900 900 1800 1800 1900 1900 1945 1945 1985 1985 Rockets: Solid Stagnation, Liquid Detour, Solid Return Black powder holds for a thousand years; refrigeration hands Tsiolkovsky the liquid premise, Goddard the fuel; the military brings solids back. 900–1800 compressed. event — click for its reference date being verified faded ribbon = precursor phase before direct rocket use ~700 years late Solid Liquid Paths not taken Theory Fiction 904 · Chinese fire arrows; true rockets by 1232 (Kaifeng) — the 1232 Kaifeng siege is attested; the 'true rocket' reading of fei huo qiang is contested904Chinese firearrows; truerockets by 1232(Kaifeng) 904–1900 · Black powder remains the only propellant — 1000-yr stagnation904–1900Black powderremains the onlypropellant —1000-yr stagnation 1280 · al-Rammah's treatise: rockets, 'self-moving torpedo' — Mamluk Levant: dozens of gunpowder recipes incl. rockets1280al-Rammah'streatise: rockets,'self-movingtorpedo' 1377 · Korean juhwa/singijeon rockets; hwacha by 14511377Koreanjuhwa/singijeonrockets; hwacha by1451 1780–1799 · Mysorean metal-cased rockets1780–1799Mysoreanmetal-casedrockets 1804 · Congreve rockets, Britain1804Congreve rockets,Britain 1844 · William Hale spin-stabilised rocket — note links Hale but gives no date1844William Halespin-stabilisedrocket 1888 · de Laval nozzle (steam turbines) — supersonic expansion — the other half of a real motor; note: without it rocket candy delivers ~80-100 s, capping a staged 13th-c. vehicle at ~10-30 km; the bell was empirically findable only once the propellant rewarded iteration; Goddard adopts it by 19261888de Laval nozzle(steam turbines) 1942 · GALCIT asphalt-perchlorate (Parsons, JPL)1942GALCITasphalt-perchlorate(Parsons, JPL) 1943 · Rocket candy finally made (Colburn); flown 1947 — hobbyist trial and error, ~950 yr after the chemistry was available; Parkin's 1958-59 articles popularise it; 1943 per Nakka's sugar-propellant history (Colburn's own account says 'around 1944')1943Rocket candyfinally made(Colburn); flown1947 1957 · APCP + aluminium breakthrough1957APCP + aluminiumbreakthrough 1960 · Polaris / Minuteman (cold-launch imperative)1960Polaris /Minuteman(cold-launchimperative) 1961 · Scout: first all-solid orbital launcher1961Scout: firstall-solid orbitallauncher 1981 · Shuttle SRBs; STAR-48 upper stages1981Shuttle SRBs;STAR-48 upperstages 1823 · Faraday liquefies gases1823Faraday liquefiesgases 1873 · Linde ammonia refrigeration (breweries)1873Linde ammoniarefrigeration(breweries) 1895 · Linde-Hampson: liquid O2/N21895Linde-Hampson:liquid O2/N2 1898 · Dewar liquefies hydrogen1898Dewar liquefieshydrogen 1926 · Goddard: gasoline + LOX flight1926Goddard: gasoline+ LOX flight 1944 · V-21944V-2 1969 · Apollo (liquid)1969Apollo (liquid) 1000 · Rocket candy materials coexist (Song China) — note: ~2x black powder Isp, no new chemistry1000Rocket candymaterials coexist(Song China) 1250 · Mamluk sugar refining meets rocket craft, Syria — note: barrier was not price; nobody wanted a slow castable burn — nobody wanted a motor1250Mamluk sugarrefining meetsrocket craft,Syria 1658 · Glauber's bench: hydrochloric acid — from which chlorates and then perchlorates could be synthesized; the full material chain for perchlorates only required chlorine to be discovered1658Glauber's bench:hydrochloric acid 1648–1690s · storable concentrated nitric acid (Glauber, 1648) is hypergolic with turpentine (Slare, late 17th c.) — a storable liquid pair three centuries before Tsiolkovsky; the crude medieval acid would not reliably ignite1648–1690sstorable nitric acidhypergolic withturpentine (Slare) 1786–1788 · Berthollet's chlorates; Essonne disaster — chlorates made 1786; the 1788 chlorate gunpowder kills at the Essonne mill; the class is filed as 'explodes when you look at it', and no deflagration-vs-detonation science exists until Berthelot & Vieille (1880s)1786–1788Berthollet'schlorates; Essonnedisaster 1816–1860 · Stadion's perchlorate shelved; Woolwich