The beginnings of rocketry took place more than 2000 years ago, although it has been in the last seventy years that these machines have been used for space exploration. Today, these machines are used to reach other planets in our solar system. In addition, they are capable of landing and even returning to Earth alone.
Early rocketry
In 400 BC, Archytas of Tarentum, a Greek philosopher and mathematician, invented the first self-propelled flying machine of antiquity. It was a wooden pigeon that could fly thanks to water vapor.
However, historians believe that the Chinese were the first to develop modern rockets in the 1st century AD. These were used in religious festivals, so they were similar to fireworks. During the following years, rockets were used primarily as military weapons.
Rocket boosters
In the modern era, three main rocket boosters stand out: Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935), Robert Goddard (1882-1945) and Hermann Oberth (1894-1989). Unfortunately, only one of the three lived long enough to see the application of rockets in space exploration.
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, a Soviet physicist, published more than 500 works related to space travel. In addition, he also developed ‘the rocket equation’, a mathematical equation that describes the relationship between the speed and mass of the rocket.
For his part, Robert Goddard was an American physicist who is credited with creating the first liquid-fueled rocket. It was successfully launched on March 16, 1926. It also developed 214 patents, including a multi-stage rocket and the liquid fuel rocket.
On the other hand, Hermann Oberth focused his research on multi-stage rockets and how to use a rocket to escape from Earth. His V-2 rocket was used by Nazi Germany during World War II. Oberth lived several decades after space exploration began and saw rockets carry people to the moon.
Rockets in space
After World War II, several German scientists emigrated to both the Soviet Union and the United States, assisting those countries in the space race of the 1960s. In that battle, both countries competed for the conquest of space to demonstrate their technological and military superiority.
Although rockets worked well inside Earth, figuring out how to send them out of space proved difficult. However, over time they managed to progress and both countries sent their first rockets full of animals (mainly dogs and monkeys). Finally, Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first man to reach space in 1961, aboard the Vostok-K rocket. Three weeks later, Alan Shepard, an American astronaut, made his first suborbital flight.
Today rockets are used to send spacecraft further out of our solar system, reaching dozens of moons and planets. For this reason, astronomers have images of all the planets and of numerous moons, comets, and asteroids. In addition, thanks to advanced rockets, the Voyager spacecraft was able to leave our solar system and reach interstellar space.
