Editing Rocket (section)

== History ==

{{main|History of rockets}}
{{further|Timeline of rocket and missile technology}}

[[File:Oldest depiction of rocket arrows.jpg|thumb|upright|Rocket arrows depicted in the ''[[Huolongjing]]'': "fire arrow", "dragon-shaped arrow frame", and a "complete fire arrow"]] In China, [[gunpowder]]-powered rockets evolved in medieval China under the [[Song dynasty]] by the 13th century. They also developed an early form of [[multiple rocket launcher]] during this time. The Mongols adopted Chinese rocket technology and the invention spread via the [[Mongol invasions]] to the Middle East and to Europe in the mid-13th century.<ref>{{cite web |quote=Rockets appear in Arab literature in 1258 A.D., describing Mongol invaders' use of them on February 15 to capture the city of Baghdad |url= http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/rocket-history.txt |url-status=dead|title= A brief history of rocketry|work= NASA Spacelink|access-date= 2006-08-19|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060805203537/http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/rocket-history.txt|archive-date= 2006-08-05}}</ref> According to Joseph Needham, the Song navy used rockets in a [[military exercise]] dated to 1245. Internal-combustion rocket propulsion is mentioned in a reference to 1264, recording that the "ground-rat", a type of [[firework]], had frightened the Empress-Mother [[Gongsheng]] at a feast held in her honor by her son the [[Emperor Lizong]].<ref>{{cite book |last = Crosby |first = Alfred W. |title = Throwing Fire: Projectile Technology Through History |year = 2002 |publisher = Cambridge University Press |location = Cambridge |isbn = 978-0-521-79158-8 |pages = 100–103}}</ref> Subsequently, rockets are included in the military treatise ''[[Huolongjing]]'', also known as the Fire Drake Manual, written by the Chinese artillery officer [[Jiao Yu]] in the mid-14th century. This text mentions the first known [[multistage rocket]], the [[Huolongchushui|'fire-dragon issuing from the water']] (Huo long chu shui), thought to have been used by the Chinese navy.<ref name="Needham volume 5 part 7 510">Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 510.</ref> 

Medieval and early modern rockets were used militarily as [[Incendiary device|incendiary weapons]] in [[siege]]s. Between 1270 and 1280, Hasan al-Rammah wrote ''al-furusiyyah wa al-manasib al-harbiyya'' (''The Book of Military Horsemanship and Ingenious War Devices''), which included 107 gunpowder recipes, 22 of them for rockets.<ref name=Gunpowder>{{cite web |last= Hassan |first= Ahmad Y |url =http://www.history-science-technology.com/Articles/articles%202.htm |title= Gunpowder Composition for Rockets and Cannon in Arabic Military Treatises In Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries |access-date= March 29, 2008 |author-link= Ahmad Y Hassan |work= History of Science and Technology in Islam |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080226105129/http://www.history-science-technology.com/Articles/articles%202.htm |archive-date= February 26, 2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last= Hassan |first= Ahmad Y |url= http://www.history-science-technology.com/Articles/articles%2072.htm |title= Transfer Of Islamic Technology To The West, Part III: Technology Transfer in the Chemical Industries |access-date= 2008-03-29 |author-link= Ahmad Y Hassan |work= History of Science and Technology in Islam |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080309003120/http://www.history-science-technology.com/Articles/articles%2072.htm |archive-date= March 9, 2008 }}</ref> In Europe, [[Roger Bacon]] mentioned firecrackers made in various parts of the world in the ''[[Opus Majus]]'' of 1267. Between 1280 and 1300, the [[Liber Ignium]] gave instructions for constructing devices that are similar to firecrackers based on second hand accounts.<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44230626 | jstor=44230626 | title='The Soul of Artillery': Congreve's Rockets and Their Effectiveness in Warfare | last1=McCaig | first1=A. D. | journal=Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research | year=2000 | volume=78 | issue=316 | pages=252–263 }}</ref> [[Konrad Kyeser]] described rockets in his military treatise ''[[Bellifortis]]'' around 1405.<ref>{{cite book|last1= Riper|first1= A. Bowdoin Van|title= Rockets and missiles : the life story of a technology|date= 2004|publisher= Greenwood Press|location= Westport|isbn= 978-0-313-32795-7|page= 10}}</ref> [[Giovanni Fontana (engineer)|Giovanni Fontana]], a [[Padua|Paduan]] engineer in 1420, created rocket-propelled animal figures.<ref>{{Citation |last=Grafton |first=Anthony |title=The Devil as Automaton |date=2007 |work=Genesis Redux |pages=46–62 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226720838.003.0003 |access-date=2024-02-18 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |doi=10.7208/chicago/9780226720838.003.0003 |isbn=978-0-226-72081-4|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Battisti |first1=Eugenio |title=Le macchine cifrate di Giovanni Fontana: con la riproduzione del Cod. icon. 242 della Bayerische Staatsbibliothek di Monaco di Baviera e la decrittazione di esso e del Cod. lat. nouv. acq. 635 della Bibliothèque nationale di Parigi |last2=Saccaro Del Buffa Battisti |first2=Giuseppa |last3=Fontana |first3=Giovanni |date=1984 |publisher=Arcadia Edizioni |isbn=978-88-85684-06-5 |location=Milano}}</ref>

