Timeline of Rockets - Leaving Earth Behind

Timeline of Rockets - Leaving Earth Behind 3000 BCE Babylonian astrologer-astronomers begin making methodical observations of the skies. 2000 BCE Babylonians develop a zodiac. 1300 BCE Chinese use of firework rockets becomes widespread. 1000 BCE Babylonians record sun/moon/planetary movements - Egyptians use sun clock. 600-400 BCE Pythagoras of Samos sets up a school. Parmenides of Elea, a student, proposes a spherical Earth made from condensed air and divided into five zones. He also sets forth ideas for stars being made of compressed fire and a finite, motionless, and spherical universe with illusory motion. 585 BCE Thales of Miletus, a Greek astronomer of the Ionian school, predicts the angular diameter of the sun. He also effectively predicts a solar eclipse, frightening Media and Lydia into negotiating for peace with the Greeks. 388-315 BCE Heraclides of Pontus explains the daily rotation of the stars by assuming that the Earth spins on its axis. He also discovers that Mercury and Venus revolve around the Sun instead of the Earth. 360 BCE Flying Pigeon (device that uses thrust) of Archytas made. 310-230 BCE Aristarchus of Samos proposes that the Earth revolves around the Sun. 276-196 BCE Eratosthenes, a Greek astronomer, measures the circumference of the Earth. He also finds the differences between planets and stars and prepares a star catalog. 250 BCE Herons aeolipile, which used steam power, was made. 150 BCE Hipparchus of Nicaea tries to measure the size of the sun and the moon. He also works on a theory to explain planetary motion and composes a star catalog with 850 entries. 46-120 AD - Plutarch sets forth in his De facie in orbe lunae (On the Face of the Moons Disk) 70 AD, that the moon is a small Earth inhabited by intelligent beings. He also puts forth theories that lunar markings are due to defects in our eyes, reflections from the Earth, or deep ravines filled with water or dark air. 127-141 AD Ptolomy publishes Almagest (aka Megiste Syntaxis-Great Collection), which states that the Earth is a central globe, with the universe revolving around it. 150 AD Lucian of Samosatas True History is published, the first science fiction story about Moon voyages. He also later does Icaromenippus, another moon-voyage story. 800 AD Baghdad becomes the astronomical study center of the world. 1010 AD The Persian poet Firdaus publishes a 60,000-verse epic poem, Sh_h-N_ma, about cosmic travel. 1232 AD Rockets ( arrows of flying fire) used at the siege of Kai-fung-fu. 1271 AD Robert Anglicus attempts to document surface and weather conditions on planets. 1380 AD T. Przypkowski studies rocketry. 1395-1405 AD Konrad Kyeser von Eichstdt produces Bellifortis, describing many military rockets. 1405 AD - Von Eichstdt writes about sky-rockets. 1420 AD - Fontana designs various rockets. 1543 AD - Nicolaus Copernicus publishes De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Orbs), reviving Aristarchus heliocentric theory. 1546-1601 AD - Tycho Brahe measures positions of stars and planets. Supports heliocentric theory. 1564-1642 AD - Galileo Galilei first uses the telescope to observe the skies. Discovers sunspots, four major satellites on Jupiter (1610), and Venus phases. Defends Copernican theory in Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo (Dialogue of the Two Chief Systems of the World), 1632. 1571-1630 AD - Johannes Kepler derives the three great laws of planetary motion: planetary orbits are ellipses with the sun as one focus of the directly related to its distance from the Sun. Findings were published in Astronomia nova (New Astronomy), 1609, and De harmonice mundi (On the Harmony of the World), 1619. 1591 AD - Von Schmidlap writes a book about non-military rockets. Proposes rockets stabilized by sticks and rockets mounted on rockets for extra power. 1608 AD - Telescopes invented. 1628 AD - Mao Yuan-I makes the Wu Pei Chih, describing gunpowder and rocket manufacture and use. 1634 AD - Posthumous publication of Keplers Somnium (Dream), a science fiction entry defending heliocentrism. 1638 AD - Posthumous publication of Francis Goodwins The Man in the Moon: or a Discourse of Voyage Thither. It puts forth the theory that the attraction from the Earth is greater than that from the moon Publication of John Wilkins Discovery of a New World a discourse about life on other planets. 