Spaceflight
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The principles of spaceflight were first developed (independently) by the American Goddard* and the Russian Tsiolkovsky*.
Although the theories elaborated by these two men were understood, technical problems delayed the proper start of spaceflight until just before World War II.
During the War the Germans developed the liquid-propellant powered V-2 rocket and the ME163 rocket-powered airplane. Solid-fuel rockets were also developed and widely used by both sides in the War.
Between 1955 and 1965 spaceflight efforts were led by the military requirement for Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs), leading to advances in both liquid and solid propellants.
The first civilian successes in the field came after President Kennedy’s 1961 decision to put a man on the Moon, and took the form of the Saturn launch vehicle (used in the Apollo missions), which was fuelled by liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.
Apollo also involved the use of Earth-orbit assembly of the Lunar Module with the Command and Service Module. The combined vehicle then traveled to lunar orbit, the lunar module detached, landed on the lunar surface, then returned to dock with the CSM. The LM was then ejected and the crew returned to earth in the CSM. Prior to entering Earth’s atmosphere, the Service Module was jettisoned and the crew splashed down in the Command Module.
The airplane-like Space Shuttle (also servicing the Space Station) launched first on reusable solid propellant, then continued up to orbit (and in orbit) using liquid propellant, and flew back to land on runways.
The Russians used launch vehicles similar to the Saturn, carrying their more limited-performance Soyuz spacecraft, which made use of parachutes to achieve a landing on the ground.
ONELINER: Spaceflight is the application of astronautics to fly spacecraft into or through outer space
OTHER CONNECTIONS: None
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Encyclopedia Britannica