The name "rocket" comes from the [[Italian language|Italian]] ''rocchetta'', meaning "bobbin" or "little spindle", given due to the similarity in shape to the bobbin or spool  used to hold the  thread from a spinning wheel. [[Leonhard Fronsperger]] and [[Conrad Haas]] adopted the Italian term into German in the mid-16th century; "rocket" appears in English by the early 17th century.<ref name="Bernhard" /> ''Artis Magnae Artilleriae pars prima'', an important early modern work on [[rocket artillery]], by [[Casimir Siemienowicz]],  was first printed in [[Amsterdam]] in 1650.

[[File:Rocket warfare.jpg|thumb|left|[[Mysorean rockets]] and [[rocket artillery]] used to defeat an East India Company battalion during the Battle of Guntur]]
The [[Mysorean rockets]] were the first successful iron-cased rockets, developed in the late 18th century in the [[Kingdom of Mysore]] (part of present-day India) under the rule of [[Hyder Ali]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|url= https://www.britannica.com/technology/rocket-and-missile-system|title= rocket and missile system {{!}} weapons system|encyclopedia= Encyclopædia Britannica |edition=Online |access-date= 2017-10-29|url-status=live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171031034251/https://www.britannica.com/technology/rocket-and-missile-system|archive-date= 2017-10-31}}</ref> 

[[File:William Congreve at Copenhagen 1807.jpg|thumb|upright| [[Sir William Congreve, 2nd Baronet|William Congreve]] at the [[Battle of Copenhagen (1807)|bombardment of Copenhagen]] (1807) during the [[Napoleonic Wars]]]]
The [[Congreve rocket]] was a British weapon designed and developed by [[Sir William Congreve, 2nd Baronet|Sir William Congreve]] in 1804. This rocket was based directly on the Mysorean rockets, used compressed powder and was fielded in the [[Napoleonic Wars]]. It was Congreve rockets to which [[Francis Scott Key]] was referring, when he wrote of the "rockets' red glare" while held captive on a British ship that was laying siege to [[Fort McHenry]] in 1814.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/rockets-inspired-francis-scott-key-180952399/| title = The Rockets That Inspired Francis Scott Key |work=Air & Space Magazine |last=Winter |first=Frank |date=September 2014 |access-date=22 August 2022}}</ref> Together, the Mysorean and British innovations increased the effective range of military rockets from {{convert|100|to|2000|yd}}.

The first mathematical treatment of the dynamics of rocket propulsion is due to [[William Moore (British mathematician)|William Moore]] (1813). In 1814, Congreve published a book in which he discussed the use of multiple rocket launching apparatus.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://mca-marines.org/blog/gazette/mlrs-and-maneuver-warfare/|title=MLRS and Maneuver Warfare |last=Morris |first=Charles W. |publisher=Marine Corps Association |access-date=22 August 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/57791/57791-0.txt |title=The Details of the Rocket System |last=Congreve |first=William |orig-date=1814 |date=2018 |publisher=Project Gutenberg}}</ref> In 1815 [[Alexander Dmitrievich Zasyadko]] constructed rocket-launching platforms, which allowed rockets to be fired in [[salvo]]s (6 rockets at a time), and gun-laying devices. [[William Hale (British inventor)|William Hale]] in 1844 greatly increased the accuracy of rocket artillery. [[Edward Mounier Boxer]] further improved the Congreve rocket in 1865.

[[William Leitch (scientist)|William Leitch]] first proposed the concept of using rockets to enable human spaceflight in 1861. Leitch's rocket spaceflight description was first provided in his 1861 essay "A Journey Through Space", which was later published in his book ''God's Glory in the Heavens'' (1862).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Leitch |first1=William |title=God's Glory in the Heavens |date=1862 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vuAUAQAAMAAJ }}</ref> [[Konstantin Tsiolkovsky]] later (in 1903) also conceived this idea, and extensively developed a body of theory that has provided the foundation for subsequent spaceflight development.