1642-1727 AD - Isaac Newton  synthesizes recent astronomical discoveries through universal gravitation in his famed, Philosophiae naturalis principia mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), 1687. 1649, 1652 AD - Cyranos reference to fire-crackers in his novels, Voyage dans la Lune (Voyage to the Moon) and Histoire des États etc Empires du Soleil (History of the States and Empires of the Sun). Both refer to the newest scientific theories. 1668 AD - Rocket experiments near Berlin by the German colonel, Christoph von Geissler. 1672 AD - Cassini, an Italian astronomer, predicts the distance between Earth and Sun to be 86,000,000 miles. 1686 AD - Bernard de Fontenelles popular astronomy book, Entretiens sur la Pluralità © des Mondes (Discourses on the Plurality of Worlds) published. Contained speculations about the habitability of the planets. 1690 AD - Gabriel Daniels Voiage du Monde de Descartes (Voyage to the World of Descartes) discusses the souls separation from the body in order to go to the Globe of the Moon. 1698 AD - Christian Huygens, renowned scientist, writes Cosmotheoros, or Conjectures Concerning the Planetary Worlds, a non-fictional premise on life on other planets. 1703 AD - David Russens Iter Lunare: or Voyage to the Moon uses the idea of catapulting to the moon. 1705 AD - Daniel Defoes The Consolidator tells of an ancient races mastery of Lunar flight and describes various spaceships and legends of lunar flights. 1752 AD - Voltaires Micromà ©gas describes a race of people on the star Sirius. 1758 AD - Emanuel Swedenborg writes Earths in our Solar System, which takes Christian Huygens non-fictional approach to discussing life on other planets. 1775 AD - Louis Folie writes Le Philosophe Sans Prà ©tention, about a Mercurian who observes Earthlings. 1781 AD - March 13:  William Herschel  makes his own  telescope  and discovers Uranus. He also puts forth theories of a habitable sun and life on other planetary bodies. Hyder Ali of India uses rockets against the British (were composed of heavy metal tubes guided by bamboo and had a range of a mile). 1783 AD - First  manned balloon  flight made. 1792-1799 AD - Further use of military rockets against the British in India. 1799-1825 AD - Pierre Simon, Marquis de Laplace, produces a five-volume work to describe the Newtonian system of the world, entitled Celestial Mechanics. 1800 - British Admiral  Sir William Congreve  began working with rockets for military purposes in England. He had originally adapted the idea from Indian rockets. 1801 AD - Rocket experiments carried out by the scientist,  Congreve. Astronomers discover that the large gap between Mars and Jupiter contains a large asteroid belt. The largest, Ceres, was found to have a diameter of 480 miles. 1806 - Claude Ruggiere launched small animals in rockets equipped with parachutes, in France. 1806 AD - First major rocket bombardment done (on Boulogne, using Congreve rockets). 1807 AD - William Congreve  used his rockets in the  Napoleonic Wars, as the British attacked Copenhagen and Denmark. 1812 AD - British rocket fire on Blasdenburg. Results in the taking of Washington D.C. and the White House. 1813 AD - British Rocket Corps formed. Begin by taking action in Leipzig. 1814 AD - August 9: British rocket fire on Fort McHenry prompts Francis Scott Key to write the rockets red glare line in his famous poem. During the War of Independence, the British used the  Congreve rockets  to attack  Fort McHenry  in Baltimore. 1817 - In St. Petersburg, Russian Zasyadko rockets were fired. 1825 AD - Dutch forces bomb the Celebes tribe in the East Indies  William Hale  develops the stickless rocket. 1826 AD - Congreve performs further rocket experiments using stage rockets (rockets mounted on rockets) as set out by Von Schmidlap. 1827 AD - George Tucker, under the pseudonym Joseph Atterlay, represents a new wave in science fiction, through describing a spaceship in A Voyage to the Moon with some Account of the Manners and Customs, Science and Philosophy of the People of Morosofia and other Lunarians. 1828 - Russian Zasyadko rockets were put to use in the Russo Turkish War. 1835 AD - Edgar Allen Poe describes a lunar voyage in a balloon in Lunar Discoveries, Extraordinary Aerial Voyage by Baron Hans Pfaall. August 25: Richard Adams Locke publishes his Moon Hoax. He publishes a week-long serial in the New York Sun, as if written by Sir John Herschel, discoverer of Uranus, about moon creatures. This was under the title, Great Astronomical Discoveries Lately Made By Sir John Herschel. 