composite feasible — von Stadion isolates perchlorate 1816 — the prize compound sits on the shelf 126 yr until Parsons; with pitch/asphalt a Woolwich composite was feasible by the 1830s, blocked by Essonne fear and missing burn science1816–1860Stadion'sperchlorateshelved; Woolwichcomposite feasible 1687 · Newton's Principia: laws of reaction motion — the mathematics every rocket treatise draws on; the cannonball thought experiment describes an artificial satellite — physics without ambition1687Newton'sPrincipia: laws ofreaction motion 1813 · Moore: first mathematical rocket treatise1813Moore: firstmathematicalrocket treatise 1861 · Leitch: rockets for space, scientifically — argues from Newton's third law that rockets work in vacuum — independent of fiction, four years before Verne, unread by Tsiolkovsky/Goddard; rediscovered c. 20151861Leitch: rocketsfor space,scientifically 1881 · Kibalchich's death-row rocket sketch — revolutionary's design; Cosmist lore feeding Tsiolkovsky's milieu1881Kibalchich'sdeath-row rocketsketch 1903 · Tsiolkovsky: rocket equation, liquid H2 verdict1903Tsiolkovsky:rocket equation,liquid H2 verdict 1919 · Goddard's Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes — the analysis before the hardware: Smithsonian paper seven years before his flight1919Goddard's Methodof ReachingExtreme Altitudes 1634 · Kepler's Somnium: life in space imagined1634Kepler's Somnium:life in spaceimagined 1638 · Godwin's Man in the Moone — gap-filler: earliest English lunar voyage tale1638Godwin's Man inthe Moone 1657 · Cyrano de Bergerac: Moon by rocket1657Cyrano deBergerac: Moon byrocket 1865 · Verne; then Wells; Russian Cosmists1865Verne; then Wells;Russian Cosmists 1869 · E. E. Hale's Brick Moon: first space station — orbital infrastructure imagined pre-Tsiolkovsky1869E. E. Hale's BrickMoon: first spacestation Kaifeng: Chinese rockets, 1232 al-Rammah's torpedo Congreve rockets at sea Tsiolkovsky Goddard, 1926 V-2, 1944 Scout, 1961 Saturn V, 1969
900 900 1800 1800 1900 1900 1945 1945 1985 1985 Rockets: Solid Stagnation, Liquid Detour, Solid Return Black powder holds for a thousand years; refrigeration hands Tsiolkovsky the liquid premise, Goddard the fuel; the military brings solids back. 900–1800 compressed. event — click for its reference date being verified faded ribbon = precursor phase before direct rocket use ~700 years late Solid Liquid Paths not taken Theory Fiction 904 · Chinese fire arrows; true rockets by 1232 (Kaifeng) — the 1232 Kaifeng siege is attested; the 'true rocket' reading of fei huo qiang is contested904Chinese firearrows; truerockets by 1232(Kaifeng) 904–1900 · Black powder remains the only propellant — 1000-yr stagnation904–1900Black powderremains the onlypropellant —1000-yr stagnation 1280 · al-Rammah's treatise: rockets, 'self-moving torpedo' — Mamluk Levant: dozens of gunpowder recipes incl. rockets1280al-Rammah'streatise: rockets,'self-movingtorpedo' 1377 · Korean juhwa/singijeon rockets; hwacha by 14511377Koreanjuhwa/singijeonrockets; hwacha by1451 1780–1799 · Mysorean metal-cased rockets1780–1799Mysoreanmetal-casedrockets 1804 · Congreve rockets, Britain1804Congreve rockets,Britain 1844 · William Hale spin-stabilised rocket — note links Hale but gives no date1844William Halespin-stabilisedrocket 1888 · de Laval nozzle (steam turbines) — supersonic expansion — the other half of a real motor; note: without it rocket candy delivers ~80-100 s, capping a staged 13th-c. vehicle at ~10-30 km; the bell was empirically findable only once the propellant rewarded iteration; Goddard adopts it by 19261888de Laval nozzle(steam turbines) 1942 · GALCIT asphalt-perchlorate (Parsons, JPL)1942GALCITasphalt-perchlorate(Parsons, JPL) 1943 · Rocket candy finally made (Colburn); flown 1947 — hobbyist trial and error, ~950 yr after the chemistry was available; Parkin's 1958-59 articles popularise it; 1943 per Nakka's sugar-propellant history (Colburn's own account says 'around 1944')1943Rocket