The British [[Royal Flying Corps]] designed a guided rocket during [[World War I]]. [[Archibald Low]] stated "...in 1917 the [[British unmanned aerial vehicles of World War I|Experimental Works]] designed an electrically steered rocket…  Rocket experiments were conducted under my own patents with the help of [[Frank Arthur Brock|Cdr. Brock]]."<ref>'Flight  3 October 1952,  [[Archibald Low|A. M. Low]], "'The First Guided Missile'   p. 436</ref> The patent "Improvements in Rockets" was raised in July 1918 but not published until February 1923 for security reasons. Firing and guidance controls could be either wire or wireless. The propulsion and guidance rocket eflux emerged from the deflecting cowl at the nose.

[[File:Goddard and Rocket.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Robert Goddard with a liquid oxygen-gasoline rocket (1926)]]
In 1920, Professor [[Robert H. Goddard|Robert Goddard]] of [[Clark University]] published proposed improvements to rocket technology in ''[[A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes]]''.<ref name=goddard/>  In 1923, [[Hermann Oberth]] (1894–1989) published ''[[Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen]]'' (''The Rocket into Planetary Space''). Modern rockets originated in 1926 when Goddard attached a [[supersonic]] ([[de Laval nozzle|de Laval]]) nozzle to a high pressure [[combustion chamber]]. These nozzles turn the hot gas from the combustion chamber into a cooler, [[hypersonic]], highly directed jet of gas, more than doubling the thrust and raising the engine efficiency from 2% to 64%.<ref name=goddard/> His use of [[liquid propellant]]s instead of [[gunpowder]] greatly lowered the weight and increased the effectiveness of rockets.

[[File:RIAN archive 303890 A battery of Katyusha during the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War.jpg|thumb|A battery of Soviet [[Katyusha rocket launchers]] fires at German forces during the [[Battle of Stalingrad]], 6 October 1942]]
In 1921, the [[Soviet]] research and development laboratory [[Gas Dynamics Laboratory]] began developing [[solid-propellant rocket]]s, which resulted in the first launch in 1928, which flew for approximately 1,300 metres.<ref name="RSB_GDL">{{cite web |last1=Zak |first1=Anatoly |title=Gas Dynamics Laboratory |url=http://www.russianspaceweb.com/gdl.html |website=Russian Space Web |access-date=29 May 2022}}</ref> These rockets were used in 1931 for the world's first successful use of rockets for [[jet-assisted takeoff]] of aircraft<ref name="Glushko">{{cite book |last1=Glushko |first1=Valentin |title=Developments of Rocketry and Space Technology in the USSR |date=1973 |publisher=Novosti Press Pub. House |page=7 |url=https://www.amazon.com/Development-rocketry-space-technology-USSR/dp/B0006CHI4I}}</ref> and became the prototypes for the [[Katyusha rocket launcher]],<ref name="Ezo_Katyusha">{{cite web |title=Katyusha rocket launcher. Weapon of Victory: multiple launch rocket system 'Katyusha' |url=https://ezoteriker.ru/en/reaktivnyi-minomet-katyusha-oruzhie-pobedy-reaktivnaya-sistema-zalpovogo-ognya/ |website=ezoteriker |access-date=5 June 2022}}</ref> which were used during [[World War II]].

