The History of Rockets;
The Final Frontier!
So, where does the history of rockets stand today? And where will they
lead into the near future? Rockets have evolved from simple
gunpowder devices into giant vehicles capable of traveling into outer
space. They have opened the universe to direct exploration by
humankind.
Today's rockets are remarkable collections of human ingenuity. NASA's
Space Shuttle for instance, is one of the most complex systems
achieved throughout the history of rockets. It stands upright on a
launch pad, lifts off as a rocket, orbits Earth as a spacecraft, and
returns as a gliding airplane. The Space Shuttle is a true spaceship. In
years to come other spaceships will join the space arena. The U.S.,
European Space Agency, United Kingdom, and Japan are all working
on vehicles for the early twenty-first century. And this is also the
century of small independent, non government space companies
looking to commercial uses of space at a fraction of the cost of
government programs. All these new and future spaceships have their
roots in the science and technology of the past. They are natural
outgrowths of literally thousands of years of experimentation and
research on rockets and rocket propulsion.
As a home grown space cadet myself, I have always had my head in
the stars. I would love to see starships traveling at warp speed to
distant and unearthly destinations. And as we gain the technological
abilities to push further and further outward into space, we may find
more and more answers to our very existence. One day, it will become
a common occurrence for individuals to work and live in space on a
day to day routine.
As I grew up and entered my informative college years, I wanted to
become a part of the history of rockets. So I geared my educational
efforts toward the technical sciences, which would most prepare me
for a profession in space and rocketry.
This in turn led me to a career in the solid propellant rocket motor
industry. Here I worked on a multitude of military and commercial
launch system projects. Even NASA’s illustrious Space Shuttle solid
rocket boosters were among my endeavors. Most mainstream launch
systems of today are comprised of solid fuel, liquid fuel or a
combination of the two.
Over the years and with a lot of intensive research, solid rocket fuels
have become orders of magnitude more powerful than in the days of
Robert Goddard and his contemporaries. There are still advantages
and disadvantages of either liquids or solids. Once a solid fuel motor is
ignited, it burns without throttling or shut off until the fuel is
exhausted, but boy, they provide one hell of a kick. Liquid fuels on the
other hand, can vary their thrust during firing or be completely shut
down, but large amounts of liquid propellants have to be carried along.
One thing I would like to comment on here is that throughout the
rocket industry, solid fuel rockets are called “motors” and liquid fuel
rockets are called “engines”. It irks me to no end when solids are
called engines and liquids are called motors. I guess that is just a pet
peeve of mine, but it is common among those with the technical
experience.
What next? With the successful launching of Scaled Composite’s
SpacShipOne late in 2004, a new era of the history of rockets is
opening up. At this juncture in time, rocket technology and space
utilization has been so financially costly that only larger government
programs could foot the bill. But with many governments looking to
reallocate their tax dollars, small commercial ventures are looking to
put new technologies and more appropriate business foundations into
place and eliminate much of the red tape and government
bureaucracy. With small lean mean engineering and manufacturing
teams, commercial utilization of space will become a lot less costly and
bring the common person such as you and I into the space flight
equation.
The jury is still out on the future success of these small companies,
but if I were a betting man, my money would be on commercial
development as opposed to government control. As the old saying
goes, I’ve been there done that and I believe commercial control can
bring back the romance, success and human element that has been
lost in big time bureaucracy. I will elaborate more on this new
immerging industry on other pages of this website, so be sure to
bookmark this site. Many interesting things are coming.
Will we every reach the stars? Probably not in yours or my lifetime.
But with time, technology, human ingenuity, inspiration and
perspiration the people of this planet will be able to say, give me warp
5 Mr. Sulu. And the history of rockets will have yet another chapter
written.
And for the Space and Rocket Buff
There is so much more available on the history of rockets, and their current applications, that I believe you will find interesting and exciting. So if you enjoy getting into the nitty gritty of space and rockets, I have researched several sites on the Net that deliver just this. One such site has a multitude of information about the
history of rockets.
I suggest you take a few minutes
and click on over and browse. You should be able to find just about
anything you need, to satisfy your desire for the history of rockets. Be
sure to come back here though. You don’t want to miss my other
pages on the history of rockets.
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.
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