The History of Rockets;
The Space Age Begins.

Four individuals who were very instrumental in the advancement of the history of rockets were Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Robert Goddard, Wernher Von Braun and Hermann Oberth. Tsiolkovsky, while never having built a rocket himself, was the first to develop the basic equations and theory for the beginning of modern rocketry. And Goddard, who at the time was unaware of Tsiolkovsky’s work, was a more mechanically oriented individual, developing working rocket models. Both Oberth and Von Braun were to become revolutionary leaders in the German contributions to rocket science, which were many.

As fate would have it, both Tsiolkovsky and Goddard were inspired by science fiction stories of the day. Tsiolkovsky, through his very broad and extensive reading, had read Jules Verne’s "From the Earth to the Moon", and concluded that space travel was a possibility and in fact, that it was man’s destiny, and rockets would be the way to pull it off. Goddard's interest in rockets began in 1898 when, as a 16-year-old, he read the latest publication of that early science fiction writer, English novelist H.G. Wells. The book, which so excited Goddard, was later made into a 1938 radio program that nearly panicked our entire nation when it was broadcast. Orson Well's too realistic rendition of the "War of the Worlds" still causes many to shudder. And science fiction plays a part in the history of rockets. As the 20th Century began, Wilbur and Orville Wright were preparing to become the first men to fly. Goddard, however, was already designing rockets to probe the upper atmosphere and delve into space.

Both of these men came to the same conclusion independently, that if rocketry was going to have a future, liquid fuels would have to power them. Solid fuels of the day just did not have the power needed to accomplish the tasks that both men dreamed of. And by March of 1926 Goddard, in point, launched the first liquid fueled rocket ever, from his Aunt’s farm in Auburn, Mass. And guess what, it flew. It flew roughly 152 feet, which coincidentally, was about the same distance as the Wright Brothers, first historic flight.

While Goddard, in America, was advancing the history of rockets and refining his experiments, Oberth and Von Braun, in Germany, were propelling the Germany Rocket Society’s knowledge and experience in liquid fueled rocketry. Although, probably unknown to them at the time, they were setting the stage for the German military’s interest in weapons of destruction. Through the military’s maneuvering of what became their most powerful project, the first A4 rocket flew in March of 1942. This program can fairly be said to mark the beginning of the space age. The A4, the first successful ballistic rocket, is the ancestor of practically every rocket flown in the world today. Production of the A4 began in 1943 and the first A4s, which were renamed, with the more commonly known term, “The German V2s”. They were launched against London in September 1944. The V-2 offensive came too late to affect the course of the war, but later this rocket was to become the stepping stone for the American Space Program.

By April 1945, the German Army was in full retreat and Von Braun and his rocket experts (over 100) were waiting for the end. But as luck would have it, Von Braun’s brother, Magnus, had managed to contact nearby American forces and the entire rocket team entered American lines and consequently, safety. Through the course of events over the next many months, Von Braun’s team began setting up shop at Fort Bliss, near El Paso, Texas and enough parts to build nearly 100 V-2s began piling up near Las Cruces, New Mexico. Von Braun and his team were relocated to the White Sands Proving Ground to begin work on assembling and launching V-2s. On April 16, 1946 the first V-2 was launched and the US space program was underway.

During the early fifties, the Army determined that more room for missile launching and experimenting was needed. So, launching operations moved to Florida and the now famous, Cape Canaveral was formed. Von Braun and his associates were also moved to a post just outside a small Alabama cotton town called Huntsville, where Von Braun would remain for the next twenty years. Von Braun’s team would continue to work for the Army for the next several years, perfecting the V-2 rocket into other successful configurations, one of which, launched America’s first satellite, Explorer I.

In 1958 NASA was formed and Von Braun and crew were transferred from allegiance with the military to this new civilian agency. With everything that had been learned with the V-2 and other military predecessors, the rocket scientists started looking toward putting a man into space, which was the natural next step for the history of rockets. It was here at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama that America’s space program would take shape, develop and become what it is known as today.

In 1961 right after Alan Sheppard’s history making space flight, President John Kennedy committed America and NASA to putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade. With this kind of support, the rocket scientists at Marshall, charged ahead through the Mercury Program, the Gemini Program and the Apollo Program to fulfill Kennedy’s commitment and landed a man on the moon on July 20, 1969.

As the 1970s would progress, NASA’s space program would see many ups and downs. We would see the last of the manned missions to the moon and the advent of a revolutionary new transportation system, that would keep the manned space program locked into Earth orbit with a new breed of Astronauts. “The Space Shuttle” would become NASA’s mainstay program and the moon would remain in America's past history of rockets and has yet to be considered as part of the future. Carry on to my next page to get a glimpse of where the history of rockets stands today.

Bookmark this site and come back often. And feel free to sign up for my free ezine, “Intrepid Journey” in the form below. This will be a month to month continuation of what is happening in the world of space travel & rockets. Cruise my site and enjoy. Can’t find something you would like to know about? Hit my contact me (put link to contact me page here) page in the menu at the left and let me know.