1837 AD - Wilhelm Beer and Johann von Mdler publish a map of the moon using the telescope at Beers observatory. 1841 - C. Golightly was granted the first  patent  in England for a rocket-airplane. 1846 AD - Urbain Leverrier discovers Neptune. 1865 Jules Verne published his novel, entitled From the Earth to the Moon. 1883 Tsiolkovskys Free Space was published by Tsiolkovsky who describes a rocket that functioned in a vacuum under Newtons Action-Reaction laws of motion. 1895 Tsiolkovsky published a book on space exploration which was entitled Dreams of the Earth and the Sky. 1901 H.G. Wells published his book, The First Man in the Moon, in which a substance with anti-gravity properties launched men to the moon. 1903 Tsiolkovsky produced a work entitled Exploring Space with Devices. Within, he discussed the applications of liquid propellants. 1909 Robert Goddard, in his study of fuels, determined that liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen would serve as an efficient source of propulsion, when properly combusted. 1911 Russian Gorochof published plans for a reaction airplane which operated on crude oil and compressed air for fuel. 1914 Robert Goddard  was granted two U.S. patents for rockets using solid fuel, liquid fuel, multiple propellant charges, and multi-stage designs. 1918 November 6-7, Goddard fired several rocket devices for representatives of the U.S. Signal Corps, Air Corps, Army ordinance and other assorted guests, at the Aberdeen proving grounds. 1919 Robert Goddard  wrote, and then submitted A Method of Attaining Extreme Altitudes, to the Smithsonian Institution for publication. 1923 Herman Oberth published The Rocket into Interplanetary Space in Germany creating discussion on the technology of rocket propulsion. 1924 Tsiolkovsky conceived the idea of multi-stage rockets, and discussed them for the first time in Cosmic Rocket Trains. A Central Committee for the Study of Rocket Propulsion was established in the Soviet Union, in April. 1925 The Attainability of Celestial Bodies, by Walter Hohmann, described the principles involved in interplanetary flight. 1926 March 16:  Robert Goddard  tested the worlds first successful  liquid-fueled rocket, in Auburn, Massachusetts. It attained a height of 41 feet in 2.5 seconds, and it came to rest 184 feet from the launch pad. 1927 Enthusiasts in Germany formed the Society for Space Travel. Hermann Oberth was among the first several members to join. Die Rakete, a rocket publication, began in Germany. 1928 The first of nine volumes of an encyclopedia on interplanetary travel was published by Russian Professor Nikolai Rynin. In April, the first manned, rocket-powered, automobile was tested by Fritz von Opel, Max Valier and others, in Berlin, Germany. In June, the first manned flight in a rocket-powered glider was achieved. Friedrich Stamer was the pilot, and flew about one mile. Launch was achieved by an elastic launch rope and a 44 pound thrust rocket, then a second rocket fired while airborne. Hermann Oberth began acting as consultant to Film Director Fritz Langs Girl in the Moon and built a rocket for premiere publicity. The rocket exploded on the launch pad. 1929 Hermann Oberth published his second book about space travel, and one chapter included the idea of an electric space ship. On July 17, Robert Goddard launched a small 11 ft. rocket which carried a small camera, barometer and thermometer which were recovered after the flight. In August, many small  solid-propellant  rockets were attached to Junkers-33 seaplane, and were used to achieve the first recorded jet-assisted airplane take-off. 1930 In April, The American Rocket Society was founded in New York City by David Lasser, G. Edward Pendray, and ten others for the purpose of promoting interest in space travel. December 17th marked the establishment of a rocket program Kummersdorf. It was also decided that the Kummersdorf proving grounds would be equipped to develop military missiles. On December 30th,  Robert Goddard  fired an 11 foot  liquid fueled rocket, to a height of 2000 feet at a speed of 500 miles per hour. The launch took place near Roswell New Mexico. 1931 In Austria, Friedrich Schmiedl fired the worlds first mail carrying  rocket. David Lassers book, The Conquest of Space, was published in the United States. May 14: VfR successfully launched a  liquid-fueled rocket  to a height of 60 meters. 