Ancient Rockets Rockets for Warfare

Early - Mid 20th Century Rockets Space Race Rockets

Reference Information

Rockets as Inventions

SelectImage Future Rockets

History of RocketryHistory of Rocketry

Ancient Rockets - 100 B.C. to 17th Century

About 100 BC, a Greek inventor known as Hero of Alexandria came up with a new invention that depended on the mechanical interaction of heat and water. He invented a rocket-like device called an aeolipile. It used steam for propulsion. Hero mounted a sphere on top of a water kettle. A fire below the kettle turned the water into steam, and the gas traveled through the pipes to the sphere. Two L-shaped tubes on opposite sides of the sphere allowed the gas to escape, giving a thrust to the sphere, causing it to rotate.

Hero’s Engine

Ever since humans first saw birds soar through the sky, they have wanted to fly. The ancient Greeks and Romans pictured many of their gods with winged feet, and imagined mythological winged animals. According to the legend of Daedalus and Icarus, the father and son escaped prison by attaching wings made of wax and feathers to their bodies. Unfortunately, Icarus flew too near the sun, and the heat caused the wax and feathers to melt. The feathers fell off, and Icarus plummeted to the sea. Daedalus landed safely in Sicily.

The Dream to Fly

Ancient Rockets - 100 B.C. to 17th Century

The Chinese began experimenting with the gunpowder-filled tubes. At some point, they attached bamboo tubes to arrows and launched them with bows. Soon they discovered that these gunpowder tubes could launch themselves just by the power produced from the escaping gas. The true rocket was born. The “Fire Arrow” sounded more like fireworks but the Chinese used the rockets as weapons in battle.

Chinese Launch Fire Arrow

In 1232 AD, the Chinese used rockets against the Mongols who were besieging the city of Kai-fung-fu. An arrow with a tube of gunpowder produced an arrow of flying fire.

Credit: TRW Inc. and Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio

Chinese Repulse Mongols

Ancient Rockets - 100 B.C. to 17th Century

According to one ancient legend, a Chinese official named Wan-Hoo attempted a flight to the moon using a large wicker chair with 47 large rockets with fastened to it. Forty seven assistants, each armed with torches, rushed forward to light the fuses. There was a tremendous roar accompanied by billowing clouds of smoke. When the smoke cleared, the flying chair and Wan-Hu were gone.

Credit: United States Civil Air Patrol

Wan-Hu and His Space Vehicle

Kazimierz Siemienowicz, a Polish artillery expert, published “The Complete Art of Artillery” in 1650. The book became the authority on military and recreational pyrotechnics for well over a century. It contained a large chapter on caliber, construction, production and properties of rockets including multistage rockets (shown to the left in the drawing), batteries of rockets, and rockets with delta wing stabilizers (instead of the commonly used guiding rods).

Credit: Artist Larry Toschik and Motorola Inc.

Drawing of Staged Rocket

Rockets for Warfare – 18th through 19th Century

During the early introduction of rockets to Europe, they were used only as weapons. Enemy troops in India repulsed the British with rockets. Later in Britain, Sir William Congreve developed a rocket that could fire to about 9,000 feet. The British fired Congreve rockets against the United States in the War of 1812.

Woodcut of Rocketry Demonstration

The English confrontation with Indian rockets came in 1780 at the Battle of Guntur. The closely massed, normally unflinching, British troops broke and ran when the Indian Army laid down a rocket barrage in their midst.

Credit: TRW Inc. and Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio

Indian Troops Rout British

Francis Scott Key coined the phrase the "rocket's red glare" after the British fired Congreve rockets against the United States in the War of 1812. Congreve had used a 16-foot guide stick to help stabilize his rocket. William Hale, another British inventor, invented the stickless rocket in 1846. The U.S. army used the Hale rocket more than 100 years ago in the war with Mexico. Rockets were also used to a limited extent in the Civil War.

Credit: TRW Inc. and Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio.

The Rockets’ Red Glare

Early Rockets for Warfare - 18th to 19th CenturyCongreve’s Incendiary Rockets -1806

William Congreve's incendiary rocket 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; approximately 25,000 rockets were fired.

Credit: TRW Inc. and Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio

As far back as 1821, sailors hunted whales using rocket-propelled harpoons. These rocket harpoons were launched from a shoulder-held tube equipped with a circular blast shield.

