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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.