1932 Von Braun  and his colleagues demonstrated a  liquid fueled  rocket to the German Army. It crashed before the parachute opened, but  Von Braun  was soon employed to develop liquid fueled rockets for the Army. On April 19th, the first  Goddard  rocket with gyroscopically controlled vanes was fired. The vanes gave it automatically stabilized flight. In November, at Stockton N.J., the American Interplanetary Society tested a rocket design that they had adapted from the German Society for Space Travels designs. 1933 The Soviets launched a new rocket fueled by  solid  and  liquid  fuels, which reached a height of 400 meters. The launch took place near Moscow. At Stanten Island, New York, the American Interplanetary Society launched its No. 2 rocket, and watched it attain 250 feet in altitude in 2 seconds. 1934 In December,  Von Braun  and his associates launched 2 A-2 rockets, both to heights of 1.5 miles. 1935 The Russians fired a  liquid, powered rocket that achieved a height of over eight miles. In March, a rocket of Robert Goddards exceeded the speed of sound. In May,  Goddard  launched one of his gyro-controlled rockets to a height of 7500 feet, in New Mexico. 1936 Scientists from the California Institute of Technology began rocket testing near Pasadena, CA. This marked the beginning of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The Smithsonian Institution printed  Robert Goddards  famous report,   Liquid  Propellant Rocket Development, in March. 1937 Von Braun  and his team relocated to a special, purpose-built rocket testing facility at Peenemunde on the Baltic Coast of Germany. Russia established rocket test centers in Leningrad, Moscow and Kazan. Goddard watched one of his rockets fly to higher than 9,000 feet, on March 27. This was the highest altitude attained by any of the  Goddard Rockets. 1938 Goddard  began to develop high speed fuel pumps, in order to better outfit  liquid fueled  rockets. 1939 German scientists fired, and recovered, A-5 rockets with gyroscopic controls that attained seven miles altitude and eleven miles range. 1940 The Royal Air Force used rockets against the Luftwaffe planes in the Battle of Britain. 1941 In July, the first U.S. based launch of a rocket assisted airplane took place. Lt. Homer A. Boushey piloted the craft. The U.S. Navy began developing Mousetrap, which was a ship-based 7.2 inch mortar-fired bomb. 1942 The U.S. Air Force launched its first air-to-air and air-to-surface rockets. After a failed attempt in June, Germans managed to successfully launch an  A-4  (V2) rocket, in October. It traveled 120 miles downrange from the launch pad. 1944 January 1st marked the beginning of long-range rocket development, by the California Institute of Technology. This testing resulted in the Private-A and Corporal rockets. In September, the first fully operational  V2 rocket  was launched against London, from Germany. Over a thousand V2s followed. Between the 1st and 16th of December, twenty four Private-A rockets were test fired at Camp Irwin, CA. 1945 Germany successfully launched the A-9, a winged prototype of the first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, which was designed to reach North America. It reached almost 50 miles in altitude, and achieved a speed of 2,700 mph. The launch was executed on January 24th. In February, the Secretary of War approved the Armys plans to establish the White Sands Proving Grounds, for testing new rockets. On April 1st through 13th, seventeen rounds of Private-F rockets were fired at Hueco Ranch, Texas. On May 5th, Peenemunde was captured by the Red army, but the facilities there were mostly destroyed by the personnel. Von Braun  was captured by the U.S. and relocated to the White Sands proving ground in New Mexico. He was made part of Operation Paperclip. May 8th marked the end of the war in Europe. At the time of the German collapse, more than 20,000 V-1s and V-2s had been fired. Components of approximately 100 V-2 rockets arrived at the White Sands Testing Grounds, in August. On August 10,  Robert Goddard  died due to cancer. He died at the University of Maryland Hospital in Baltimore. In October, the U.S. Army established its first Guided Missile Battalion, with the Army Guard Forces. The Secretary Of War approved plans to bring top German rocket engineers to the U.S., in order to further knowledge and technology. Fifty five German scientists arrived at Fort Bliss and White Sands Proving Grounds, in December. 