Rocketing Into Space: the Beginnings of the Space Age
Overview
In the first half of the twentieth century, scientists and engineers in Russia, Germany, and the United States engaged in theoretical and experimental investigations of travel beyond Earth's atmosphere using rockets. Stimulated by science fiction fantasies of space travel and funded by meteorological and military organizations, pioneering rocket scientists of the time developed missiles that traversed distances ranging from thousands of feet to hundreds of miles. Their efforts laid the foundation for the successful missile and space programs of the United States and the Soviet Union in the post-World War II era and helped to launch the Space Age.
Background
The promise and products of science and technology in the industrial age of the nineteenth century fed the aspirations of those who longed to conquer space with rockets. The close alliance of science and technology, especially in the emergence of the research and development laboratories which institutionalized change, provided a new landscape for those individuals who desired to improve the understanding of propulsion and reactive motion so critical to rocket travel within and beyond Earth's atmosphere. Understanding the physics of motion was a necessary first step to devising a successful rocket, and transforming theoretical designs into workable mechanisms required painstaking experimental tests.
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