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Galileo Galilei, an astronomer who contributed to Rocket Science

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In the past, many people were involved in the founding of Rocket Science. They include Galileo Galilei, Newton and his laws of motion,  Colonel William Congreve ,and Jules Verne. They all contributed with their findings and dreams. The Birth of Rocket Science wasn't an event that happened all at once; it happened over a period of time as more and more new discoveries were made.

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Rocket Science was still a new, developing concept. It was spread and new theories were made, and more and more information was acquired. The specifics of rockets were known, like gas details and more.

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In WWII, rockets went from common toys to deadly weapon status. This event showed the potential and reward of developing and researching rockets as it may be the key to success in future wars.

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According to NASA, "At the conclusion of the war in Europe, 300 trainloads of V2 rockets and parts were captured and shipped to the United States along with the majority of the principal designers, who decided beforehand to surrender
to American troops. The V2 became the basis of the intercontinental ballistic missile development program and led directly to the manned space program. Employing one of the captured V2 rockets with a WAC Corporal rocket (named for the Women’s Army Corps) at its top, the initial launch of
a “Bumper-WAC” took place on May 13, 1948. During six flights, the largest two-stage rocket launched to date in the United States eventually reached an altitude of almost 400 kilometers (250 miles)."

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At the conclusion of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in a race for space. The Soviet Union won the first round by launching its Sputnik I satellite on October 4, 1957. The satellite had a spherical design with four antenna. It weighed 83.6 kilograms (184.3 pounds). Two months later, the 508.3-kilogram (1,118.26-pound) Sputnik II reached space with a living passenger. Laika, a small dog, orbited Earth for a few hours. Although she died in space, she led the way for all humans that followed.

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The United States entered the satellite-launching business on January 31, 1958 with the successful launch of Explorer 1. The satellite was launched atop the Juno 1, a modified Jupiter-C booster. Though much smaller than the Sputniks, only 13.93 kilograms (30.66 pounds)—Explorer 1’s Geiger counter made the first important discovery about the space environment. Explorer 1 detected around Earth what would later be called the Van Allen Radiation Belts.

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According to NASA, "On April 12, 1961, space became the domain of humans with the launch of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. His spaceflight lasted 1 hour and 48 minutes. During that time, Gagarin orbited Earth one time inside his Vostok 1 space capsule, reaching a maximum altitude of 315 kilometers (196 miles). Upon reentry, Gagarin ejected himself from the capsule at an altitude of 6,100 meters (20,000 feet) and parachuted safely to the ground."

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Days after Alan Shepard’s flight, President John F. Kennedy addressed a joint session of Congress and challenged America to send an American to the Moon and return him safely before the end of the decade. Although it was a shockingly bold announcement, some of the steps to accomplish this mission were already underway. NASA had begun work on components of a rocket capable of a round trip lunar flight. By the next year, the rocket was named the Saturn V. It would be 110.6 meters or 363 feet tall, dwarfing all previous rockets. The Saturn V would consist of three stages, a capsule with a small propulsion unit for the return trip, and a two-stage lunar lander.

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On February 20, 1962, riding on a more powerful missile, the Atlas, astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr., became the first American to go into orbit. Glenn’s flight achieved parity with the Soviet program. Glenn orbited Earth three times for a total of 4 hours and 55 minutes in space. A sensor switch led to an early return. The sensor indicated that the Mercury capsule heat shield was loose, but the shield was later determined to be firmly in place during flight. The sensor was faulty. The last of the six Mercury flights took place on May 15, 1963, with astronaut Gordon Cooper remaining in space for nearly a day and a half

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NASA claims that "At 10:56 p.m. EDT, July 20, 1969, American astronaut Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon. It was the first time in history that humans had touched another world. He was followed to the surface by Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, Jr. A third astronaut, Michael Collins, remained in lunar orbit in the Apollo capsule. The Apollo 11 mission was the first of six Moon landings extending to the end of 1972. The astronauts’ spacecraft, the lunar module, consisted of descent and ascent stages. The descent stage had four legs and a powerful rocket engine to slow the craft for landing on the Moon. After surface explorations, the upper part of the lander lifted off, using its own rocket engine, and rendezvoused with the Apollo capsule for the return to Earth."