rockets and missiles: History of rockets

History of rockets

When was rocket born? Where was it invented and by whom???

Truly speaking there are no perfect answers for these as few say that they were used by the people in BC years, though they don’t know why and how those rockets are propelled, But they do somehow know that a body can be propelled by releasing some mass preferably gases and the real scientific knowledge of rocket propulsion has developed in 17 century.

Aeolipile

So, that was the foundation of rockets and its propulsion. In the early years of AD, a philosopher named HERON from ALEXANDRIA has invented a steam powered device AEOLIPILE famously known as HERO ENGINE. Heron mounted a sphere on top of a water kettle. A fire below the kettle turned the water into steam, and the gas traveled through pipes to the sphere. Two L-shaped tubes on opposite sides of the sphere allowed the gas to escape, and in doing so gave a thrust to the sphere that caused it to rotate.

Later on chinese started using rockets for explosion in the wars without actually knowing the scientific principle beyond it. They named it as `the arrows of fire’. The journey went on like that for many centuries without any scientific laws and then came the legendry SIR ISAAC NEWTON who gave the action- reaction principle which was his third law of motion.

INITIATION OF MODERN ROCKETRY

Later the leading countries concentrated on developing rockets for their usage in wars. This gave birth to the modern rockets. In 1898, a Russian school teacher, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935), proposed the idea of space exploration by rocket. He suggested the use of liquid propellants for rockets in order to achieve greater range. He has been called the father of modern astronautics. Early in the 20th century, an American, Robert H. Goddard (1882-1945), conducted practical experiments in rocketry, solid propellant and liquid propellant rockets. Goddard, for his achievements, has been called the father of modern rocketry. A third great space pioneer, Hermann Oberth (1894-1989) published a book in 1923 about rocket travel into outer space.

Robbert H.Goddard

Birth of v-2 rocket

Then came the most important step in the rocket history, the invention of V-2 rocket by VAN BROWN, a German scientist, has really changed the features of modern rocketry. It is the first rocket used for transporting the pay loads, which were used in worldwar 2 for mass destruction. After that many scientists worked on it and now the rockets has become the vehicles to the space.

v-2 rocket