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400 BCE
Archytas Invents The Hero Steam Engine
in 400 BC Hero invents the hero engine, a steam engine that sits above a fire and shoots boiled water out of two L shaped pipes mounted on a sphere. This is one of the first known uses of Heated Gas as a form of propulsion. -
Period: Jan 1, 700 to Dec 31, 800
Chinese alchemests descover gunpowder (date unknown)
We are unsure of the data or even year that this happened, but we do know that they used bamboo filled with a mixture of saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal dust to create explosions during ceremonies. -
Period: Jan 1, 700 to Dec 31, 800
First Rockets Developed By Chinese
It is thought that many of the bamboo canisters that the Chinese used during their ceremonies may have failed. Many of these failed containers likely had one end blown off and were sent flying off, giving the Chinese the idea of intentionally leaving one end off, leading to the creation of the rocket. -
Jan 1, 1232
Chinese Use Rocket Propelled "Fire Arrows" In The Battle Of Kai-Keng
This is the first military use of rockets, they didn't do very much damage to the attacking Mongols, but they did frighten them off, proving the usefulness of rockets in combat. -
First V2 Rockets Launched
The german V2s where the worlds first ballistic missles, the launch of these rockets signalled a new age of rocket technologie -
Dr. Robert Goddard Creats The First Liquid Fuel Rocket
After numerous experiments using and measuring the thrust of solid fuel rockets, Dr Robert Goddard is convinced that greater thrust could be achieved using liquid fuel, and in 1950 he created the worlds first liquid fuelled rocket and was dubbed the father of modern rocketry for his contributions to rocketry. -
Rusians Launch Sputnik 1, The World's First Man Made Satellite
Using rockets helped along by technology captured from Germany after WW2, the Russians Launch Sputnik 1 into orbit, terrifying the American public, the space race has well and truly begun. -
Russia Launches The First Life Form In To Space, Laika The Dog
Incredibly soon after the launch of Sputnik 1, the Russians launches Laika the dog into space where he orbited for 7 days before being put to sleep. -
NASA Is Founded
America Organizes its space program with the founding of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA. -
Dr. Robert Goddard Invents Spin stabilization
Robert Goddard eliminates the need to use sticks as a guidance system by designing fins that use the thrust of the rockets jets to spin the rocket like a bullet fired from a gun with a rifled barrel. -
Period: to
Rocket Development Continues
Since the space race, rocket technology has progressed at a consistant rate, carring us furthin into the unknowns of space and closer to our own destruction with each launch.