In 1929, [[Fritz Lang]]'s German science fiction film ''[[Woman in the Moon]]'' was released. It showcased the use of a [[multi-stage rocket]], and also pioneered the concept of a rocket [[launch pad]] (a rocket standing upright against a tall building before launch having been slowly rolled into place) and the rocket-launch [[countdown]] clock.<ref name="Lang profile">[https://www.sky.com/watch/title/series/299ce04f-6462-482a-8973-02d22bacc3d3/the-directors/episodes/season-1/episode-6 "The Directors (Fritz Lang)"]. [[Sky Arts]]. Season 1, episode 6. 2018</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last = Weide| first= Robert | date = Summer 2012 | title = The Outer Limits | journal = DGA Quarterly | location = Los Angeles, California  | pages = 64–71  | publisher = Directors Guild of America, Inc. | url=http://www.dga.org/Craft/DGAQ/All-Articles/1203-Summer-2012/Photo-Essay-Outer-Limits.aspx
}} A gallery of behind-the-scenes shots of movies featuring space travel or aliens. Page 68, photo caption: "Directed by Fritz Lang (third from right), the silent film "[[Woman in the Moon]]" (1929) is considered one of the first serious science fiction films and invented the countdown before the launch of a rocket. Many of the basics of space travel were presented to a mass audience for the first time."</ref> ''[[The Guardian]]'' film critic Stephen Armstrong states Lang "created the rocket industry".<ref name="Lang profile"/> Lang was inspired by the 1923 book ''The Rocket into Interplanetary Space'' by Hermann Oberth, who became the film's scientific adviser and later an important figure in the team that developed the V-2 rocket.<ref>{{cite news |title=Woman in the Moon – Philip French on Fritz Lang's handsomely restored moon-mission yarn |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/nov/23/fritz-lang-woman-in-the-moon-dvd-review-philip-french |access-date=24 July 2022 |work=The Guardian}}</ref> The film was thought to be so realistic that it was banned by the Nazis when they came to power for fear it would reveal secrets about the V-2 rockets.<ref>{{cite news |title=Watch the Silent Film that Brought Rocket Science to the Masses |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/watch-the-silent-film-that-brought-rocket-science-to-the-masses/ |access-date=24 July 2022 |work=Vice}}</ref>

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 141-1880, Peenemünde, Start einer V2.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[V-2 rocket]] launched from [[Test Stand VII]], summer of 1943]]
In 1943 production of the [[V-2 rocket]] began in Germany. It was designed by the [[Peenemünde Army Research Center]] with [[Wernher von Braun]] serving as the technical director.<ref>Ordway, Frederick I., III.; Sharpe, Mitchell R. ''The Rocket Team''. Apogee Books Space Series 36. p. 38.</ref> The V-2 became the first artificial object to travel into space by crossing the [[Kármán line]] with the vertical launch of [[MW 18014]] on 20 June 1944.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780029228951 |url-access=registration |last=Neufeld |first=Michael J. |publisher=The Free Press |year=1995 |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780029228951/page/158 158], 160–162, 190 |isbn=9780029228951 |access-date=15 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191028112702/https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780029228951 |archive-date=28 October 2019 |url-status=live }}</ref> Doug Millard, space historian and curator of space technology at the [[Science Museum, London]], where a V-2 is exhibited in the main exhibition hall, states: "The V-2 was a quantum leap of technological change. We got to the Moon using V-2 technology but this was technology that was developed with massive resources, including some particularly grim ones. The V-2 programme was hugely expensive in terms of lives, with the Nazis using slave labour to manufacture these rockets".<ref name="Space age launch" >{{cite news |first=Richard |last=Hollingham|title=V2: The Nazi rocket that launched the space age |url=https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20140905-the-nazis-space-age-rocket |date=8 September 2014|access-date=26 February 2023 |publisher=BBC}}</ref> In parallel with the German [[guided-missile]] programme, rockets were also used on [[aircraft]], either for assisting horizontal take-off ([[JATO|RATO]]), vertical take-off ([[Bachem Ba 349]] "Natter") or for powering them ([[Me 163]], see [[list of World War II guided missiles of Germany]]). The Allies' rocket programs were less technological, relying mostly on unguided missiles like the Soviet [[Katyusha rocket launcher|Katyusha rocket]] in the artillery role, and the American anti tank [[bazooka]] projectile. These used solid chemical propellants.

The Americans captured a large number of German [[rocket scientist]]s, including Wernher von Braun, in 1945, and brought them to the United States as part of [[Operation Paperclip]]. After World War II scientists used rockets to study high-altitude conditions, by radio [[telemetry]] of temperature and pressure of the atmosphere, detection of [[cosmic rays]], and further techniques; note too the [[Bell X-1]], the first crewed vehicle to break the [[sound barrier]] (1947). Independently, in the  [[Soviet space program|Soviet Union's space program]] research continued under the [[leadership]] of the chief designer [[Sergei Korolev]] (1907–1966).

During the [[Cold War]] rockets became extremely important militarily with the development of modern [[intercontinental ballistic missiles]] (ICBMs). The 1960s saw rapid development of rocket technology, particularly in the Soviet Union ([[Vostok rocket|Vostok]], [[Soyuz (rocket family)|Soyuz]], [[Proton rocket|Proton]]) and in the United States (e.g. the [[X-15]]). Rockets came into use for [[space exploration]]. American crewed programs ([[Project Mercury]], [[Project Gemini]] and later the [[Apollo programme]]) culminated in 1969 with the first crewed  [[Moon landing|landing on the Moon]] – using equipment launched by the [[Saturn V]] rocket.