Rocketry
The jet engine took humans one step closer to space. But we needed to make some key discoveries in rocketry before we could reach for the moon and planets.
Unlike jet engines, rockets do not need an outside source of air to burn their fuel. This allows rockets to work in the vacuum of outer space.
Chinese Rockets
The Chinese are believed to be the first to develop rockets. As early as the ninth
century C.E., they had invented a basic form
of gunpowder. It was made from saltpetre, sulphur,
and charcoal.
The first use of gunpowder was likely to create explosions during religious festivals. Bamboo tubes filled with gunpowder were tossed into fires.
Later, gunpowder-filled bamboo tubes were attached to arrows, ignited, and launched with bows.
Eventually, the early inventors found that the bows were not needed. The power released by the escaping gas alone was enough to launch the tubes. The true rocket was born.
In 1232 C.E., the Chinese were at war with their Mongol enemies. While surrounded
in the city of Kai Fung Foo, the Chinese scared off the invaders by launching
"fire arrows" at them. These fire arrows were a basic form of solid-fuel rocket.
The Mongols later built their own rockets. Some historians believe that the Mongols may have been responsible for the spread of rockets to Europe. Between the 13th and 15th centuries, there were many reports of rocket experiments in England, France, and Italy.
According to one ancient legend, a Chinese official named Wan Hoo attempted a
flight to the moon. He used a large wicker chair. Forty-seven large rockets
were attached to the chair.
Forty-seven assistants, each armed with a torch, rushed forward to light the fuses. In a moment there was a tremendous roar and billowing clouds of smoke. When the smoke cleared, the flying chair and Wan Hoo were gone, never to be seen again.
Early Rocket Science
In the late 17th century, Sir Isaac Newton laid the scientific foundations
for modern rocketry. The great English scientist explained his understanding
of the principles of motion in three "laws."
The laws explain how rockets work and why they are able to work in the vacuum of outer space. Newton's laws soon began to have a practical impact on the design of rockets.
Robert Anderson of England published an in-depth study in 1696. The study discussed how to make rocket moulds, prepare propellants, and perform the needed calculations.
Most of the early rockets were used for military purposes. In the late 18th century, Indian troops used rockets as weapons of war in successful battles against the British.
In 1780 at the Battle of Guntur, the Indian
Army launched a hail of rockets at British troops. The normally tough
British troops broke and ran.
The Indians' use of rockets drew the attention of an artillery expert, Colonel William Congreve. He set out to develop rockets that the British military could use.
Congreve developed a rocket that could fire to about 2740 metres (9000 feet). The rocket was designed to cause fires. It used black powder, an iron case, and a 16-foot guide stick.
The British used Congreve rockets in 1806 to attack Napoleon's headquarters in France. In 1807, Congreve directed a rocket attack against Copenhagen, Denmark. About 25 000 rockets were fired.
The British also fired Congreve rockets against the United States in the War
of 1812. The attack inspired American poet Francis Scott Key to write
The Star-spangled Banner. The poem, which became the U.S. national
anthem, includes the phrase "the rockets' red glare."
In 1846, British inventor William Hale developed a rocket that did not need a guide stick to keep it stable. The U.S. Army used the Hale rocket more than 100 years ago in the war with Mexico. Rockets were also used on several occasions in the U.S. Civil War (1861-1865).
During the 19th century, rocket enthusiasts and inventors began to appear in almost every country. Some people thought these early rocket pioneers were geniuses. Others thought they were crazy.
Claude Ruggieri, an Italian living in Paris, launched small animals aloft in rockets as early as 1806. The payloads were recovered by parachute.
The French authorities were not always impressed with Ruggieri's rocket research. They stopped his plans to launch a small boy with a cluster of rockets.
By the end of the 19th century, soldiers, sailors, and practical (and not-so-practical) inventors had all experimented with rockets. Meanwhile, others examined the scientific theories behind rocketry. They also considered the possibility of space travel.
Modern Rocketry
In the early 20th century, several inventors and rocket experts laid the groundwork for actual space travel. Three of the key figures in this period were Konstantin Tsiolkovsky of Russia, Robert Goddard of the U.S., and Wernher von Braun of Germany.
One of the biggest barriers to reaching space was the issue of fuel. Until this time, rocket fuel had been solid.
But solid-fuel rockets were not able to fly high enough to reach space. They were also difficult to control. Due to these challenges, inventors began to consider other types of fuel.
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857--1935)
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was a Russian schoolteacher, inventor, and
rocket expert. In 1903, he published a report that suggested liquid
fuel would allow rockets to travel farther. He recommended that
liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen would make the best fuel.