Credit: Artist Larry Toschik and Motorola Inc.

Whaling Rocket

Rockets as Inventions - Late 19th CenturySmall Animals Launched

During the 19th century, rocket enthusiasts and inventors began to appear in almost every country. Some people thought these early rocket pioneers were geniuses, and others thought they were crazy. Claude Ruggieri, an Italian living in Paris, apparently rocketed small animals into the sky as early as 1806. The payloads were recovered by parachute. As depicted here by artist Larry Toschik, French authorities were not always impressed with rocket research. They halted Ruggieri's plans to launch a small boy using a rocket cluster. Credit: Artist Larry Toschik and Motorola Inc.

Rocket Designs by Tsiolkovsky

Rockets as Inventions - Late 19th CenturySpace Theorist Tsiolkovsky

By the end of the 19th century, soldiers, sailors, practical and not so practical inventors had developed a stake in rocketry. Skillful theorists, like Russian Konstantian Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935), were examining the fundamental scientific theories behind rocketry. They were beginning to consider the possibility of space travel.

In 1892, he began publishing science fiction stories including his speculations on spaceflight. In 1895, he published “Dreams of the Earth and Sky” envisioning artificial satellites, space stations and colonies, artificial gravity, interstellar travel and the possibility of extraterrestrial life.

In 1898 Tsiolkovsky, a schoolteacher, proposed the idea of space exploration by rocket. In a report he published in 1903, Tsiolkovsky suggested the use of liquid propellants for rockets in order to achieve greater range. Tsiolkovsky also stated that the speed and range of a rocket were limited only by the exhaust velocity of escaping gases. For his ideas, careful research, and great vision, Tsiolkovsky has been called the father of modern astronautics.

First Flight of Liquid Propellant Rocket

20th Century Rockets - Early to Mid 20th CenturyRobert Goddard

Dr. Goddard is shown with the first liquid propellant rocket in the frame it was launched from on March 16, 1926, at Auburn, MA. Fueled by liquid oxygen and gasoline, the rocket flew for only 2.5 seconds, climbed 41 ft, and landed 184 ft away. From 1930 to 1941, Dr. Goddard made substantial progress in the development of progressively larger rockets that attained altitudes of 7,874 ft. He refined his equipment for guidance and control, his techniques of welding, and his insulation, pumps and other associated equipment.

In many respects, he laid the essential foundations of practical rocket technology. He is considered one of the fathers of rocketry along with Konstantin Tsiolovsky and Hermann Oberth.

Dr. Robert Goddard (1882-1945) has been recognized as the father of American rocketry and as one of the pioneers in the theoretical exploration of space. He was a theoretical scientist as well as a practical engineer. His dream was the conquest of the upper atmosphere and ultimately space through the use of rocket propulsion. In the 1950's, American rocket scientists discovered that it was virtually impossible to construct a rocket or launch a satellite without acknowledging the work of Dr. Goddard. More than 200 patents, many of which were issued after his death, covered this great legacy.

Goddard Rocket in Roswell, New Mexico

Dr. Goddard (far left) adjusts pressure lines. Rocket with turbo-pumps that inject propellants into the combustion chamber is shown on its assembly frame without its casing at the Goddard workshop in Roswell, New Mexico in 1940. In 1930, he shifted his entire rocket operation to Roswell to escape publicity. The new location also provided wide-open spaces and excellent climate for testing.

20th Century Rockets - Early to Mid 20th Century

20th Century Rockets - Early to Mid 20th Century

Dr. Hermann Oberth (1894-1989) was the foremost authority on rocketry outside the United States. A Hungarian-born German, he is considered to be one of the top three pioneers in modern rocketry - Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and Robert Goddard are the other two. Oberth was the only one out of the three to see human spaceflight come to fruition. Oberth was a guest at the Apollo 11 moon landing launch on July 1969 as well as at the launch of the STS-51J, Space Shuttle Atlantis mission. He is credited with suggesting that space stations would be essential if humans wished to travel to other planets. He was inspired by the tales of Jules Verne in From the Earth to the Moon and Travel to the Moon.

In 1923, Oberth (right of his rocket) published a book about rocket travel into outer space. Because of his important writings, many small rocket societies sprang up around the world. In the spring of 1930, an eighteen year old Wernher von Braun (second from the right) assisted Oberth in his early experiments in testing a liquid fueled rocket with a thrust of about 15 pounds.

