Origins of Space Flight
Dreams of other worlds
Stories of travels to other worlds are found in folklore and ancient legends long before anyone could have known that other worlds might really exist. The belief that there were other worlds to which we could travel goes back to shamanism and the shamanic universe. In each of the special directions of time and space and also in association with the heavenly bodies, their movement across the sky, and with the Earth itself, were other worlds inhabited by strange beings with special powers.
The shaman was believed to be able to travel to these other worlds when in a trance, to solicit, battle with, or trick, the beings he or she encountered into granting favours. Most science fiction is about travel to other worlds and communication with strange beings possessed of supernatural or superhuman powers. The genre derives directly from these ancient tales of shamans and heroes. SF stories about voyages to the Moon still survive from Roman times.
The only problem has been the technology involved in getting to these places – and home again safely to tell the tale. To accomplish such a voyage to extraterrestial destinations we need (besides a magic reindeer)
- a means of propelling our vehicle from the gravitational pull of the Earth
–and-
- a means of calculating our trajectory rapidly as we are hurtled into space to make sure we are aimed in the right direction
- so we need a rocket and a computer.
China – gunpowder invented
Gunpowder propelled missiles were used as weapons in 10th century China. In the 13th century, the Mongols used the Chinese technology of gunpowder weapons to great effect in establishing an Empire from the Adriatic to the Pacific. They used gunpowder in guns and bombs as well as rockets. The technology was rapidly developed by their nervous neighbours.
The first manned flight in rocket powered craft was in 16th century China. Wan Hu invented a kite-like monoplane powered by 30 rockets, but he was killed on his first flight. This disaster as well as the attitudes of the Ming government at the time kept this a solitary legendary incident.
India
In the 18th century Hyder Ali, Prince of Mysore, and his son, Tippu Sultan, employed rockets successfully against British troops. the rockets were cased in iron with a range up to 1 ½ miles. they were used in volleys of 2,000 at a time at a distance of over half a mile.
Britain
This led to efforts to develop the weapon at the Woolwich Arsenal. At the beginning of the 19th century William Congreve developed a rocket which was used in the Napoleonic wars and later in 1814 against Fort McHenry, Baltimore (now a shopping mall here).
Russia
A rocket propelled flying vehicle was designed by engineer Nikolai Kibalenich (1853-1881). He was still working on his design in prison before his execution for revolutionary activities against the Tsar.
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
(1857-1935), was the first to work out the theory of space travel by rocket flight and propose as fuel, liquid oxygen or liquid hydrogen.
Tsiolkovsky lived in Kaluga, Russia. He was left deaf by scarlet fever as a child, and had to study by himself for 14 years to qualify as a teacher. He worked alone in his home workshop with only his teacher's salary to finance his work. He published in
- 1883 – an article on space flight "Free Space".
- 1895 – an article on an artificial Earth Satellite in "Dreams of Earth and Sky"
- 1903 – his calculations proved that space travel by rocket flight was possible and predicted and solved most of the basic engineering problems of astronautics.
The Paris Gun, Germany
In 1918, in World War I, the longest yet flight of a shell (weighing 11.5 kg) was fired on Paris from a range of 75 miles by the Germans from "the Paris Gun". The Treaty of Versailles limited the calibre of weapons which the German army could used so the Army Weapons Dept. in Berlin looked to the development of rockets.
USSR - research begins
1921, the new USSR sets up a state laboratory for research on rockets under Tikhomirov.
USA
1926 Robert Goddard (1882-1945) with funding from the Smithsonian Institute, successfully launched the first liquid fuel rocket in his back garden.
Germany
- 1927 – Group of German rocket enthusiasts founded (officially amateur).
- 1928 – German rocket plane flies just over a kilometre a minute.
USSR
- 1929 Group for Development of Rocket Engines formed within Gas Dynamics Laboratory, under Glushko, in Leningrad (now renamed St.Petersburg).
- 1931 – groups in Leningrad and Moscow founded for the study of Reaction Propulsion (In Moscow this was under Fridrich Tsander).
Germany
The first German rocket flight by the first radio-controlled rocket was developed by Professor Erich Regener who originally intended it for meteorology use. Regener was a meteorologist who was researching the ozone layer. Regener was sacked from Stuttgart University because his wife was Jewish. His services were demanded for military purposes but Regener refused unless his wife was safely living with him, so he was imprisoned with his wife on an island laboratory on Lake Constance.
