1232 – Chinese fire arrows
The first true rocket is invented by the Chinese. Fire arrows are used against the Mongol invaders.
1591 – First multi-staged rocket
German fireworks maker Johann Schmidlap invents the two-stage rocket to reach higher altitudes. A large skyrocket (first stage) carries a smaller rocket (second stage).
1687 – Newton’s laws of motion published
Sir Isaac Newton publishes his book Principia, which contains his three laws of motion and lays the scientific foundations for modern rocketry.
1792 and 1799 – Rocket revival
Indian rockets used against the British catch the attention of Colonel William Congreve. Rockets are subsequently designed for military use by the British military.
1844 – Spin stabilisation invented
Jet vents are designed on an angle, making the rocket spin, much like a bullet, making them more stable and accurate.
1898 – Space exploration proposed
Russian schoolteacher Konstantin Tsiokovsky puts forward the idea of using rockets for space exploration. He suggests liquid propellants would gain greater range.
16 March 1926 – Successful liquid-propellant rocket
American Robert H Goddard flies a rocket powered by liquid oxygen and gasoline. Goddard goes on to build bigger rockets and higher rockets.
1942 – V-2 rockets
Ballistic missiles are developed by German engineers led by Wernher Von Braun during the Second World War. They burn a mixture of oxygen and alcohol at a rate of 1 ton every 7 seconds. This is the first rocket capable of reaching space.
1946 – First atmospheric testing
With the help of captured German rocket engineers, the United States begins using V-2 rockets as sounding rockets to make measurements of the atmosphere at high altitudes. Little was known of the atmosphere before this.
1950s – Intercontinental ballistic missiles
A variety of medium and long-range missiles are developed and become the starting point of the US space programme. Missiles like Redstone, Atlas and Titan would eventually launch astronauts into space.
4 October 1957 – First satellite – Sputnik 1
The Soviet Union launches the first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite. This marks the first significant success of the space race between the world’s two superpowers.
January 1958 – First American satellite launches
Jet Propulsion Laboratories launch Explorer 1, America’s first satellite. New Zealander Sir William Pickering is director of JPL.
October 1958 – NASA founded
The United States formally organises its space programme and calls it National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
January 1959 – Russian Luna 1 probe to Moon
Successful launch of Luna 1 by the Russians, which sees the rocket fly past the moon.
February 1959 – First weather satellite launched
The Vanguard 2 satellite is used by scientists to forecast the weather.
April 1961 – First man to orbit Earth
Russian Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man to orbit Earth.
February 1962 – First American to orbit Earth
John Glenn orbits earth in a capsule packed with so much equipment there is sitting room only.
July 1962 – Mariner probes to Venus
The first successful interplanetary probes are launched. Two Mariner probes travel to Venus.
1961 to 1966 – Ranger series
Series of nine probes sent to the Moon to take photos of the lunar surface in preparation for a Moon landing.
1969 – Moon landing
Apollo 11 is the first space flight to land people on the Moon. Neil Armstrong is the first astronaut to set foot on the Moon. Twelve astronauts walk on the Moon during 6 missions. Ed Cernan is the last man to step foot on the Moon in 1972.
April 1981 – First Space Shuttle launch
NASA launches its first Space Shuttle. These are designed as reusable vehicles that would increase accessibility to orbit. Space Shuttles have been used to place many satellites into orbit and to construct the International Space Station. The final space shuttle was launched in July 2011.
10 Dec 2010 – First private launch into Earth orbit
SpaceX, a private company working towards commercial space travel, launches Falcon 9. This unmanned capsule orbits the Earth twice before landing in the Pacific Ocean.
5 August 2011 – Juno launches to Jupiter
Juno is launched to begin its 5-year journey to Jupiter. It arrived in orbit around Jupiter on July 2016 and has been beaming back data and onservations since then.
Beyond 2000 – On-going space exploration
Countries and organisations continue to send probes and make plans to send people to the Moon, Mars and beyond. These include Japan, the European Space Agency, India, China, Russia and the USA.
2012 onwards – Private companies
Private companies, such as Space X, Orbital ATK, Virgin Galactic and New Zealand company Rocket Lab, are increasingly active in the space industry.
25 May 2017 – World's first private orbital launch site in NZ
Rocket Lab launchs their Electron rocket from their Mahia Peninsula based orbital launch site, in New Zealand. Rocket Lab is only the 3rd private company in the world to launch a rocket into space and their Mahia facility is the world's first private orbital launch site.
11 November 2018 – First commercial rocket launch from New Zealand
Rocket Lab achieves their first commercial deployment from Mahia. 'It's Business Time', took off at 4.50pm on Sunday 11 November. It lifted 6 satellites and a technology demonstrator into low Earth orbit.
30 May 2020 – First launch of a private crewed flight
Private company Space X, in partnership with NASA, launches a 2-person crewed spacecraft, Dragon 2 to the International Space Station (ISS).
19 February 2021 – NASA lands another rocket on Mars
The Nasa rover Perseverance lands on Mars as part of an epic quest to bring back rocks that could tell whether life ever existed on the red planet.
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