Tsiolkovsky stated that the speed and range of a rocket were limited by the speed of the rocket's escaping gases. His report also discusses the possibility of space travel.
In the late 1920s, Tsiolkovsky produced a design for a multi-stage rocket
that he called a "rocket train." He also calculated how a rocket could
reach speeds fast enough to escape Earth's gravity.
Tsiolkovsky never actually built a rocket. But he had an amazing understanding of rocketry and space fundamentals.
Robbert Goddard (1882--1945)
As the 20th century began, Orville and Wilbur Wright prepared
to become the first humans to achieve sustained, controlled,
powered flight. Meanwhile, Robert Goddard was designing rockets
to probe the upper atmosphere and enter outer space.
Like Tsiolkovsky, Goddard realized that solid fuels simply could not supply enough power to put a rocket into space. He came to believe that to make the dream of space travel come true, rockets would have to be powered by liquid fuels.
Unlike Tsiolkovsky, Goddard had the technical skills to actually build
rockets. On March 16, 1926, Goddard set out on a snow-covered field at
his aunt's farm in Auburn, Massachusetts. He launched a liquid-fuel
rocket that he had designed and built.
The rocket travelled 12.5 metres (41 feet) up into the air and landed 56 metres (184 feet) away in a cabbage patch. The rocket's whole trip took a total of 2.5 seconds. It was the first flight of a liquid-fuel rocket in history.
But Goddard didn't stop there. He developed a great number of other rocket devices. These included the first smokeless powder rocket and the first practical automatic-steering device for rockets.
By the time he died in 1945, Goddard held 214 patents in rocketry.
Wernher von Braun (1912--1977)
Wernher von Braun was, without question, one of the most influential
figures in the race to space. He was a pioneer in the design and use
of liquid-fuel rockets, and he would eventually play a key role in
America's space program.
Von Braun trained at the Berlin Institute of Technology. At the institute, von Braun assisted Hermann Oberth with his rocket experiments. Oberth was another German rocket pioneer.
By age 22, von Braun had earned his doctorate in physics. In 1932, the German Army hired him to work on liquid-fuel rockets.
He scored his first successes with the program by December 1934.
At Kummersdorf, near Berlin, he launched an A-2 rocket powered
by ethanol and liquid oxygen.
Two years later, as work on the A-3 was wrapping up, planning began for the A-4 rocket. This rocket was to be a practical weapon, not a research tool.
The rocket researchers quickly outgrew their facility at Kummersdorf.
In 1936, they were transferred to Peenemunde, a remote island on Germany's
Baltic coast.
In 1937, von Braun became technical director of the Peenemunde Rocket Center.
Between 1937 and 1941, von Braun's group launched about 70 A-3 and A-5 rockets.
These rockets tested parts for use in the A-4. World War II began in 1939,
but work on the A-4 continued.
The first A-4 rocket flew in March of 1942. The rocket barely cleared some low clouds, then crashed into the sea about 0.8 kilometres (0.5 miles) from the launch site.
Five months later, a second A-4 rose to an altitude of 11 km (7 mi.) before exploding.
On October 3, 1942, another A-4 roared into the sky over Peenemunde. It
followed its intended trajectory
perfectly and landed on target 193 km (120 mi.) away.
The A-4--the first successful ballistic rocket--is the ancestor of practically every rocket flown in the world today.
The A-4 rocket became commonly known (and feared) under another name:
the V-2, or "vengeance weapon number two."
As the war intensified, Adolf Hitler gave highest priority to the V-2 program. The first V-2s were launched against London in September 1944.
By the end of the war, Germany had launched about 3000 V-2s against England and other targets.
But the V-2 attacks came too late to change the course of the war. By the end of April 1945, the German Army was in full retreat everywhere, and Hitler had killed himself.
Von Braun and his team fled Peenemunde. They realized it would soon be occupied by Russian troops. With forged papers, von Braun stole a train. He and his team made a daring trip across Germany. They planned to surrender to the Americans.
At an inn near the Austrian border, von Braun and more than 100 of his rocket experts waited. They feared they would be captured and killed by the Nazis. Before his death, Hitler had ordered the entire team killed to stop their knowledge and skills from falling into Allied hands.
Von Braun's brother Magnus managed to contact American soldiers before
the Nazis could reach the rocket team. On May 2, the Soviet Army took Berlin.
Also that day, von Braun led his rocket team to surrender to the Americans.
But surrender did not mean the end of von Braun's career. Now working for the United States, von Braun would play a lead role in the space race against the Soviet Union. He would also be a driving force in the quest for the moon.