In 1930, the Ballistic Council of the Army Weapons Dept. in Berlin, appointed Walter Dornberger to run its research programme. He picked Werner Von Braun as a technical assistant and Walter Reidel as test engineer, and set up the Kummesdorf West Experimental Station near Berlin.
1932 liquid fuel rocket tested – this was soon after the Nazis acquired a majority in the Reichstag and Hitler took over as Chancellor.
USSR
1933 "GIRD OG" launched near Moscow. One of the design team was Sergei Korolyov. GIRD X liquid-fuelled rocket designed by Fridrich Tsander reaches 80 metres.
Germany
- 1934 – Germans launch A-1, then A-2, to one and a half miles up.
- 1936 – move to site at Peenemünde on the north coast and collaboration with Luftwafte for military rocket development. A-3 burns liquid oxygen and alcohol like A-1 but is 5 times larger – 7.6m. high and 0.75m diameter weight 750 kg. Many more experts recruited.
- 1939 visited by Hitler. A-4 given priority and A-5 tested, reaching height of 7 ½ miles over range of 11 miles. Peenemünde now most advanced and largest rocket establishment in the world as in:
USSR
1937, despite successful launches of designs by Sergei Korolyov, GIRD, the Group Studying Rocket Propulsion – also called Group Working For Nothing, was purged by Stalin. Korolyov was sent to a Gulag.
During the war, Korolyov was part of a team of imprisoned scientists (later rehabilitated by Khrushchev).
Germany
1942 – A-4 tested. It travelled 120 miles and came down only two and a half miles off target. Germany now has a new weapon better than the Paris Gun. Goes into mass production with visits by Hitler, Speer, Himmler etc.
Britain
British intelligence on this apparently officially hopeless. Only R. V. Jones had the necessary scientific knowledge on the team. Others only knew about the rockets on Bonfire Night and were looking for a giant version launched from a huge milk bottle (true).
Germany
Peenemünde did get bombed by the RAF but they mostly killed the prisoner slave labour from which the British had been getting most of their intelligence. Production was delayed slightly. The rocket research was moved to Blizna where the work was done by slave labour from a concentration camp under the SS. conditions were so bad that Speer insisted the SS improved them.
1944, the attempt to kill Hitler as Russians advance from the east and Germany is losing the war. Polish resistance manage to get hold of a test rocket that had landed in swampy ground and work on it. another A-4 went wide and landed on Sweden. Hitler was furious.
Britain
More rockets found after D-Day. It was realized that tremendous damage would be inflicted on London – even worse than the damage done by the "flying bomb" – V.1. (Vergeltungswaffe – Revenge Weapon). But the rocket called the V.2, did not seem a threat by the British Government until…
A-4 offensive under General Hans Kammler. The original launching sites were already in Allied hands so mobile launchers made. First two aimed at Paris on 7th September and failed, later ones successful. So they moved to Holland to bomb London. At this time in Britain they thought the war was nearly over and civil defence precautions were abandoned. On the 8th September at 6.34 pm a V.2 landed in Stavely Road, Chiswick and another in Epping.
The explosions could be heard from miles away which made it difficult for the government to hush up casualties. They did silence the British press but it was reported in America. More V.2s followed and the damage continued to be hushed up the British Government. They fell mostly East of London – Walthamstow, Ilford, Dagenham. There were no warnings, so people could not take shelter. The government claimed it was gas explosions.
There was massive destructions and deaths all winter, 4415 in Essex and London, also Herts., Norfolk and Kent. One landed in Twickenham in the park at the end of our garden and blew all the windows in. Luckily Mum moved me in my high chair away from the window just before under some instinct.
The launches were very accurate. One of the first V.2.s landed on the Firestone factory on the Great West Road. The XX Committee (M16 secret service) consulted with scientists and agreed to give reports of the landings but with false places. There were arguments with the government. The Ministry of Production who wanted to protect armament and work areas, the Home Secretary Herbert Morrison who wanted to avoid unnecessary loss of life. Eventually there was a directive that the North West of London be protected as much as possible. That is why the East of London got most of the V.2.s and most of the casualties. Reports given by the agent code named Garbo (Juan Pujoi – Spanish) convinced the very accurate German launchers to shorten their range. They also staged his arrest (An idea planned by Tommy Harris) to make the Germans think he was believed spying on the V. bomb areas so the information was genuine and he received an Iron Cross from his German employers.
The V.2.s ended on 6th April 1945 as …
Germany
Peenmünde had to be evacuated to escape the Russian advance. Kammler fought for his country to the end and finally was shot by his adjutant.
