History of Rocket Propulsion

Chinese Fire Arrows

Mar 21, 1232

A mixture of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal dust produced colorful sparks and smoke when ignited. The powder was used to make fireworks. Tubes of bamboo and leather, closed off at one end, were packed with gunpowder

Step Rockets

Mar 21, 1500

Created by Johann Schmidlap. It worked by a large rocket carried a smaller rocket. The smaller rocket would continue to a higher altitude after the larger rocket burned out.

Staged Rocket

Mar 21, 1650

Made by Kazimierz Siemienowicz. He used multistage rockets and delta wing stabilizers, and used gunpowder as fuel.

case-shot rockets and incendiary rockets

Mar 21, 1812

Created by Colonel William Congreve. The rockets would spray the enemy with carbine balls and the incendiary rockets were used to burn ships and buildings

first liquid propellant rocket

Mar 21, 1926

Robert Goddard built and flew the world’s first liquid propellant rocket. He developed a gyroscope system to control his rockets in flight, instrumentation payload compartments, and parachute recovery systems.

Vergeltungswaffe 2 - V2

Mar 21, 1930

The rocket was powered by alcohol and liquid oxygen.

The World’s First Artificial Satellite

Mar 21, 1957

The satellite had a spherical design with four antenna. Created by the Soviet Union during the Space Race

Explorer 1

Mar 21, 1958

It was created by the US. The satellite was launched atop the Juno 1, a modified Jupiter-C booster.

X-15

Mar 21, 2017

It was an air-launched rocket plane. It was designed by NASA

The Space Launch System

Mar 21, 2017

The SLS rocket will be the most powerful launch vehicle in history. It is being created by NASA