In the Part 1 of this article series, we saw how the invention of gunpowder was historic for both rocketry and modern weaponry. The Chinese is credited with the discovery and soon due to trade relations and foreign missionaries, gunpowder made its way into Europe. Roger Bacon (1219 – c. 1292), an English philosopher and an advocate of modern scientific method is credited to have made the discovery of gunpowder in Europe around the same time as Chinese.
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| Roger Bacon, Credit: Wikipedia |
WAN HU (16th Century)
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| An illustration of Wan-Hu in his rocket chair Credit: |
Even though it is considered to be a local legend, Wan Hu was a Chinese official during the time of Ming dynasty who purportedly tried to lift-off into sky by strapping rockets to a chair.
On launch day, after the rockets attached to his chair was lit, a sudden explosion followed, after which Wan Hu disappeared. The Chinese myth of 'Man in the Moon' stemmed from this story.
Even though this story should only be considered as a story, the idea of using rockets to propel yourself into space was actively pursued by early pioneers.
Kazimierz Siemienowicz (1600 – 1651)
Multistage rocket design from Artis Magane
Artilleriae pars prima, Credit: Wikipedia
Multistage rocket design from Artis Magane
Artilleriae pars prima, Credit: Wikipedia
Kazimierz was a Polich-Lithuanian military expert whose book on artillery and rocketry was a well-detailed account on the principles of rocketry from Medieval Europe. Artis
Magnae Artilleriae pars prima , the book had designs for multistage rockets, something which was very advanced for his time.
He even went on to suggest that instead of using guiding rods, delta wing stabilizers - what we now call as fins, should be used for stabilizing the rocket during its path.
Tippu's Rockets (late 18th century)
The last three decades of the 18th century saw multiple battles between the armies of British East India Company and Tippu Sultan, the ruler of the provincial state of Mysore in South India. The rockets were much different from the other rockets previously seen by the British. The rockets had range in excess of 2km and higher thrust by using iron tubes.
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| Tippu's rockets raining damage on British EIC army Painting by Charles Hubbell, Credit: |
Even with the rockets, Tippu's armies were defeated at the Battle of Srirangapatanam and Tippu himself killed. With their fall, the British had access to the arsenal of Mysorean rockets which was extensively studied by Britishers. The Indian Mysorean rockets soon made way into a key battle in modern history - the Napoleonic Wars.
Congreve Rockets (early 19th century)
The rockets which were confiscated from Tippu's army were experimented widely by British military experts of which many were unsuccessful in improving the effectiveness of the rockets. Sir William Congreve, headed a R&D program based on the Mysorean rockets at the Woolwich Arsenal's laboratory. The rockets were tipped with pointy steel tips which increased its effect against soft targets.
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| Congreve Rockets from Sir Congreve's original work Credit: Wikipedia |
Congreve rockets were used in many British campaigns and the famous one being, during the Napoleonic Wars.
Until then, almost all of the rocketry innovations were ultimately aimed at improving the damaging effect or were exclusive to military purposes. Jules Verne, the legendary sci-fi fiction writer tried to find some peaceful useful applications of rockets in his books, like lifting people to space and eventually land on the moon. Even though works of fiction, such works were popular and had a profound impact on rocket pioneers to expand the scope of rockets from a mere tool of war to the next biggest discovery of the modern world.
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857 - 1935) - The Father of Rocket Science
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| Konstantin Tsiolkovsky |
Tsiolkovsky is undoubtedly the most key figure in modern rocket science. A mathematics teacher by profession, he devised the most important equation in rocket science - the famous rocket equation, which we would look into detail in the next article. It is interesting to note that he was inspired by the works of Jules Verne and even spent a considerable amount of his early life writing science fiction. Later on, he moved to writing theoretical papers on rocketry, gyroscopes etc.
Robert H. Goddard (1882 - 1945)
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| Robert Hutchings Goddard Credit: Esther Goddard |
Robert Goddard is often called as the 'Father of Modern Rocketry' and it is perfectly suited to him for his achievements. Until then, all rocket flights attempted used solid fuel, mostly gun powder as propellant. Goddard went against the flow and on March 16, 1926 flew the world's first liquid propellant rocket. Even in Goddard, the interest was incubated through the stories of the legendary writer, H. G. Wells - The War of the Worlds being the biggest source of inspiration.
Herman Oberth (1894 - 1989)
Herman Oberth, an Austrio-Hungarian born German physicist and engineer along with
French Robert Esnault-Pelterie, the Russian Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, and the American Robert Goddard is considered to be the founding fathers of modern rocket science and astronautics. He too was inspired from Jules Verne's works and was devoted to promote space travel ever since. His books on the subject, like By Rocket to Space, inspired the youth and acted as a catalyst for promoting space flight among the European public. Rocket clubs sprang up in Germany which eventually led to the breakthrough - V2 rockets.
Wernher von Braun and V2
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| von Braun and V2, Credit: BBC |
It was the height of World War 2. Nations were racing to develop new weapons which could win the war for the side they wee fighting for. Germany already had rocket socities around the country working on using developing rockets which could hit England and its territories. Wernher von Braun headed a team which developed the Vergeltungswaffe 2 or popularly known as V2. The rocket used a mixture of alcohol and liquid oxygen as fuel and could deliver warheads weighing up to 1 ton across a distance of 200 miles.
However, the rockets couldn't impact the war that much since they wee developed during the end period of the war. After Nazi Germany capitulated, American and Soviet forces rushed towards these research centers hoping to get the technology behind these rockets before the other side could. Eventually, von Braun and his team moved to USA under Operation Paperclip and Soviet Union was left out with the equipment and leftover technology from these research bases.
Von Braun was a huge influence in developing the space program of United States. He had a huge role in chalking out the future of space missions of not only USA but also the whole world. We all might know of the most powerful rocket ever built, the Saturn V, the rocket which was designed by von Braun himself.
Sergei Korolev (1907 - 1966)
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| Sergei Pavlov Korolev Credit: RSC Energia |
Korolev to Soviet Union was what von Braun was to USA. Rummaging from what was left off from German research centers, Soviet Union realized that America had an upper hand over them when most of the scientists moved to USA soon after the end of the war. They needed someone who could put the Soviets in the same level as that of the Americans and Korolev was that guy.
Korolev is a legend in a rocket science circles and it was under his command, did the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, put Laika in space and flew Gagarin into space. In fact, he was so important to the Soviet space program, his identity was withheld even from Soviet public so as to keep him safe from enemy spies.
Korolev is remembered particularly for development of the R-7 Semyorka missile, which was the world's first ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) which later gave way to the venerable Soyuz rockets that Russians uses now.
We are missing out many rocket pioneers of other nations. The list is kept short for the sake of easiness to understand and get a basic idea of the history. We would bring exciting articles about the history of rocketry later on and we expect your curiosity!
In the next article, we would look at the science behind rocket flight!
Stay tuned!
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