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400 BCE
Archytas
One of the earliest scientists to incorporate rocket propulsion was Greek philosopher Archytas. He created a wooden pigeon suspended by wires that used escaping steam to propel it around in circles. -
100
Hero of Alexandria
Hero invented a similar rocket-like device as Archytas. He mounted a sphere on top of a water kettle with two pipes coming out of the sphere. As the water boiled, steam rose into the sphere and out the tubes, creating enough force to rotate the sphere. He called it an aeolipile. -
Jan 1, 1232
China's Fire Arrows
The Chinese were the first to use true rockets. During their war against the Mongols, the Chinese attached a tube containing gunpowder to an arrow. When igniting the gunpowder, fire, smoke, and gas were produced and created thrust to propel it through the air at their enemies. -
Jan 1, 1500
Jean Froissart
Jean Froissart was a French scientist who took the Chinese rocket, improved the gunpowder to increase the range, and launched the rockets through tubes to increase precision and accuracy. Froissart's inventions were the forerunner of the modern bazooka. -
Colonel William Congreve's military rockets
Colonel William Congreve created hundred of different rockets with varying propellant mixture, weights, and sizes. Each rocket was made from iron tubes and had a conical nose. He found that one pound of propellant could take the rocket around 1000 yards. The propellant was black gunpowder, and the nose of the rocket would contain an explosive or incendiary device. These rockets being used in the war of 1812 inspired the "rockets red glare" lyric in the national anthem. -
Robert H. Goddard
After years of experimenting with typical rockets, Goddard decided that the use of a liquid propellant would beat the common solid fuel. However, using liquid fuel requires extreme advancements and multiple more moving parts would be needed. After tough work, Robert Goddard successfully launched a liquid fuel propellant rocket. -
German V-2 rocket
The V-2 rocket was created by the Germans at the end of WWII. Even though they were not used in the war, these rockets could fly across the Atlantic Ocean. It got its propulsion by burning a mixture of liquid oxygen and alcohol at a rate of one ton every seven seconds. The creation of these rockets were said to be the start of the space race. -
US Jupiter-C rocket
The Jupiter-C rocket, also known as Juno 1, was the rocket that carried explorer 1 into space. The race to launch these rockets were in response to the launching of Sputnik by the Russians. These rockets produced 370 kN of thrust using liquid oxygen and hydyne as fuel. These rockets had 3 stages of thrusters, each decreasing in thrust. -
Saturn V Rocket
Saturn V rockets were 363 feet tall and weighed 6.2 million pounds. These rockets could create 7.6 millions pounds of thrust and could deliver 50 tons to the moon. Saturn v rockets helped to deliver men to the moon six times, the last being Apollo 17. These rockets had three stages, the first stage carried it 42 miles upward with its strongest engines, then they would break off and the second stage would carry it almost into orbit, lastly the third stage pushed it towards the moon. -
NASA Solid Rocket Boosters
These rockets were the first the to use solid propellant for the first time since gunpowder. A main difference between solid and liquid propellant is that you cannot turn off solid propellant once it begins to ignite. The SRBs carried many, many orbiters to space and many men to the moon. Unfortunately these solid propellants encountered an error which led to the destruction of the Challenger.
