Dutch and the Germans conducted experiments with military rockets. -
Newton's Laws
In the late 17th century, Sir Isaac Newton capped the scientific revolution by developing and publishing his three laws of motion and the universal law of gravitation. -
Indian Military Usage
In the late 1700s, Rajah Hyder Ali, prince of Mysore, India, used iron-case stick–rockets to defeat British troops. -
British Improve on Military Rocketry
British military engineers, led by Sir William Congreve, improved the design of captured Indian rockets and developed a series of more efficient bombardment rockets. These new and improved assault rockets ranged in mass from about 8 to 136 kilograms and consisted of two basic types, the shrapnel (case-shot) rocket and the incendiary rocket. -
Usage in the War of 1812
William Congrove's rockets were used against the US in the War of 1812. -
American Rocket Improvements
An American named William Hale attempted to improve the inherently low accuracy of 19th-century military rockets through a technique called spin stabilization. U.S. Army units used bombardment rockets during the Mexican-American War (e.g., the siege of Veracruz in March 1847). -
Russian Rocketry Advances
Konstantin E. Tsiolkovski was a Russian rocket theorist who supported liquid propellent rocket engines, orbital space stations, solar energy, and the colonization of the Solar System. -
Pictures of the Moon
Astronauts aboard the Apollo 8 mission took the first close up pictures of Earth's moon. -
Men on the Moon
Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins landed on Earth's moon, which was considered a big leap forward in the space race. -
More Moon Pictures
Apollo 14 crew members landed and started taking close pictures and examining the rocks on the moon. -
Mars Success
On this date the first successful mission to Mars was completed when the Viking 1 landed and took pictures of the surface. -
Second Mars Success
The Viking 2 took the second pictures of the surface of Mars. It gave a better idea of the surface than the Viking 1 because of the different position of this spacecraft. -
One-Year ISS Mission
American astronaut Scott Kelly and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko spend a year on the International Space Station. -
Space Station Recieves Express Delivery
In only six hours, the unpiloted ISS Progress 61 Russian cargo ship docked to the rear port of the Zvezda Service Module on the International Space Station.
