Some facts about rockets
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| Space Shuttle |
- The Chinese invented the rocket around a.d. 1150.
- The ancient Chínese developed fireworks for religious festivals.
- Beginning in the 13th century, the Chínese used rockets extensively. The rockets burned an explosive black powder that propelled them into the air.
- Rockets are used for fireworks, weaponry, ejection seats, launch vehicles for artificial satellites, human spaceflight and space exploration.
- All rockets require fuel that produces rapidly expanding gases. The force of the escaping gases thrusts the rocket forward.
- Significant scientific, interplanetary and industrial use of rockets did not occur until the twentieth century, when rocketry was the enabling technology of the Space Age, including setting foot on the Moon.
- Rocket fuels became very important as space exploration and technology developed.
- Liquid rocket engines use a liquid oxidizer and a liquid fuel. Theses propellants are usually pumped up then mixed together and burned in the engine's combustion chamber.
- Modern space rockets also use solid fuels, which when mixed together, release oxygen and burn.
