About this ebook
Our story starts around 700 BC when the Chinese used a form of gunpowder to fumigate their houses. The first real rockets were gunpowder filled sections of bamboo thrown under horses to scare them; the next development was to tie these to arrows.
The Mongols took rockets from China to Europe where only some, including Admiral Nelson and the Crown Prince of Sweden, were impressed. The Royal Navy used them in all sorts of odd actions against restless natives in Tierra Del Fuego, Australia and New Zealand and the Russian and Austrian empires adopted rockets as alternatives to artillery in boggy and mountainous territory. By 1870 their heyday appeared over.
But since the Roman Empire people had dreamed of travelling to the moon and by 1900 some were starting to realise that rockets were the only way to get there. Robert Goddard in the USA and other space enthusiasts all across Europe in the first half of the twentieth century started developing the rockets that are now used for space exploration, by the military, and for commercial purposes such as setting up satellite communications that have revolutionized our modern world.
Our story ends with a look at the future of rockets and the third generation spacecraft, the scramjet.
The author fills this book with a cast of unusual people and events to tell the story of the history of rocketry including pissoirs in Paris, stuntmen in New York, kangaroos in outback Australia and a socialist nudist New Zealand physicist.
The Mongols took rockets from China to Europe where only some, including Admiral Nelson and the Crown Prince of Sweden, were impressed. The Royal Navy used them in all sorts of odd actions against restless natives in Tierra Del Fuego, Australia and New Zealand and the Russian and Austrian empires adopted rockets as alternatives to artillery in boggy and mountainous territory. By 1870 their heyday appeared over.
But since the Roman Empire people had dreamed of travelling to the moon and by 1900 some were starting to realise that rockets were the only way to get there. Robert Goddard in the USA and other space enthusiasts all across Europe in the first half of the twentieth century started developing the rockets that are now used for space exploration, by the military, and for commercial purposes such as setting up satellite communications that have revolutionized our modern world.
Our story ends with a look at the future of rockets and the third generation spacecraft, the scramjet.
The author fills this book with a cast of unusual people and events to tell the story of the history of rocketry including pissoirs in Paris, stuntmen in New York, kangaroos in outback Australia and a socialist nudist New Zealand physicist.
About the author
Peter Macinnis has been involved in bringing science to the general public for many years, in print, on line and on air on the ABC. Formerly a science teacher, he has written a number of school textbooks and science readers. After leaving teaching he worked at the Powerhouse Museum and the Australian Museum. He is now a full-time writer for adults and children.
Rate this ebook
Tell us what you think.
Reading information
Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.
