Rockets

By nickbunting
  • 1232

    Chinese fire arrows

    The origins of gunpowder are not clear, but the Chinese reportedly
    had a rudimentary form of it in the first century, A.D. A mixture of
    saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal dust produced colourful sparks and
    smoke when ignited.
  • 1420

    Rockets go to war

    For centuries to come, rockets competed with cannons as the
    weapon of choice for war. Each technological development
    moved one or the other system into or out of favor. Cannons were
    more accurate. Rockets could be fired more quickly. Breechloading
    cannons speeded up the firing. Rockets had greater
    range. And so on. Invented by Joanes de Fontana of Italy (1420), a surface-running rocket torpedo was
    supposed to set enemy ships on fire.
  • 1564

    Galileo Galilei

    In addition to his many other accomplishments, this Italian astronomer
    and mathematician rekindled the spirit of scientific experimentation
    and challenged old beliefs relating to mass and gravity. He proved
    that an object in motion does not need the continuous application
    of force to keep moving. He called this property of matter, which
    causes it to resist changes in velocity, “inertia.”

  • Newton's Laws of Motion

    English scientist Sir Isaac Newton condensed all rocket science into
    three elegant scientific laws. Published in Philosophiae Naturalis
    Principia Mathematica his laws, previously understood intuitively
    by early rocketeers, provided the foundation for all modern rocket
    science. (The “Rocket Principles” chapter focuses on these laws
    and the “Practical Rocketry” chapter demonstrates the applications
    of these laws.

  • flying bombs

    The necessities of war led to massive technological improvements
    in aeronautics and rocketry. Almost overnight, rockets graduated
    from novelties and dream flying machines to sophisticated
    weapons of destruction. Rockets propelled nearly unstoppable
    German fighter planes and Japanese Kamikaze pilots with bombs
    into ships. War would never be the same again.

  • The world's first Artificial Satellite

    At the conclusion of World War II, the United States and the Soviet
    Union engaged in a race for space. The Soviet Union won the first
    round by launching its Sputnik I satellite on October 4, 1957. The
    satellite had a spherical design with four antenna. It weighed 83.6
    kilograms (184.3 pounds). Two months later, the 508.3-kilogram
    (1,118.26-pound) Sputnik II reached space with a living passenger.
    Laika, a small dog, orbited Earth for a few hours.

  • Yuri Gagarin Goes into orbit

    On April 12, 1961, space became the domain of humans with the
    launch of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. His spaceflight lasted 1 hour and
    48 minutes. During that time, Gagarin orbited Earth one time inside his Vostok 1 space capsule, reaching a maximum altitude of 315 kilometers(196 miles). Upon reentry, Gagarin ejected himself from the capsule atan altitude of 6,100 meters (20,000 feet) and parachuted safely to theground.

  • Moon Rocket

    Just days after Alan Shepard’s flight, President John F. Kennedy
    addressed a joint session of Congress and challenged America to
    send an American to the Moon and return him safely before the end of the decade. Although it was a shockingly bold announcement, some of the steps to accomplish this mission were already underway. NASA had begun work on components of a rocket capable of a round trip lunar flight. By the next year, the rocket was named the Saturn V.

  • 'One small step...'

    American astronaut Neil Armstrong
    set foot on the Moon. It was the first time in history that humans had
    touched another world. He was followed to the surface by Edwin
    “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr. A third astronaut, Michael Collins, remained in
    lunar orbit in the Apollo capsule. The Apollo 11 mission was the first
    of six Moon landings extending to the end of 1972. The astronauts’
    spacecraft, the lunar module, consisted of a descent and an ascent
    stage.

  • Space Tourism

    SpaceShipOne, became the first private
    space vehicle to climb above an altitude of 100 kilometers (62
    miles) twice in a fourteen-day period. Air launched by a mother
    ship, SpaceShipOne crossed the acknowledged boundary
    of Earth’s atmosphere and space. Virgin Galactic is offering
    suborbital flights to tourists and to researchers. SpaceShipTwo
    flights will originate from Spaceport America, located in southern
    New Mexico. Soon, spaceflight will belong to all.