candyfinally made(Colburn); flown1947 1957 · APCP + aluminium breakthrough1957APCP + aluminiumbreakthrough 1960 · Polaris / Minuteman (cold-launch imperative)1960Polaris /Minuteman(cold-launchimperative) 1961 · Scout: first all-solid orbital launcher1961Scout: firstall-solid orbitallauncher 1981 · Shuttle SRBs; STAR-48 upper stages1981Shuttle SRBs;STAR-48 upperstages 1823 · Faraday liquefies gases1823Faraday liquefiesgases 1873 · Linde ammonia refrigeration (breweries)1873Linde ammoniarefrigeration(breweries) 1895 · Linde-Hampson: liquid O2/N21895Linde-Hampson:liquid O2/N2 1898 · Dewar liquefies hydrogen1898Dewar liquefieshydrogen 1926 · Goddard: gasoline + LOX flight1926Goddard: gasoline+ LOX flight 1944 · V-21944V-2 1969 · Apollo (liquid)1969Apollo (liquid) 1000 · Rocket candy materials coexist (Song China) — note: ~2x black powder Isp, no new chemistry1000Rocket candymaterials coexist(Song China) 1250 · Mamluk sugar refining meets rocket craft, Syria — note: barrier was not price; nobody wanted a slow castable burn — nobody wanted a motor1250Mamluk sugarrefining meetsrocket craft,Syria 1658 · Glauber's bench: hydrochloric acid — from which chlorates and then perchlorates could be synthesized; the full material chain for perchlorates only required chlorine to be discovered1658Glauber's bench:hydrochloric acid 1648–1690s · storable concentrated nitric acid (Glauber, 1648) is hypergolic with turpentine (Slare, late 17th c.) — a storable liquid pair three centuries before Tsiolkovsky; the crude medieval acid would not reliably ignite1648–1690sstorable nitric acidhypergolic withturpentine (Slare) 1786–1788 · Berthollet's chlorates; Essonne disaster — chlorates made 1786; the 1788 chlorate gunpowder kills at the Essonne mill; the class is filed as 'explodes when you look at it', and no deflagration-vs-detonation science exists until Berthelot & Vieille (1880s)1786–1788Berthollet'schlorates; Essonnedisaster 1816–1860 · Stadion's perchlorate shelved; Woolwich composite feasible — von Stadion isolates perchlorate 1816 — the prize compound sits on the shelf 126 yr until Parsons; with pitch/asphalt a Woolwich composite was feasible by the 1830s, blocked by Essonne fear and missing burn science1816–1860Stadion'sperchlorateshelved; Woolwichcomposite feasible 1687 · Newton's Principia: laws of reaction motion — the mathematics every rocket treatise draws on; the cannonball thought experiment describes an artificial satellite — physics without ambition1687Newton'sPrincipia: laws ofreaction motion 1813 · Moore: first mathematical rocket treatise1813Moore: firstmathematicalrocket treatise 1861 · Leitch: rockets for space, scientifically — argues from Newton's third law that rockets work in vacuum — independent of fiction, four years before Verne, unread by Tsiolkovsky/Goddard; rediscovered c. 20151861Leitch: rocketsfor space,scientifically 1881 · Kibalchich's death-row rocket sketch — revolutionary's design; Cosmist lore feeding Tsiolkovsky's milieu1881Kibalchich'sdeath-row rocketsketch 1903 · Tsiolkovsky: rocket equation, liquid H2 verdict1903Tsiolkovsky:rocket equation,liquid H2 verdict 1919 · Goddard's Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes — the analysis before the hardware: Smithsonian paper seven years before his flight1919Goddard's Methodof ReachingExtreme Altitudes 1634 · Kepler's Somnium: life in space imagined1634Kepler's Somnium:life in spaceimagined 1638 · Godwin's Man in the Moone — gap-filler: earliest English lunar voyage tale1638Godwin's Man inthe Moone 1657 · Cyrano de Bergerac: Moon by rocket1657Cyrano deBergerac: Moon byrocket 1865 · Verne; then Wells; Russian Cosmists1865Verne; then Wells;Russian Cosmists 1869 · E. E. Hale's Brick Moon: first space station — orbital infrastructure imagined pre-Tsiolkovsky1869E. E. Hale's BrickMoon: first spacestation Kaifeng: Chinese rockets, 1232 al-Rammah's torpedo Congreve rockets at sea Tsiolkovsky Goddard, 1926 V-2, 1944 Scout, 1961 Saturn V, 1969