History of Rockets 1788-1942

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Rockets first began as arrows with gunpowder attached to the ends. It wasn’t until later until they were launched by explosions rather than by bow. Sir Isaac Newton then published the “Phisolophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica” which explained what is now known as the “Universal Laws of Motion”. In 1788 Indian soldiers launched rockets against the British army effectively disorienting them and making it easy for the thirty six thousand-man assault to win the battle. Inventors tried to replicate what they had seen during that Indian-British war, and when an accepted design was ready to be used, the British used rockets against a French fleet of ships launched off of specially designed ships. A specialist ‘Rocket troop’ was formed in 1812 in the battle of Leipzig. In that time the rockets ranged from warhead sizes of three to twenty four pounds. They were attached to wooden guide poles and were launched in pairs on metal A frames. These were the first rockets to be used by the British, who would later turn around and use them against the United States in the war of 1814. They were able to be fired up to two miles but were very inaccurate and were subject to mid-air explosions. Much like the fireworks they started out as. British engineer William Hale designed a rockets that spun, just as bullets and footballs do, so greater distance can be achieved. He did this by drilling tangential holes into outer casing allowing the exhaust to spin the rocket. Later on, the Holes were later replaced with three vanes placed over the exhaust vents. Both the north and the south used rockets in the civil war. But they were getting less and less effective due to conventional artillery and guns becoming more accurate. In 1865 Jules Verne wrote a book where he described astronauts were shot into space from earth to the moon. He accurately described weightlessness and escape

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