History of rockets

Origins of rocketrywere successfully used militarily in India against the
The origin of rockets as most people think of themBritish by Tipu Sultan of the Kingdom of Mysore
dates back over 2,000 years ago when people ofduring the Anglo-Mysore Wars. The British then took
the Han Dynasty in China (206 BCan active interest in the technology and developed it
– 220 AD) beganfurther during the 19th century. The major figure in
experimenting with gunpowder and fireworks. Thethe field at this time was William Congreve. From
explosive force of such pyrotechnics were eventuallythere, the use of military rockets spread throughout
adapted for use in propelling projectiles such asEurope. At the Battle of Baltimore in 1814, the
cannon, musket balls and fire arrows. Withoutrockets fired on Fort McHenry by the rocket vessel
pyrotechnics, modern aviation and spaceflight wouldHMS Erebus were the source of the rockets' red
be impracticable; this is because pyrotechnic devicesglare described by Francis Scott Key in The
combine high reliabilty with very compact andStar-Spangled Banner. Rockets were also used in the
efficient energy storage: essentially in the form ofBattle of Waterloo.
latent hot gases or as a shock wave as in bolt andEarly rockets were very inaccurate. Without the use
cable cutters. Such projectiles do not contain theirof spinning or any gimballing of the thrust, they had a
own fuel, and thus do not meet the definition of astrong tendency to veer sharply off course. The
rocket. Therefore the use of gunpowder to propelearly British Congreve rockets reduced this
projectiles is a precursor to the development of thesomewhat by attaching a long stick to the end of a
first solid rocket.rocket (similar to modern bottle rockets) to make it
According to the writings of the Roman Aulus Gellius,harder for the rocket to change course. The largest
in c. 400 BC, a Greek Pythagorean named Archytas,of the Congreve rockets was the 32-pound (14.5 kg)
propelled a wooden bird along wires using steam.Carcass, which had a 15-foot (4.6 m) stick. Originally,
Likewise a similarity account had also contributed tosticks were mounted on the side, but this was later
Lu Ban. However, those rockets does not appear tochanged to mounting in the center of the rocket,
have been powerful enough for taking off under itsreducing drag and enabling the rocket to be more
own thrust. The ancient Chinese invention ofaccurately fired from a segment of pipe.
gunpowder by Taoist alchemists with special circles,In 1815, Alexander Zasyadko began his work on
and their use of it in various forms of weapons likecreating military gunpowder rockets. He constructed
fire arrows, bombs, and cannons resulted in therocket-launching platforms, which allowed to fire in
development of the rocket.salvos (6 rockets at a time), and gun-laying devices.
Spread of rocket technologyZasyadko elaborated a tactics for military use of
Rocket technology first became known to Europeansrocket weaponry. In 1820, Zasyadko was appointed
following their use by the Mongols Genghis Khan andhead of the Petersburg Armory, Okhtensky Powder
Ögedei Khan when theyFactory, pyrotechnic laboratory and the first Highest
conquered Russia, Eastern Europe, and parts ofAtillery School in Russia. He organized rocket
Central Europe, i.e., Austria. The Mongolians had stolenproduction in a special rocket workshop and created
the Chinese technology by conquest of the northernthe first rocket sub-unit in the Russian army.
part of China and also by the subsequentThe accuracy problem was mostly solved in 1844
employment of Chinese rocketry experts aswhen William Hale modified the rocket design so that
mercenaries for the Mongol military. Reports of thethrust was slightly vectored to cause the rocket to
Battle of Sejo in the year 1241 describe the use ofspin along its axis of travel like a bullet. The Hale
rocket-like weapons by the Mongols against therocket removed the need for a rocket stick,
Magyars.travelled further due to reduced air resistance, and
Additionally, the spread of rockets into Europe waswas far more accurate.
also influenced by the Ottomans at the siege ofIn 1903, high school mathematics teacher Konstantin
Constantinople in 1453, although it is very likely thatTsiolkovsky (1857-1935) published (The Exploration of
the Ottomans themselves were influenced by theCosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices), the
Mongol invasions of the previous few centuries. Theyfirst serious scientific work on space travel. The
appear in literature describing the capture of BaghdadTsiolkovsky rocket
in 1258 by the Mongols.equation—the principle that
For over two centuries, the work of Polish-Lithuaniangoverns rocket
Commonwealth nobleman Kazimierz Siemienowicz,propulsion—is named in his
"Artis Magnae Artilleriae pars prima" ("Great Art ofhonor. His work was essentially unknown outside the
Artillery, the First Part". also known as "The CompleteSoviet Union, where it inspired further research,
Art of Artillery"), was used in Europe as a basicexperimentation, and the formation of the
artillery manual. The book provided the standardCosmonautics Society. His work was republished in
designs for creating rockets, fireballs, and otherthe 1920s in response to Russian interest in the work
pyrotechnic devices. It contained a large chapter onof Robert Goddard. Among other ideas, Tsiolkovsky
caliber, construction, production and properties ofaccurately proposed to use liquid oxygen and liquid
rockets (for both military and civil purposes), includinghydrogen as a nearly optimal propellant pair and
multi-stage rockets, batteries of rockets, and rocketsdetermined that building staged and clustered rockets
with delta wing stabilizers (instead of the commonto increase the overall mass efficiency would
guiding rods).dramatically increase range
At the end of the 18th century, iron-cased rockets