the.com/rocket
controlled explosion strapped to a tube, aimed politely away from everyone you love
means A device propelled by the rearward expulsion of exhaust from burning fuel, used to launch fireworks, weapons, or spacecraft; also the vehicle so propelled.
from From Italian 'rocchetta,' a little distaff or bobbin — the slim, spindle-like tube of an early firework reminded someone of the spool that thread is wound on. The word traveled into English in the early 17th century by way of French. (The salad green 'rocket' is unrelated, coming instead from Latin 'eruca.')
- third law
- throws mass backward to fall upward, fighting nothing but itself
- mostly fuel
- a rocket is 90 percent propellant by weight
- china first
- gunpowder rockets flew as arrows around 1200 AD
- escape speed
- needs 25000 mph to outrun Earth's grip
- goddard mocked
- a 1920 paper got him ridiculed for space dreams
spacex falcon 9 — reusable orbital rocket that has completed 200+ launches since 2015
saturn v — moon rocket that launched apollo 11 in 1969, most powerful ever flown
starship super heavy — spacex's fully reusable super-heavy lift vehicle first fully stacked in 2023