A Pictorial History of Rockets

Introduction

The powerful space rockets we see today are the result of more than 2,000 years of invention, experimentation, and discovery. People first began by simply watching and imagining, but over time their work became more careful and scientific. Bit by bit, these efforts built the foundation for modern rocketry — the science and technology of building and flying rockets.

Building on more than two thousand years of learning, new rockets will help humans travel farther into space, including back to the Moon and on to Mars. These new rockets will be very flexible in what they can do. They will support missions close to Earth, like trips to the International Space Station, and also missions far from home, millions of kilometers into space.

Travel to the stars is already possible in one sense: robotic spacecraft are currently traveling through interstellar space (the space between stars) as you read this. Someday, human explorers may follow the path these robotic spacecraft have already begun.

Many early rocket pioneers are almost forgotten today, but they took bold risks — "pushing the envelope," or going beyond what was thought possible — by building rocket-powered devices for use on land, at sea, in the air, and eventually in space. Once scientists discovered the natural laws that explain how and why objects move, rockets changed from being simple toys and novelties into serious tools for trade, warfare, travel, and scientific research. This progress led to many of the most incredible discoveries in human history.

The short stories that follow give a small glimpse into the long history of rockets. Together, they create a timeline showing major breakthroughs as well as interesting side stories. Sometimes one story leads directly into the next; other times, a story is simply an interesting detour along the path of discovery. Each one shows the kind of imagination and inspiration that eventually helped humans take their first steps into outer space. NASA's new SLS (Space Launch System), along with rockets built by private companies, and all the rockets that will come after them, owe much of their success to the achievements described here.