After the three pioneers, rocketry required large teams of experts; a small team could not keep pace with the advancing technologies.

Hermann Oberth

Oberth’s Liquid Fueled Rocket Team

20th Century Rockets - Early to Mid-20th Century

The Germans, under the technical direction of Wernher von Braun, developed the V-2 at their Peenemuende Research Facility in Germany. The V-2 became one of the best known of all early missiles. The 46.9 ft rocket used alcohol and liquid oxygen as propellant and could carry a 1,650 pound warhead 225 miles. It had a takeoff weight of 28,229 lbs and a thrust of 59,500 lbs for 68 seconds. Some historians have estimated that by the end of World War II, the Germans had fired nearly 3,000 V-2 weapons against England and other targets.

V-2 Rocket

On October 3, 1942, the V-2 was the first rocket to be launched into space. It attained a 125 mile range and came within 2.5 miles of its target, reaching a top speed of 3,300 miles per hour and a peak altitude of 60 miles, or the fringes of space. The first two launches, on June 13 and August 16, 1942, were failures.

The photograph to the right measures 8 x 10 inches and includes the signatures of Wernher von Braun, and Konrad Dannenberg and Raketen Gruppe, members of Von Braun's team.

First Launch into Space

Credit: V-2 Rocket.Com

20th Century Rockets - Early to Mid 20th CenturyV-2 Rocket Major Components

WarheadAutomatic Control Gyros Guide Beam and

Radio Command Receivers

Alcohol - Water Mixture Tank

Liquid Oxygen Tank

Propellant Turbo-Pump

Main Fuel Valve

Hydrogen-Peroxide Tank

Steerable Aero Rudder

Combustion Chamber

Main Liquid Oxygen Valve

Exhaust VaneAntenna Wing

Rocket Body

Credit: V-2 Rocket.Com

20th Century Rockets - Early to Mid 20th CenturyVon Braun Team Moved to the U.S.

As the war ended, the United States developed an interest in the technical capability of the Germans. A team of American scientists was dispatched to Europe to collect information and equipment related to German rocket progress. "Project Paperclip" enabled the German rocket specialists to come to the United States to advance American rocketry.

The German team of specialists was initially assigned to Fort Bliss, TX where they reassembled and tested V-2 rockets brought to America from Germany.

Later, they were re-assigned to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. In Huntsville, the German team, as well as an increasing number of American-born members, would develop plans for exploring space and would build the rockets that would serve as the foundation for the American space program for years to come.

V-2 at White Sands

Space Race Rockets - Mid 20th to Late 20th CenturySoviets Launch First Satellite and First Human into Space

Independently, research continued in the Soviet Union under the leadership of the chief designer, Sergei Korolev. With the help of German technicians, the V-2 was duplicated and improved as the R-1, R-2 and R-5 missiles. German designs were abandoned in the late 1940s, and the German workers were sent home. A new series of engines using liquid oxygen and kerosene as propellant were built by Valentin Glushko and based on inventions of Aleksei Mihailovich Isaev. This formed the basis for the first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the R-7.

Korolev was aware that a ICBM also had the capability to launch satellites and humans into orbit around the Earth. The R-7 launched Sputnik and then Yuri Gagarin into Earth orbit. It was the biggest leap in rocketry since the German V-2. Derivatives of the R-7 are still in use today.

The R-7 that launched the Sputnik-2 spacecraft carrying the dog, Laika, the first living creature to orbit Earth on November 3, 1957, is shown.

Space Race Rockets - Mid 20th to Late 20th CenturyFirst American Satellite Launched

Explorer I Architects

The three men responsible for the success of Explorer 1 are (from left to right): Dr. William H. Pickering, former director of JPL that built and operated the satellite; Dr. James A. van Allen, from the University of Iowa who designed and built the instrument on Explorer I that discovered the radiation belts circling the Earth; Dr. Wernher von Braun, leader of the Army's Redstone Arsenal team that built the first stage Redstone rocket that launched Explorer 1.

Two months after Sputnik was launched, the United States suffered disappointment when a Navy Vanguard rocket, with its satellite payload, failed to develop sufficient thrust and toppled over on the launch pad. The Von Braun team was ready when the United States turned to the Huntsville group to launch America's first satellite. On January 31, 1958, a modified Army Redstone rocket lifted the first American satellite into orbit just 3 months after the Von Braun team received the go-ahead. This modified Redstone rocket was known as Jupiter-C. Its satellite payload was Explorer I.

