1. Leaving the Earth

3. How Rockets Work Newton's Laws of Motion are:
An object at rest tends to remain at rest
An object in motion tends to remain in motion
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction

4. Newton’s Third Law

5. Rockets and Jets
Rockets and jets work according to Newton's Third Law.
They fire mass out at high speed and acquire velocity in the opposite direction.
They do not need something to push against. They move because they are expelling exhaust gases at high speeds.
The rocket or jet is pushing mass away, and the mass is pushing back (equal and opposite reaction.)

6. How Rockets and Jets Differ
Rockets and jets expel mass by burning fuel.
A jet gets the oxygen for combustion from the atmosphere
A rocket carries oxygen in some form with it.
Rockets can function outside the Earth's atmosphere; jets can't.

7. Rockets are Mostly Fuel (and Oxygen)
A rocket or jet has to carry all its remaining fuel with it. (And oxygen, if it’s a rocket).
Most of the mass of the Space Shuttle is fuel, and most of that is used to get the remaining fuel off the ground.
The miles-per-gallon fuel economy of the Space Shuttle in its first foot off the ground is pretty terrible! (36,000 lb. to clear the tower)

8. About Orbits and Satellites
Satellites travel elliptical paths with the center of the Earth at one focus (Kepler's First Law)
Inertia causes object to continue moving in a straight line
Gravity pulls object to Earth
Balance between the two = orbit

9. Newton’s Mountain

10. Three Pioneers of Rocketry
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky ( )
Robert Goddard ( )
Hermann Oberth (1894 – 1989)

11. Robert Goddard - First Liquid-Fuel Rocket, 1926

12. World War II

13. The V-1

14. The V-2

15. History That Might Have Been:
If World War II had lasted a bit longer, it might have been fought with:
Nuclear Weapons
Guided Missiles
Cruise Missiles
Jet Aircraft

16. The Right Stuff Chuck Yeager - Supersonic Flight, 1948
Career fatality rate among military jet pilots is 25%
To cope, they cultivate a superstition of “the right stuff”
Title of Tom Wolfe book

17. From Sapwood to Sputnik
An existing rocket, the SS-6, was used.
The warhead section was removed
A cluster of four more SS-6 engines was bolted around a central engine
Very Dependable

18. Sputnik I
October 4, 1957
S- (with) + put’ (path) + -nik (one who) = Sputnik
Literally, one who follows the same path

19. Sputnik II and III

20. How Did Russia Beat the U.S?
German scientists were not involved
German scientists were NOT involved!!
Germans built V-2 clones but did not work on main program
All returned home by the early 1950’s
They were debriefed on return - this has been known for decades

21. So why does the myth persist?
Because it’s what we wanted to believe

22. Rockets and Geopolitics
We relied on manned bombers
We had bases close to Russia
We led in miniaturization
We decided to wait until nuclear weapons became smaller before putting them in missiles
Result, we had smaller rockets
And, most surprising of all---

23. Much of our early efforts went into cruise missiles!

24. How the World Looked to Russians in the 1950’s

25. The Russian Decision
They had no bomber bases from which to attack the U.S.
Missile Submarines were rudimentary at the time
The only way to hit the U.S. was with missiles
Thus, the Russians poured efforts into building huge rockets

26. Ouch!

27. Vanguard and Explorer

28. Explorer I Launch Complex

29. Historic Rockets, Cape Canaveral

30. Apollo 8 Launch Complex

31. Some Myths About the Space Program
German scientists were the reason the Russians beat us into space
Women astronauts were unfairly denied entry into the Mercury Program
The X-15 could have evolved into a Space Shuttle
NASA “deceived” the public by restricting astronaut press coverage
The Russians never had a serious manned lunar program