Ancient Rocketry 1642 to 1828 1829 to 1930 1931 to 1945 1946 to 1955 1956 to 1966 1967 to 1980 1981 to present
1931
In Austria, Friedrich Schmiedl fired the world's first mail carrying rocket. David Lasser's book, The Conquest of Space, was published in the United States. May 14: VfR successfully launched a liquid-fueled rocket to a height of 60 meters.1932
Von Braun and his colleagues demonstrated a liquid fueled rocket to the German Army. It crashed before the parachute opened, but Von Braun was soon employed to develop liquid fueled rockets for the Army. On April 19th, the first Goddard rocket with gyroscopically controlled vanes was fired. The vanes gave it automatically stabilized flight. In November, at Stockton N.J., the American Interplanetary Society tested a rocket design that they had adapted from the German Society for Space Travel's designs.1933
The Soviets launched a new rocket fueled by solid and liquid fuels, which reached a height of 400 meters. The launch took place near Moscow. At Stanten Island, New York, the American Interplanetary Society launched it's No. 2 rocket, and watched it attain 250 feet in altitude in 2 seconds.1934
In December, Von Braun and his associates launched 2 A-2 rockets, both to heights of 1.5 miles.1935
The Russians fired a liquid, powered rocket that achieved a height of over eight miles. In March, a rocket of Robert Goddard's exceeded the speed of sound. In May, Goddard launched one of his gyro-controlled rockets to a height of 7500 feet, in New Mexico.1936
Scientists from the California Institute of Technology began rocket testing near Pasadena, CA. This marked the beginning of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The Smithsonian Institution printed Robert Goddard's famous report, "Liquid Propellant Rocket Development," in March.1937
Von Braun and his team relocated to a special, purpose-built rocket testing facility at Peenemunde on the Baltic Coast of Germany. Russia established rocket test centers in Leningrad, Moscow and Kazan. Goddard watched one of his rockets fly to higher than 9,000 feet, on March 27. This was the highest altitude attained by any of the Goddard Rockets.1938
Goddard began to develop high speed fuel pumps, in order to better outfit liquid fueled rockets.1939
German scientists fired, and recovered, A-5 rockets with gyroscopic controls that attained seven miles altitude and eleven miles range.1940
The Royal Air Force used rockets against the Luftwaffe planes in the Battle of Britain.1941
In July, the first U.S. based launch of a rocket assisted airplane took place. Lt. Homer A. Boushey piloted the craft. The U.S. Navy began developing "Mousetrap," which was a ship-based 7.2 inch mortar-fired bomb.1942
The U.S. Air Force launched it's first air-to-air and air-to-surface rockets. After a failed attempt in June, Germans managed to successfully launch an A-4 (V2) rocket, in October. It traveled 120 miles downrange from the launch pad.1944
January 1st marked the beginning of long-range rocket development, by the California Institute of Technology. This testing resulted in the Private-A and Corporal rockets. In September, the first fully operational V2 rocket was launched against London, from Germany. Over a thousand V2's followed. Between the 1st and 16th of December, twenty four Private-A rockets were test fired at Camp Irwin, CA.1945
Germany successfully launched the A-9, a winged prototype of the first Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, which was designed to reach North America. It reached almost 50 miles in altitude, and achieved a speed of 2,700 mph. The launch was executed on January 24th.In February, the Secretary of War approved the Army's plans to establish the White Sands Proving Grounds, for testing new rockets. On April 1st through 13th, seventeen rounds of Private-F rockets were fired at Hueco Ranch, Texas. On May 5th, Peenemunde was captured by the Red army, but the facilities there were mostly destroyed by the personnel.
Von Braun was captured by the U.S. and relocated to the White Sands proving ground in New Mexico. He was made part of "Operation Paperclip."
May 8th marked the end of the war in Europe. At the time of the German collapse, more than 20,000 V-1's and V-2's had been fired. Components of approximately 100 V-2 rockets arrived at the White Sands Testing Grounds, in August.
On August 10, Robert Goddard died due to cancer. He died at the University of Maryland Hospital in Baltimore.
In October, the U.S. Army established it's first Guided Missile Battalion, with the Army Guard Forces. The Secretary Of War approved plans to bring top German rocket engineers to the U.S., in order to further knowledge and technology. Fifty five German scientists arrived at Fort Bliss and White Sands Proving Grounds, in December.