Space Race Rockets - Mid 20th to Late 20th CenturyAtlas Launches First American into Orbit

The Atlas was the first ICBM deployed by the United States. Its development goes back to just after World War II when captured German rocket and missile technology supported many new missile research studies. In 1953, Convair completed the initial design studies. Innovations introduced in the development of the Atlas included: movable thrust chambers mounted on gimbals to provide directional control, integral airframe and tank structure to reduce deadweight and thus increase range and payload, the use of vernier engines to obtain precise velocity and attitude adjustments, and a separable warhead re-entry vehicle. The fuel tank containing a kerosene mixture and the oxidizer tank with liquid oxygen was separated by an intermediate bulkhead. If the tanks were not pressurized, the entire structure collapsed. The first silo-stored Atlas F squadron became operational in November 1962. The Atlas was 75 ft long and its 10 ft diameter flared to 16 ft at the nacelles.

An Atlas D missile was adapted to carry the manned Mercury capsule. Astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth on February 20, 1962 aboard Friendship 7 launched by the Mercury - Atlas rocket at Cape Canaveral, FL.

Space Race Rockets - Mid 20th to Late 20th CenturySaturn V Launches Man to the Moon

The July 16, 1969 launch of the Saturn V rocket carrying the crew of Apollo 11 to the moon is shown. Two Apollo 11 crewmen were the first to land on the moon. The Saturn V rocket was the largest rocket ever used by NASA and the only one able to lift the large masses needed to land astronauts on the moon and return them safely. Saturn V rockets launched all of the Apollo moon missions and several to Earth orbit. The rocket could place a 285,000 lb payload into Earth orbit or send 100,000 lbs to the moon.

The three-stage, 363 ft tall Saturn V was the culmination of years of development. The “V” stood for the five first stage F-1 rocket engines delivering a total of 7.65 million lbs at sea level. The oxidizer was liquid oxygen and the fuel was RP-1 (kerosene). The second stage was powered by five J-2 engines generating a total thrust of 1.0 million lbs. The third stage was a single J-2 engine yielding 200,000 lbs of thrust (later up-graded to 230,000 lbs). The J-2 engines used liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen as the oxidizer and fuel, respectively.

S-IC (First Stage)

S-II(Second Stage)

S-IVB(Third Stage)

Apollo Command Module

Space Race Rockets - Mid 20th to Late 20th CenturyFirst Re-useable Rocket Plane Launch

The space shuttle concept originated in the 1920s and 1930s when Hermann Oberth exchanged words with Austrian researcher Max Valier. Valier insisted that re-useable spacecrafts were superior to expendable rockets. Eugen Sanger, an Austrian aeronautical engineer, believed that such a space plane could be used for the construction, transport, and supply of a space station.

The space shuttle orbiters were the first spacecraft capable of routinely launching into orbit like rockets and then returning to Earth as gliders. The orbiters were part of the Space Transportation System used for scientific research and space applications.

The first space shuttle, the orbiter named Colombia, was launched April 12, 1981 at the Kennedy Space Center, FL. The Earth orbital mission lasted 54 hours and ended with an un-powered landing at Edwards Air Force Base, CA. The space shuttle was retired in July 2011 after flying 135 missions.

External Tank (ET)

Orbiter

Space Shuttle Main Engines(SSMEs)

Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB)

Space Race Rockets - Mid 20th to Late 20th CenturySpace Shuttle Main EnginesLiquid oxygen (LO2) oxidizer, at -298 OF, from the External Tank entered the orbiter at the umbilical disconnect and flowed to the orbiter's LO2 feed line. The line then branched into three parallel paths, one to each engine.

Liquid hydrogen (LH2) fuel, at -423 OF, from the External Tank flowed into the orbiter at the liquid LH2 feed line disconnect valve. It then entered the orbiter LH2 feed line manifold and branched out into three parallel paths to each engine.

