1. Headline News: Space Probe Lands on a Comet!!

2. Rocketry

3. Early Rockets
Movement through space needed a means other than pushing off of something.
1st people to use rockets were Chinese
Defense against Mongols, “flying fire”
Common propellant was black (gun-) powder
Third law of Thermodynamics = for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction
As fuel burned, hot gasses were forced out the back and pushed the rocket forward

4. Early Rockets
Problems: difficult to aim, short range, stabilized by a stick
Alternate use = fireworks!
Congreve rocket
More powerful, greater range, seen in War of 1812 by Francis Scott Key
Hale rocket
Stabilized by spinning, more compact, more accurate

5. Rocket Design Research
“Father of Astronautics” = Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (Russian school teacher and scientist); wrote about rockets/space travel
“Father of Modern Rocketry” = Robert Goddard (American physicist); developed liquid-fueled rockets (flew faster and higher); also developed a guidance system called a “gyro”

6. WWII Rockets
When Germany was defeated, the United States and Russia took some of their V-2 rockets and used the knowledge gained from them to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

7. Rockets and Space Exploration
Satellite = an object in orbit around a celestial body (can be artificial or natural)
First (Russia) – Sputnik 1 in 1957
First living organism in space – Sputnik 2 in 1957
Dog named Laika
First (for the USA) – Explorer 1 in 1958
Multistage rockets send larger satellites into orbit and farther into space
Each stage (stacked rocket) separates as fuel runs out, and the next one begins to burn
More power, less mass