Rockets In Ancient times The first rocket like device was invented around 100BC by a Greek named Hero of Alexandria. This device was called an aeolipile. It consisted of a sphere mounted on a water kettle. A fire beneath the kettle turned the water to steam, which then traveled through pipes to the sphere and was expelled through two L-shaped pipes that caused the sphere to rotate. Hero Engine When rockets as we know them were first invented is not known. The first date we know true rockets were used was the year 1232, however it is believed possible that the Chinese had primitive rocket like devices before this. At this time the Chinese were at war with the Mongols. During one of the battles, the battle of Kai-Keng, the Chinese managed to repel the Mongol invaders by using "arrows of flying fire." These fire-arrows were a simple form of a solid-propellant rocket. A tube, capped at one end, was filled with gunpowder. The other end was left open and the tube was attached to a long stick. When the powder was ignited, the rapid burning of the powder produced fire, smoke, and gas that escaped out the open end and produced a thrust. The stick acted as a simple guidance system that kept the rocket headed in one general direction as it flew through the air. It is not clear how effective these arrows of flying fire were as weapons of destruction, but their psychological effects on the Mongols was probably quite large. Chinese Fire-Arrows There were many reports of rocket experiments all through the 13th to 15 centuries. For instance, "According to one ancient legend, a Chinese official named Wan-Hoo attempted a flight to the moon using a large wicker chair to which were fastened 47 large rockets. Forty seven assistants, eac... ... middle of paper ... ...than destruction devices?" So he put a dog on a rocket and launched it into orbit. And he thought to himself "This is good! My neighbors dog will no longer keep me awake at night with his yapping!" Eventually man came up with a brilliant idea. If he can use rockets to put a dog in space, why not that annoying guy from three doors down? And so, rockets were used to put a man into space. But he eventually returned, so rockets were used to put a man on the moon. This kept him away longer, but he still returned within a short period of time. So man thought about the situation, and then proceeded to use rockets to put a house in space, where he could then send the man for months at a time. And to keep him happy they gave him all sorts of scientific experiments to work on, and sent him rockets loaded with food every few weeks. And man looked at this and called it good.
During the late 1950’s the space race began. This was a race to see who could achieve the most space firsts, between the USA and Russia. Sonny, O’Dell, Sherman, Roy Lee and Quentin live in Coalwood, West Virginia.The space race inspired these boys, who decide to call themselves the Rocket Boys, to make their own rockets. The BCMA (Big Creek Missile Agency) was born when Sonny called a meeting with his friends in his room and discussed how he wanted to build rockets. With the help from the a man at the town’s machine shop, Mr.Bykovski, the BCMA built its first rocket, called Auk I. The rocket was named after an extinct bird that was unable to fly. Auk I was equipped with a wooden bullet shaped nose cone, an aluminum tubing body, fins, and a soldered washer at the bottom. The boys mixed together black powder and postage stamp glue to act as fuel for their rocket. The rocket flew up 6ft, and then fell back down. The rocket boys later found out that the reason their rocket stopped flying was because the solder melted. The BCMA was happy with the result from the rocket, because it was their first ever rocket to fly.
middle of paper ... ...2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. The "NASA History" Congressional Digest 90.7 (2011): 196-224. Academic Search Premier -. Web.
The earliest model was the trebuchet. It started by using a large weight on one end of a pivoting arm. The arm was pulled back the missile was placed and then let go. The weight went down, the arm went, and the missile launched. The later model gained its power from a tightly wound skein of rope, hair, and skin. the skeins were twisted incredibly tight and then had a wooden arm up to sixty feet long placed in between them. The arm was pulled back using pulleys and rope, the missile was placed in the wood cup and then the arm was released. The arm sprang to a 90 degree angle where it was stopped by a large padded piece of wood. The arm was then brought back down and fired again.
Works Cited The "Apollo Investigation" - "The 'Apollo Investigation'" Aulis is online at http://www.aulis.com/. 11 Feb. 2001. 9 Dec. 2001 <http://www.aulis.com/>. Dumoulin, Jim. A. The "Apollo 11" Kennedy Space Center Launching A Vision!
Sambaluk, PhD, Micholas Michael. "John F. Kennedy and the Race to the Moon." Air & Space Power Journal 27.5 (2013): 156-58. Print.
One thing that helped build a space rocket was a V-2 rocket built by the Germans during WWII. Throughout the years the V-2 rocket turned into the Saturn V rocket. The Saturn V was a rocket NASA built to send people to the moon. The Saturn V rocket was 363 feet tall and about the height of a 36-story-tall building. The Saturn V that launched the Skylab space station only had two stages. The Saturn V rockets used for the Apollo missions had three stages. Each stage would burn its engines until it was out of fuel and would then separate from the rocket and then the next one will start. If it wasn’t for the V-2 and German scientist, von Braun the USA would probably have not traveled to space. The USA sent astronaut John Glent to circle the Earth in 1962 to retaliate the launching of Sputnik. In 1969, a milestone was reached when the USA sent astronaut Neil Armstrong to the moon. The technology on the ship that took Neil to space was equivalent to a basic calculator built in 1980. They took a 64Kb computer (the moon lander) with them to space. It had approximately 64...
The first man who had a hand in the steam engine was Thomas Savery. In 1698, Savery patented an “engine to raise water by fire”. The machine was used as a pump, which began by water being heated to vaporize it, causing it to fill a tank with steam, then the steam created a vacuum by isolating the tank from the steam source and condensing the steam....
Archimedes. The first one is the Archimedean screw which supposedly could serve as a water pump. The second invention was the compound pulley. The third invention
One of the first inventions but more so of a discovery was the idea of nuclear fusion. It was discovered by a German scientist in february of 1939. This led to the invention of the atomic bomb. The atomic bomb was only used twice both times by the U.S. near the end of the war first on Hiroshima then on Nagasaki(Atomic Bomb).
Outer space has always intrigued the human mind. Ever since humans have inhabited the Earth, they have always looked to the heavens. Ptolemy, who lived over two thousand years ago, dreamed of being with the stars. He said, “I know that I am mortal by nature, and ephemeral; but when I trace at my pleasure the windings to and fro of the heavenly bodies I no longer touch the earth with my feet: I stand in the presence of Zeus himself and take my fill of ambrosia” (Tyson). At that time, reaching the “final frontier” was not even remotely possible. Even in the late 19th century, few people believed such a feat was possible, and yet, a mere half a century later, the first man was launched into space (Irvine 5). How did the human race go from just dreaming about space to actually launching human beings into space in such a short time?
...e V2 rocket. Many modified versions were not only used for warfare, but also for high altitude research. NASA abandoned the idea of the V2 rocket in the early 1950s for space exploration, but without it we certainly would not have some research we have collected today.
The idea of an elevator into space is not a new one. First contemplated by a Russian scientist in 1895,
Attention Getter: Before smart phones, before laptop computers, before the internet, engineering, science and individual courage came together to make history, to put a man on the surface of the moon; An event which has inspired all of mankind and today this inspiration is dwindling.
The modern day space environment is no longer a mystery to humans. Yuri Gagarin of Russia was the first person to experience space adventure in 1961. Since then, technological advances have enabled space exploration, with new discoveries being made from time to time. Scientists have significantly contributed to the development of space tourism. Noteworthy inventions by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have transformed human life through increasing accessibility to space. The agency has made it possible for astronauts to go to the moon and also to walk around planet Mars with robotic automobiles. The invention of the tri-axis control design has had a significant influence on modern space explorations, helping astronauts to effectively focus their satellites on the target. This has been important in increasing efficiency and precision in astronomical discoveries (Birchard, 2003).