The 12 Biggest Breakthroughs in Space Technology

The 12 Biggest Breakthroughs in Space Technology — page 3
2 Making Rockets Fly Farther and Higher Rockets are devices filled with a combustible fuel When the fuel burns gases shoot out the rocket’s tail The force of these gases propels the rocket through the air Early rockets were fueled by Robert Goddard with his first liquid-fueled rocket in 1926 6 gunpowder or steam They were used for fireworks and weapons In the late 1800s Russian school teacher Konstantin Tsiolkovsky had a new idea He thought rockets could be used for space exploration But to reach space they would need a more powerful fuel Tsiolkovsky began researching the use of liquid fuels In the early 1900s American scientist Robert Goddard tested liquid-fueled rockets He used a mixture of gasoline and liquid oxygen On March 16 1926 he launched the first liquid-fueled rocket German scientist Hermann Oberth helped develop the idea of multiple stage rockets A large rocket could launch a smaller rocket into the air The speed of the larger rocket would then be added to that of the smaller rocket In this way rockets could travel farther and higher than ever before