Flight DeckMid Deck

Space Shuttle Main Engines External

Tank LO2 Feed Line

Umbilical Disconnect

Space Race Rockets - Mid 20th to Late 20th CenturySolid Rocket Booster

The two SRBs provided the main thrust to lift the space shuttle off the pad to an altitude of about 28 miles. They were the largest solid-propellant motors ever flown and the first designed for reuse. Prior to launch, the SRBs carried the entire weight of the external tank and orbiter through their structure to the mobile launcher platform. Seventy-five seconds after SRB separation, SRB apogee occurred at an altitude of 41 miles; parachutes were deployed and impact occurred in the ocean approximately 141 miles downrange. The SRBs were recovered and processed to be used again.

Each booster had a thrust of approximately 3,300,000 lbs at launch providing 71.4 % of the thrust at lift-off. The SRBs were ignited after the three Space Shuttle Main Engines' thrust level was verified. Each was 149.16 ft long and 12.17 ft in diameter and was comprised of four segments. The propellant mixture in each SRB motor consisted of an ammonium perchlorate (oxidizer, 69.6% by weight), aluminum (fuel, 16%), iron oxide (catalyst, 0.4%), a polymer (binder that holds the mixture together, 12.04%), and an epoxy curing agent (1.96%).

The cone-shaped aft skirt reacted the loads between the SRB and the mobile launcher platform. Four separation motors mounted on the skirt released the shuttle from the mobile launch platform. The nozzle was a convergent-divergent design using a gimbal mechanism to help steer the shuttle.

Main Parachutes(3 Places)

Aft Skirt

Nozzle

Drogue Parachute

Separation Motors (4 Places)

Steel CasingPropellant

Segment(4 Places)

Space Race Rockets - Mid 20th to Late 20th Century

On November 15, 1988, Energia launched an unmanned Buran re-usable shuttle. After two orbits, Buran landed at an airfield. The Soviet re-usable spacecraft program Buran (snowstorm or blizzard) began in 1976 as a response to the NASA Space Shuttle. The objectives were similar to those of the U.S. program except Buran would re-supply the Mir space station. Buran did not fly a manned mission. Production of Energia rockets ended with the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Buran shuttle project.

The Energia rocket was designed as a heavy-lift expendable launch system as well as a booster for the Buran Space Shuttle. It had the capacity to place up to 110 tons in low Earth orbit. It could be configured for heavier payloads comparable to, or even greater than, the Saturn V. On May 15, 1987, it initially launched Polyus (shown to the left atop the rocket), a military test-bed put together on a crash basis as an answer to America's Star Wars program. Polyus failed to reach orbit, but if it had succeeded, it would have been the core module of a new Mir-2 space station. Its mere presence could have decisively changed the shape of the Cold War in its final months. Soviet Shuttle Launched

Largest Rocket Ever Launches Military Payload

Future Rockets - Human Space Exploration ProgramCrew Configuration

NASA is beginning a new era in space exploration focusing on sending astronauts to an asteroid and eventually to Mars. The Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) will serve as the primary crew vehicle for missions beyond low Earth orbit (LEO). The MPCV will be capable of conducting regular in-space operations such as rendezvous, docking and extravehicular activity, in conjunction with payloads delivered by the Space Launch System (SLS) or other vehicles in preparation for missions beyond LEO.

NASA has selected a 27.5 ft diameter space shuttle-derived vehicle with two existing stages and two strap-on boosters for the initial lift version shown to the left launching the Orion MPVC. The SLS will be able to initially lift 154,000 - 220,000 lbs (70 - 100 metric-tons) to LEO, and evolvable to 286,000 lbs (130 metric-tons) or more.

Orion Asteroid MissionThis artist's rendering represents a concept of the Orion spacecraft with an astronaut investigating a near Earth asteroid (NEA). Asteroids have gained significant attention recently especially with President Obama’s announcement in April 2010 that a human mission to an asteroid no later than 2025 would be one of NASA’s new exploration goals.

Near Earth Asteroids (NEA) come close enough to Earth that the proximity of some NEAs makes them ideal destinations for human exploration missions.

Future Rockets - Human Space Exploration ProgramCargo Configuration

The 320 ft tall initial lift SLS (70 - 100 metric-tons) will use a liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propulsion system equipped with three RS-25D/E shuttle main engines. The evolved lift capability (130 metric ton) SLS is an upgraded version with five RS-25D/E engines that will have a liftoff thrust of 9 million pounds and be able to launch more than 286,000 lbs of cargo into low Earth orbit. Keeping the 27.5 ft core booster's diameter the same as the shuttle's external tank permits the use of existing ground equipment and sharing components between the first and second stages.

