BRIEF HISTORY OF ROCKETS

Rockets have had a pretty dark past. The first proper rockets, historians agree, were fireworks from China during the first century A.D. Fuel of saltpetre, sulphur and charcoal dust would've made cool noisy projectile to show off at parties. Some dreadful meanie saw the potential of military application and used them to win wars. This surged the birth of missiles. However, the Europeans crafted their own rival rocket weapon. And so on the concept got its fame. 

At the same time, in England, Issac Newton codified the laws of motion for the first time. His third law stated that "Every action has an equal and opposite reaction." neatly sums up how rockets work. Meanwhile, Indians in the Kingdom of Mysore developed their own idea which later on, the British stole and cheerfully bombarded against its enemies during the World War. This fascinating tech could have bought India its fame but the British took the credits. 

Sooner or later, Guns were born. Later came the machine guns and Rockets lost their charm. It was the time while the bold visionaries were positing a very different application for rockets. I hope you guessed it. Astronomers. 

Fiction writers started addressing the stars as our possible destination and how we could leave the boundaries of the Earth. They mentioned that they could use the same principles as Rockets to lift themselves off the ground. 

These people were insane geniuses! This marked the birth of the idea for Rockets. The first rocket built was by the Nazis in Germany during World War II. It turned out to be a magnificent success. 

V2 Rocket

German Scientist Wernher von Braun developed the first rocket name V2 and successfully launched it on 3rd October 1942. Around that date, the cold war had begun and the two world superpowers, Soviet Union and the Americans struggled to reach Space. 

While Soviets put their first Satellite into orbit, the Americans planned the Apollo Mission and led to the first man on the moon. Neil Armstrong. 

The Apollo was a devastating victory. Many explorers were set on fire while their rockets exploded or didn't make it to the moon. The rockets used during the Apollo Mission were the glorious Saturn V. (Saturn "five")

Saturn V

NASA was just born. The American Government offered blank checks to scientists and asked them to fill the amount. They were so desperate for the Apollo Mission. And the result was enormous. Though they had catastrophic failures though they also had some huge successes. 

In total 17 apollo missions were carried out within a span of (1963 - 1972) Few passed and few failed, but it gave birth to hope. A hope that someday we could visit the edge of the space. Since then, the rocket industry has been exploited the most. Many countries have contributed to space since then and India's ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) stands as one of them. The second most successful space research organization after NASA. Likewise, the private sector has shown interest in space since Elon Musk's goal of reusability of rockets goes viral. 

And here we come to the end of this blog. A little slow right! I promise I would improve. Stay tuned if you would love to learn about the rocket and its working. In our next topic, we will cover basic rocket parts and machinery. Later on, we will dive deep into specific parts. 

Thanks for reading, 
Hardik Shah.