The dawn of space travel

To show how Rocket technology began and advanced through the Cold War.

 The Chinese invented the first rockets that ran on gun powder.  They mainly used those rockets for entertainment as fireworks.

 Robert Hutchings Goddard launched the first liquid rocket on March 16, It flew 41 feet at 60 mph.  He and two other physicists continued to develop more rockets that flew higher and faster.  They made rockets that could fly at speeds faster than 700mph, breaking the sound barrier  They Also developed rocket technology such as Propellant pumps, gyroscopic controls, and gimbal systems that would be used in the Space Race.

ROBERT’S WORK LED TO THE CREATION OF LIQUID ROCKET ENGINES AND SOLID ROCKET ENGINES SOLID ROCKETLIQUID ROCKET Solid Fuel Nozzle Ignitor Airway

 Carry Fuel and Liquid oxygen inside of them.  These two fuels flow through pipes to a chamber where they are mixed together.  When proper proportions are achieved, the ignitor sparks and fires the rocket.

 A solid rocket carries its fuel in a solid state.  The ignitor on the top ignites the solid fuel causing it to burn.  The thrust generated from the fuel is forced through the small airway out the nozzle.

 Along with these inventions, Robert worked with the Navy developing Jet-assisted takeoff  During WWII, Germany made the V-2 rocket that was used to bomb Germany  Captain Charles E. Yeager, of the U.S. Air force broke the sound barrier in the X-1 rocket powered airplane in 1947  Later the X-15 rocket propelled airplane would reach 4,520mph, six times the speed of sound.

 After WWII, Russia and America were the top two strongest nations in the world.  Conflict soon arose between the two nations because of their governing ideals, America which believed in freedom and democracy, while Russia followed a Communistic Dictatorship. This started the Cold War.  In 1957, The Russians carried the first artificial satellite into space, Sputnik 1. Starting the Space Race

 Russia developed long range missiles known as the R-7 which had two firing stages.  In 1957, the Russians sent Sputnik 1 into orbit on a Rocket designed very similar to the R-7 missile.  A month later that year they sent up another satellite into space and a dog named Laika, proving creatures could survive outer space.  on April 12, Soviet air force pilot Yuri A. Gagarin became the first man in space aboard Vostok 1.

 In 1945, after WWII, the Navy began to tamper with rockets and began to develop staged rockets, rockets that would fire more than once during their flight.  America developed NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) to head our space programs.  America sent Explorer 1 into space aboard their own rocket named Juno 1 on Jan, 31,  America sends Alan B. Shepard Jr. into space aboard a rocket named Freedom 7  The Gemini Projects practiced Rendezvous in space and experimented with how two spaceships could link together and how astronauts get from one capsule to another.

 Russia had dominated the space race so far. But America was determined to out do them.  John F. Kennedy announced that within the next decade we would go to the moon. A daring plan to try and beat the Russians.

 The Apollo Project developed the Saturn 5 rocket that would carry three men to the moon.  It was the most powerful rocket at the time, able to carry a 100,000 lb. capsule.  Thanks to its three stages, it was able to hit a top speed of 23,400 mph at its final stage.

 The top of the rocket carried three separate modules  The command module held the three crew members as they flew through space toward the moon. They would also return to Earth in this capsule.

 The next stage of the three different modules was the Lunar module.  This module carried Buzz and Armstrong down to the moon’s surface and it carried them back up to toward the command module.

 Attached right behind the Command module, the service module looked like a giant can with one nozzle at the back.  This module contained the liquid rocket motor that propelled the three astronauts toward the moon.

 Space Shuttles have come a long way.  The shuttle can fly like a rocket to get into space and lands like a plane when returning toward earth. Making them reusable.  They are used to preform experiments in outer space and shuttle equipment into space such as satellites.

 The international space station allows nations across the world to preform experiments in space. Their advancements will improve our scientific knowledge and our future.  It is also one of the first colonies in space.

 World Book 2009, © 2009 The Software Mackiev Company.  A History of the U.S. 9 Written by Joy Hakim, Edited by Christopher Caines © 1995, 1999 by Joy Hakim. Published by Oxford University Pres, Inc.  A History of the U.S. 10 Written by Joy Hakim, © 2006 by Joy Hakim, Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York.  Pictures from Wikipedia.org