The Mobile Launch Platform hardware developed for the Ares program will then be able to be used for the SLS. The upper stage will be powered by the J-2X engine developed by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne.The J2X is based on the upper stage engine for the Saturn V moon rocket.

The twin boosters would either be propelled by solid-fuel or liquid-fuel. A competition will determine the solid-fuel or liquid-fuel booster needed to allow the vehicle to evolve to the 130 metric-ton capability that Congress ordered in the 2010 NASA reauthorization legislation. Development of a kerosene-fueled engine will be considered.

Credit: NASA

Solid or Liquid RocketBooster(2 Places)

CoreStage

RS-25D/E Engine(5 Places)

Upper Stage with J-2X Engine

CargoFairing

400 ft

Reference Information - Sheet 1 Text:Rockets into Space by Craig Frank H. Winter, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1990 - history of rocketry.SM-65D Missile Weapon System Handbook, T.O.21-SM65D-1-4, United States Air Force, March 1, 1960 - provides Atlas D technical information.The Space Shuttle Operator’s Manual, Kerry Mark Joels, Random House, 1982 - space shuttle general information.Stepping Stones: Exploring a Series of Increasingly Challenging Destinations on the Way to Mars from Lockheed Martin, Denver, CO - Orion missions are discussed.History of Liquid Propellant Engines by George P. Sutton, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., Reston, VA, 2006 - illustrated history of the liquid propellant engine.The Rocket into Planetary Space by Hermann Oberth, R. Rodenbourg, Munch, 1923 (in German) - outlines the basic principles of space flight and directly inspired many subsequent spaceflight pioneers.Saturn V Flight Manual, MSFC-MAN-506, NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center, 1969 - provides Saturn V technical information.

Text and Images:http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/rocketry/http://www.grc.nasa.gov/http://www.nmspacemuseum.org/halloffame/images.php?image_id=27http://dayton.hq.nasa.gov/IMAGES/LARGE/GPN-2002-000140.jpghttp://www.allstar.fiu.edu/aero/rock2.htmhttp://www.postwarv2.com/misc/signedphoto01.JPG

Reference Information - Sheet 2 Text and Images (Continued):http://www.v2rocket.com/start/makeup/v2_side_cutaway.jpghttp://grin.hq.nasa.gov/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Launch_of_Jupiter_C_with_Explorer_1.jpg http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/m-16.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_space_shuttle_missionshttp://history.nasa.gov/ap11-35ann/kippsphotos/apollo.htmlhttp://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/reference/basics/srb/index.htmlhttp://www.astronautix.com/craft/polyus.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buranhttp://www.nasa.gov/http://www.lockheedmartin.com/data/assets/ssc/Orion/Toolkit/AsteroidCovhi.jpghttp://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1109/14heavylift/http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/awx/2011/06/16/awx_06_16_2011_p0-337088.xml&channel=spacehttp://www1.nasa.gov/images/content/110876main_image_feature_287_ajhfull.jpghttp://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/rocket/BottleRocket/Shari/propulsion_act.htmhttp://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/CosmosNotes/sputnik.htmhttp://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/basics/bsf3-2.phphttp://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vostok_rocket_drawing.pnghttp://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2002/06nov_ssme/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_main_engine

End

History of RocketryHistory of Rocketry

A balloon provides a simple example of how a rocket engine works. After the balloon is blown-up and tied, the balloon is in equilibrium; it does not move by itself. When the balloon is untied, the air trapped inside the balloon pushes out the open end, causing the balloon to move forward. The force of the air escaping is the "action;” the movement of the balloon forward is the "reaction" predicted by Sir Isaac Newton's Third Law of Motion stating that for every action (force) in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction.

How it Works

IntroductionA rocket or rocket vehicle is a missile, aircraft or other vehicle that obtains thrust by the reaction of the rocket to the ejection of fast moving fluid exhaust from a rocket engine. Chemical rockets create their exhaust by the combustion of rocket propellant. The action of the exhaust against the inside of combustion chambers and expansion nozzles accelerates the gas to extremely high speed and exerts a large reactive thrust on the rocket.

Today's rockets are remarkable collections of human ingenuity that have their roots in the science and technology of the past. They are natural outgrowths of literally thousands of years of experimentation and research on rockets and rocket propulsion.

Equilibrium

Reaction Action