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Jan 1, 1232
The first rocket
Chineese invented the first rocket in China. It was a tube with a cap at one end that contained gunpowder and the tube was attached to a stick. Igniting the powder created it to produce fire and smoke out the open end creating it to thrust foward. -
Jan 1, 1280
How they got their name
Italian named Muratori called them "rochetta." The English translation is rocket. -
Jan 1, 1500
Wan hu
The legend of Wan hu is that he attempted to launch himself into space. He did this by building a chair with rockets attached. According to the legand as soon as the smoke cleared from lighting the rockets he had disappeared. -
Polish staging the rocket
Polish artillery expert, Kazimierz Siemienowicz, published a series of drawings for a staged rocket. -
Sir Issac Newton
First Law of Motion had to do with the liftoff of the rocket. Before the launch the velocity is at zero. When the thrust from the engine is greater than the weight of the rocket it creates a Net force which allows the rocket to accelerate, or speed up. The rocket then has air resistance.The second law of motion describes the motion of a rocket in flight. The third law of motion explains the creation of thrust by a rocket engine. -
Congreve
Sir William Congreve designed the congreve rocket, a British military weapon. -
From the Earth to the Moon
Jules Verne publishes his first science fiction novel called From the Earth to the Moon. -
Konstantin E. Tsiolkovsky
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, a Russian schoolteacher brought about the idea of rockets being used in space exploration. He came up with liquid fuel propulsion, rocket staging, and crewed space stations. -
Robert H. Goddard
Designed and built the world's first liquid-fueled rocket which launched on March 16, 1926. -
Dr. Hermann Oberth
Founded German Society for Space Travel -
V-2
Von Braun led German scientists to develope the V-2 Missile. It was fueled by alcohol and liquid oxygen and was a single-stage rocket. It stood 46.1 feet high, and when it launched it broke the sound barrier and reached an altitude of 60 miles. -
Wernher Von Braun
Chief artitecture to NASA's Saturn V launch vehicle. Helped America get to the moon. -
Sputnik
First artificial Earth satellite, launched by the Soviet Union in October, it travelled 29,000 kilometers an hour. This is when the Soviet Union became the leader in space exploration. -
Explorer
Explorer was the United States first Earth satellite. It was built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The disign was led by Dr. James Van Allen.