1946 In January, the U.S. outer space research program was started with captured  V-2 rockets. A V-2 panel of representatives of interested agencies was formed, and more than 60 rockets were fired before the supply was finally exhausted. On March 15, the first American built V-2 rocket was static-fired at the White Sands Proving Grounds. The first American-built rocket to leave the earths atmosphere (the WAC) was launched on March 22nd. It was launched from White Sands, and attained 50 miles of altitude. The U.S. Army began a program to develop two stage rockets. This resulted in the WAC Corporal as the 2nd stage of a  V-2. On October 24th, a V-2 with a motion picture camera was launched. It recorded images from 65 miles above the earth, covering 40,000 square miles. On December 17th, the first night-flight of a V-2 occurred. It achieved a record making 116 miles of altitude, and velocity of 3600 mph. German rocket engineers arrived in Russia to begin work with Soviet rocket research groups. Sergei Korolev built rockets using technology from the  V-2. 1947 The Russians began launch tests of their  V-2 rockets, at Kapustin Yar. Telemetry was successfully used for the first time in a V-2, launched from White Sands. On February 20th, the first of a series of rockets was launched for the purpose of testing ejection canister effectivity. On May 29, a modified V-2 landed 1.5 miles south of Juarez, Mexico, narrowly missing a large ammunition dump. The first V-2 to be launched from a ship was launched from the deck of the U.S.S. Midway, on September 6th. 1948 On May 13th, the first two-stage rocket launched in the Western Hemisphere was launched from the White Sands facility. It was a  V-2  which had been converted to include a WAC-Corporal upper stage. It reached a total altitude of 79 miles. White Sands launched the first in a series of rockets that contained live animals, on June 11. The launches were named Albert, after the monkey that rode in the first rocket. Albert died of suffocation in the rocket. Several monkeys and mice were killed in the experiments. On June 26, two rockets, a  V-2  and an Aerobee were launched from White Sands. The V-2 attained 60.3 miles, while the Aerobee attained 70 miles altitude. 1949 A number 5 two-stage rocket was launched to 244 miles of altitude, and 5,510 mph velocity over White Sands. It set a new record for the time-being, on February 24. On May 11,  President Truman  signed a bill for a 5,000 mile test range to extend from Cape Kennedy Florida. The Secretary of the Army approved the relocation of the White Sands scientists and their equipment to Huntsville, Alabama. 1950 On July 24th, the first rocket launch from Cape Kennedy was a number 8 of the two-stage rockets. It climbed to a total of 25 miles in altitude. A number 7 two-stage rocket was launched from Cape Kennedy. It set the record for the fastest moving man-made object, by traveling Mach 9. 1951 The Jet Propulsion Laboratory of California launched the first of a series of 3,544 Loki rockets, on June 22. The program ended 4 years later, after having fired the most rounds in ten years at White Sands. On August 7, a Navy Viking 7 rocket set the new altitude record for single stage rockets by reaching 136 miles and a speed of 4,100 mph. The launch of the 26th V-2, on October 29, concluded the use of the German rockets in upper atmosphere testing. 1952 On July 22, the first production-line Nike rocket made a successful flight. 1953 A missile was fired from an underground launch facility in White Sands on June 5. The facility was constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers. The first launch of the Armys Redstone missile, on August 20th, was conducted at Cape Kennedy by Redstone Arsenal Personnel. 1954 On August 17th, the first firing of a Lacrosse Group A  missile  was conducted at the White Sands facility. 1955 The White House announced, on July 29th, that President Eisenhower approved plans to launch unmanned satellites to circle the earth, as participation in the  International Geophysical Year. The Russians soon made similar announcements. On November 1st, the first guided missile equipped cruiser was placed in commission at the Philadelphia Naval Yard. On November 8th, the Secretary of Defense approved the  Jupiter  and Thor Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) programs. President Eisenhower placed highest priority on Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) and the Thor and Jupiter IRBM programs on December 1st.