The first rockets were made by the Chinese hundreds of years ago. Rockets were first used in warfare in 1232 in seige of Kai-fung-fu. These early rockets were solid propelled rockets. In 1380 T. Przypkowski becomes the first European to study rocketry. In the late 1700's and early 1800's rockets were starting to be used more and more in military activity.

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The first liquid rocket.

 

Robert Goddard, seen in the picture, created the first liquid rocket. the first liquid rocket was launched on March 16, 1926. In 1909 Goddard first stated that liquid nitrogen and liquid hydrogen would be efficient propellers if they are combusted proporly. Through his studies of rockets and fuels, Goddard made the first successful liquid propelled rockets. Goddard is also credited for inventing the gyro controled rocket.

From 1926 on, the study of rockets grew emensly. In 1933 the Soviets launched a rocket that reached a height of 400 meters. A year later Von Braun launched two rockets that reached an altitude of 1.5 miles. The next year the Soviets launched another rocket that reached a height of over eight miles. In that same year, one of Goddard's rockets exceded the speed of sound.These achievements led to rocket testing facilties in Russia and Germany.

 

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 In World War II the improved rockets came into use as military weapons. The Germans invented two of the most famous rockets of the war. These rockets were the V1 and the V2. The more famous of the two was the V2. The V2 could travel more than 120 miles. These rockets were used to bomb London. After the war the V2 was used to design many more misiles.

In 1948 the first two stage rocket was launched. It was a V2 which was converted to include another stage. At the same testing site the rockets that were launched also included test animals in them. This led to President Truman to dedicate a 500 mile test range at Cape Canaveral Florida. After years of studies the U.S. planed to launch a satelite that would orbit the earth in 1955. Two years later the Russians were the first to lauch a satelite that orbited the earth. In 1957, the Russian's Luna 2 crash landed on the moon. This was the first human made object to make it to the moon. John Glenn became the first American to otrbit the Earth in 1962. The first landing on the moon occured in 1969 after a year of using the Saturn V rocket. In order to get stuff into space they used many different rockets.

 

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Rockets have come a long way from the early ones created by the Chinese to the space travel of today.