Werner Von Braun made plans to flee to the Americans (they had not been murdered and bombed by Germans so there was less of a revenge factor). He felt the Americans would give him privileged treatment in exchange for his country's secrets. Von Braun grabbed the last stocks of rocket fuel (as there was no petrol left) and fled in a chauffeur-driven alcohol powered car until his driver fell asleep at the wheel and they crashed. He woke in hospital with an injured arm and shoulder. Then he left with Dornberger on 6th April for Oberjoch near Oberammergau.
On the way, they left films, drawings and documents in an abandoned mine in the Harz Mountains and blasted the entrance shut, so if they had backed the wrong winner they could return to work on the more advanced and destructive missiles that Von Braun was designing. Then they stayed in a hotel in comfort waiting to surrender to the Americans. 2nd May they were in Garnisch-Partenkirchen as
honoured guests of the USA -instead of being treated as the mass-murderers they were.
USA
By December 1945, most of the Germans who had helped develop the V.2. were in the USA with laundered records.
April 1946, America's first V.2. launched in New Mexico. Von Braun died of cancer in 1977, aged 65, Dornberger became obscure.
We Have Lift-Off
and the space race kicks off
By using rockets - a missile could be propelled some distance across the Earth to threaten a far off country. By the end of World War II, ideas were put forward to launch satellites in orbit around the earth which could be used for communications, surveying the Earth, for spying and scientific purposes, the weather forecast, etc. And there had long been dreams and plans of going into space and exploring other planets.
But to get a satellite - basically a box of delicate equipment, into orbit, or to launch a spaceship to another planet, we need to
escape the gravitational pull of the Earth. This means our satellite, or spaceship or probe needs to be launched by a rocket, at a speed of at least 11 kilometres a second, (7 miles a second).
Types of orbits.
This had been known for around two centuries, the problem was getting a rocket powerful enough.
It was realized that whoever got into space first had an edge over the rest in terms of surveillance from hovering satellites and being able to lob threatening missiles over into enemy rivals - so the space race was on between the two superpowers - the USA and the USSR who emerged after World War II.
USSR
4th October 1957, on the 100th anniversary of the birth of Tsiolkovsky, and coming up to the 40th anniversary of the October Revolution –
Sputnik – 1. The world's first space satellite. Launched from Tyuratam (in Kazakstan). Orbits the Earth. Bleeps. Huge computer used for calculations. Last seen in Polytechnic Museum Moscow - picture to come.
November 3rd 1957, Laika, the dog. The first living creature in space (and first female in space). Unfortunately no way of landing.
USA
USA propaganda saw the Soviet Union as the Evil Empire so there was some dismay that the Russians were the first into space.
And a scramble to compete.
February 1958, Explorer – satellite into space. James Van Allen loaded it with instruments to discover the effects in the Earth's magnetic field which were named the Van Allen belts after him.
USSR
USA
1962, USA puts John Glenn into space. Just up and down. There was such a long delay that he had to pee, but no provision had been made so he was very uncomfortable, having to let go inside his space suit.
USSR
- Vostok –3 and Vostok 4 each with cosmonaut up at same time.
- Mars – to Mars.
USA
Mariner 2 flies by Venus.
USSR
1963, first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova. And last for 20 years. I was working at ABC television programme co-ordination, and had to answer the red phone which kept ringing with more newspace launches.
USA
Ranger 7 televises pictures back of Moon's surface.
USSR
- 3 men on Voskhod. This was Krushchev pushing things beyond safety, as there was no room for space suits.
- 1965. First space walk by Alexei Leonov. He returned to space many times and also became a space artist.
USA
- Gemini-3 with two men squashed in.
- Mariner –4 flies past Mars.
USSR
-
Proton research satellite to study cosmic rays.
- 1966 Luna-9 lands on Moon and transmits TV pictures.
- Venera-3 hits surface of Venus.
USA
1968 manned Apollo 8, orbits Moon.
USSR
1969 Soyuz 4 and 5 dock and the cosmonauts transfer from one craft to another.
USA
1969 Apollo 11, first men on moon. Transmission convenient time for USA, but early hours in morning for us, but we stayed awake with difficulty for it. By the time we got to sleep we were awakened by the twins banging their cots and wanting breakfast.
USSR
- 1970 Venera- 7 arrived safely on Venus.
- Luna – 16 collected rock samples of moon.
