THE STORY OF ROCKETS

From the beginning of time, a desire to know what is on the other side of the mountain or beyond the horizon has led man on to exploration and adventure.

The inventive genius of man created the prairie schooner and the great sailing ships which carried him farther and farther in his quest.

Even before the surface of the earth had been fully explored, man was curious about the space above it. The invention of the airplane and its first successful flight in 1903 saw the beginning of the exploration of this boundless area.

For many years we were able only to gaze at the moon, the sun, the planets, and the stars in the heavens. Now the development and perfection of huge rocket vehicles make it possible to reach some of these remote places in space.

While the Chinese are generally credited with the invention of the rocket as long ago as 1232 a.d., the rocket as we think of it today was first used in its simplest form in World War II.

A rocket is able to escape from the earth\'s gravita­tional pull because it travels at tremendous speed. It has to travel at about 25,000 miles per hour to overcome the effects of gravity.

In outer space, where there is little or no air and much less pull of gravitation, a small amount of power will propel a rocket or space ship at great speeds. Our scientists are now working on a rocket for use in outer space that will have a thrust (this word is explained below) of only one tenth of a pound!

From: MODEL ROCKETS for Beginners BY: H. H. GILMORE

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