Brief History of the Rocket and Rocketry
The beginnings of the history of rocketry are shrouded in the mists
of time. Mongol
chronicles from 1232 report that the Chinese used "arrows of flying fire"
against them in their defense of the city of K'ai-feng . Since they also
reported another weapon used which they called "heaven shaking thunder",
historians have concluded that this was the first recorded use of gunpowder
to make primitive bombs and rockets in history.
The Mongols were quick to grasp the new technology, using rockets against
Russia in the Battle of Legnica in 1241. The Arabs used rockets in their
Iberian campaigns in 1249, and other European powers soon followed.
The construction techniques of these first rocket was not recorded, and no
rockets have survived. They were probably made of tightly wrapped paper
tubes packed with gunpowder. These rockets had a very limited range, and
no directional control.
A German army colonel, history has not recorded his name,
made the first major construction
improvement in 1668, constructing rockets from wood which had been
wrapped in glue soaked sailcloth. The rocket weighed 132 pounds and
contained a 16 pound charge of powder. These rockets had more range than
previous one, but rockets were still little used, except in the fireworks
displays which had become popular in Europe during this time.
An Indian prince - Hyder Ali, made the next major improvement in rocket
design. His hammered soft iron rocket body was the first metal body
rocket. It could develop higher internal pressure than earlier rockets
enabling it to hold a larger powder charge, giving a range of almost a
mile. This weapon still had no directional control, but was very
effective against cavalry troops if fired em masse either in the air, or
sent skimming over the ground. The British found this out, to their
dismay, in the wars against India in the 1700’s.
This weapon caused a bit of a stir in Europe, giving Sir William Congreve
an incentive to experiment with rocket construction. Due to his efforts,
black powder mixes and rocket construction were improved and standardized.
He developed timed explosives and incendiary charges. He designed eight
different rocket sizes with ranges from 1/2 to two miles.
The Congreve rocket was used in many military campaigns in Europe and
elsewhere. The British Army organized rocket brigades to bombard enemy
positions. It was the Congreve rocket bombardment during the war of 1812
which inspired Francis Scott Keye to write The Star Spangled Banner.
William Hale designed rocket fins which would cause the rocket to spin,
around 1850, giving the rocket more stability, thus improving its
accuracy.
Advances in artillery pieces outpaced rocket design improvements and
artillery displaced the rocket. Rockets still found use in swampy or
mountainous terrain where the heavy artillery pieces were hard or
impossible to transport.
A Swede, Wilhelm Unge, made the next improvement in the rocket. He called
his creation an "aerial torpedo", made for defense against dirigibles. His
improvements consisted of an improved rocket motor nozzle and a switch
from gunpowder to a nitroglycerin based propellant. The Krupp armament
firm in Germany obtained the patents for this devise in 1909, and
experimented further.
About this time, an American named Robert Hutchings Goddard began
experiments in rocketry. During W.W.I, he developed small rockets which
were the later developed into the bazooka.
Besides Goddard, others in the US were experimenting with rockets. Elmer
and his son Lawrence Sperry developed an "Arial torpedo" in 1917, which
utilized gyroscopic control to allow the rocket to fly to a preselected
target. Charles F. Kettering in 1918 designed a rocket which used both
gyroscopic and barometric control to achieve both altitude and directional
control.
By the late nineteenth century, scientists were envisioning rocket powered
space flight. This dream began to take shape with additional work from
Goddard, who developed the liquid fuel rocket in the 1920's, with the
first launch in 1926. He also launched the first instrument carrying
rocket in 1929. He proposed the first serious plan to reach the moon
with rocket powered flight, and it was Goddard more than anyone else who
laid the foundation of the modern space program.
The Germans, because of a concentrated effort, were ahead of everyone
else in rocket technology at the beginning of W.W.II. Under the direction
of Dr. Werner Von Braun, the German Army developed a long range ballistic
missile on the isolated island of Peenemunde in the late 1930’s.
The Germans utilized a variety of rockets during the war, the most
‘famous’ of which was the V-2, which scourged Britain. Most of these
rockets were fired from mobile launchers, which could be hidden from
Allied air attack, and moved into position when needed.
After the war, most of the initial rocket research was into
intercontinental ballistic missile systems which could deliver nuclear
weapons to faraway places. Surface to air missals were also made for
defense against air attack. Air to air missals were made for blasting other
planes out of the sky, and missals were developed to blast targets from
the airplane to targets on the ground.
The most exciting rocket research, however, was the American and Russian
developments which were to launch men into space, as envisioned by
Goddard, and about a zillion science fiction writers. The rocket carried
men to the moon in 1969, and will enable us to visit the other planets. The rocket and the
science of rocketry has been an important story in our history and will become more important
as time advances.
Early Rocket History And The American Space Program.
Back to Rocketry Index.
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