Who and when invented the rocket?

Answer 1

The history of the rocket can be traced back to the Who_invented_the_first_rocketof gunpowder in Ancient China, as the availability of gunpowder to propel projectiles was a precursor to the development of the first solid rocket.

Ninth century Taoist Alchemists discovered black powder while searching for the elixer of life; this accidental discovery led to experiments as weapons such as bomb, cannons, incendiary fire arrows and rocket-propelled fire arrows. The discovery of gunpowder was probably the Who_invented_the_first_rocketof centuries of alchemical experimentation.

Exactly when the first Who_invented_the_first_rocketof rockets occurred is contested. A common claim is that the first recorded use of a rocket in battle was by the Chinese in 1232 against the Mongol hordes at Kai Feng Fu. This is based on an old Mandarin civil service examination question which reads "Is the defense of Kai Feng Fu against the Mongols (1232) the first recorded use of cannon?". Another question from the examinations read "Fire-arms began with the use of rockets in the dynasty of Chou (B. C. 1122-255)--in what book do we first meet with the word p'ao, now used for cannon?".

The first reliable scholarly reference to rockets in China occurs in the Ko Chieh Ching Yuan (The Mirror of Research) which states that in 998 A.D. a man named Tang Fu invented a rocket of a new Who_invented_the_first_rockethaving an iron head. There were reports of fire arrows and 'iron pots' that could be heard for 5 leagues (25 km, or 15 miles) when they exploded upon impact, causing devastation for a radius of 600 meters (2,000 feet), apparently due to shrapnel. The lowering of the iron pots may have been a way for a besieged army to blow up invaders. The fire arrows were either arrows with explosives attached, or arrows propelled by gunpowder, such as the Korean Hwacha.

Less controversially, one of the earliest devices recorded that used internal-combustion rocket propulsion, was the 'ground-rat,' a type of fireworks recorded in 1264 as having frightened the Empress-Mother Kung Sheng at a feast held in her honor by her son the Emperor Lizong

Subsequently, one of the earliest texts to mention the use of rockets was the Huolongjingm written by the Chinese artillery officer Jiao Yu in the mid-14th century. This text also mentioned the use of the first known multistage rocket, the 'fire-dragon issuing from the water' (huo long chu shui), used mostly by the Chinese Who_invented_the_first_rocket

Various version of this kind of rocket were used as weapons and fireworks until in the early twentieth century. Robert Goddard created and launched the first liquid fueled rocket on March 16, 1926. This was the origin of rocketry as we know it today. For this he is called the Who_invented_the_first_rocketof modern rocketry.

The first rocket to reach space was the German V2, created largely by Wernher von Braun to deliver bombs during World War 2. It was launched October 3, 1942

The first rocket to carry a human into space was Soyuz, which carried the Vostok 1 spacecraft with Yuri Gagarin.