- Luna-17, landed a Moon Rover – the Lunakhod – 1, which travelled across the Moon's surface for more than a year, sending photos to Earth. It was robots like this rather than manned space craft that were to be the way forward for planetary exploration.
- 1971, Salyut – the first space station. This was to become the future role of people in space. Space stations - which have conveniences such as shower and toilet, meant more women in space. (The Apollo astronauts had worn nappies for their trips to the moon and back.) Pictures to come.
USA
Mariner-9 in orbit round Mars. But
USSR
Mars-3 lands on Mars and transmits pictures.
Britain/Australia
Satellite launched by Black Arrow from Woomera. The British space programme was to be curtailed for lack of funding and became part of European Space programme. (More on Black Arrow to come).
USA
- 1973 Pioneer 10 passed Jupiter and is still going.
- 1974 Mariner 10 passed by and round Mercury and took the only pictures we have had for 30 years. (Messenger is on its way there now.)
- NASA funds are cut. The moon landings finish at Apollo 17 when the first and only geologist was sent.
- The American attempt at a space station was a temporary orbiting can which took photos of the Sun.
USSR and USA
Engineers and scientists, if not politicians realised that co-operation was needed in space.
1975, Apollo and Soyuz dock together in historic cooperation not equalled until 1990s.
Both the Exhibition of Economic Achievements in Moscow and the Nation Space Museum in Washington proudly display copies of this historic link up.
The space race has really ended as far as science and engineering is concerned. International participation is now increasing.
USSR
Venera 9 orbits Venus, lands, survives for 30 minutes, and sends TV pictures of surface.
USA
Viking-1 lands on Mars and sends pictures from surface.
USSR
1977 Space station Salyut 6 with two docking units. Functioned for 5 years.
USA
Voyager 2 and Voyager 1 to Jupiter and Saturn. Voyager 2 was to go on to Uranus, Neptune before going out into space. First time we get to see what the other planets are like.
Probes now heading beyond solar system
USSR
1978, Progress, unmanned cargo spaceship to make deliveries to space station, thus cosmonauts can stay longer. This is much cheaper than launching manned Soyuz each time.
Both Soyuz and Progress still supply the International Space Station.
USA
Space shuttles. Used to launch and service satellites but not the same as a permanent space station as only in orbit for a few days at a time. Now used to ferry astronauts to and from space station. Has to be launched by rocket but could land like a plane and was reusable.
Note
However this meant that like a car, it needed servicing, and became unreliable. There have been two terrible crashes. One problem is the heat shielding tiles which tend to get damaged on take off and can therefore get further damaged when starting to land - this caused the last major crash, the shuttle burned up as it entered the atmosphere.
Cosmonauts still go to and from the space station by Soyuz and it is still supplied by Progress. These are only used once, so a new one each time, and are dependable. Work is in progress on a larger version of Soyuz that can take more passengers - and include more fare paying tourists. A Russian shuttle was planned in the 1980s but abandoned for lack of funds.
USSR
- Venera 15 and 16 orbit Venus and make radar maps of surface.
- 1984, first woman to walk in space while visiting Salyut 7.
- 1985 Salyut 7 repaired in space.
- Vega 1 and Vega 2 land on Venus to take samples of ground and atmosphere. On way visit Halley's comet.
Europe and Japan
Probes to Halley's comet.
USA
- 1986 pictures from Voyager 2 from Uranus which astronomers try to say differently to before as they talk about the rings of Uranus.
- 1989, Voyager 2 passes Neptune.
USSR
1986 Mir space station.
Was to remain in use as the world's only space station until the end of the century although it was supposed to have been replaced after five years.
1991 First Brit in space, Helen Sharman visits Mir.
Space race completely over with economic recession, the end of the USSR and the formation of the Russian Federation.
Tyuratam (Baikonur) launching site is in Kazakstan and Russia has to rent the site.
Mir 2 planned for 1992, ends up as part of the International space station with Nasa. The unmanned Salyut 7 crashes - a solar flare knocks it out of orbit. Mir's crew arrives by Nasa space shuttle (but now the ISS crew depend on Soyuz).
on the space station
Global Positioning Satellite systems
More on this later.
Changes to our view of space through space telescopes. More on space telescopes and probes later.
50 years of space-flight - 1957 - 2007
More information, links and pictures to come.
Soyuz, designed in the early 1960s by Sergei Korolyev's OKB-1 design bureau, is still the most reliable method of getting passengers to the space station and home again. Now run by joint European-Russian organisation Starsem.
