Rocket history

  • 400 BCE

    Hero engine

    Hero engine
    A fire below the kettle turned the water into steam, and the gas travels through pipes to the sphere. Two L-shaped tubes on opposite sides of the sphere allowed the gas to escape, and in doing so it caused it to rotate.
  • 1232

    Chinese fire arrows

    Chinese fire arrows
    The Chinese had a simple form of gunpowder made from saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal dust.They attached bamboo tubes with gunpowder in them to arrows and launched them with bows. Soon they discovered that these gunpowder tubes could launch themselves
  • Foundations for modern rocketry

    Foundations for modern rocketry
    Sir Isaac Newton laid the foundation for modern rocketry. By putting his understanding of physical motion into three laws.
  • Modern Rocketry Begins

    Tsiolkovsky suggested to use liquid propellants for rockets in order to achieve a greater range.
  • liquid fuel

    Robert H. Goddard conducted practical experiments in rocketry and became convinced that a rocket could be propelled better by liquid fuel.
  • V2 rocket

    V2 rocket
    Was made during WWII by the Germans.
  • Sputnik I

    Sputnik I
    The Soviet Union launched a satellite which was the first entry in the space race.
  • Explorer I

    Explorer I
    The United States followed the Soviet Union with a satellite of its own called Explorer 1.
  • NASA

    NASA
    United stated organises its space programme, NASA was founded.
  • First man to orbit Earth

    First man to orbit Earth
    Russian Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man to orbit Earth.
  • Moon landing

    Moon landing
    Apollo 11 is the first space craft to take people to the Moon.
  • First private launch

    First private launch
    SpaceX, a private company working towards commercial space travel, and launches the Falcon 9.
  • Juno launches to Jupiter

    Juno launches for Jupiter and arrived in orbit around Jupiter on July 4, 2016.
  • Private companies

    private companies are increasing active in the space industry.