History Rockets

                 

   INTERNET RESEARCH ACTIVITY #1

To find the answers to the following questions, you will need to use the internet to log onto a website produced by the USA National Aeronautical Space Administration Centre (NASA). Click on the following hyperlink or key in the following address to take you to the NASA site on model rocketry:

http://spacelink.nasa.gov/Instructional.Materials/Curriculum.Support/Mathematics/Rockets/.index.html

 

Open the Adobe Acrobat file 03 Rocket History pdf and then read and scroll through the pages to find the answers to the following questions.

QUESTION 1  Describe the device the Greek, Archytas constructed in 400BC that used the principle of rocketry?

QUESTION 2  Describe, with the aid of a neat sketch, how the "Hero Engine" or Aeolipile" operated?

QUESTION 3  Neatly draw a Chinese Fire-Arrow.

QUESTION 4  What function did the fire-arrows serve?

QUESTION 5  What is a "step rocket" and who invented it?

QUESTION 6  What contributions did the following people make to the development of rocketry:

  1. Willem Gravesande
  2. Colonel William Congreve
  3. William Hale
  4. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky

QUESTION 7  Who is considered "the father of modern rocketry"? Briefly describe his contributions to the development of rocketry.

QUESTION 8  What was the V-2 rocket used for?

QUESTION 9  What was the name of the first earth orbiting artificial satellite and when was it launched?

QUESTION 10  NASA was established in 1958. What was its goal or reason for existance?

QUESTION 11  What was the purpose of the "Pioneer Lunar Probes" developed by the USA?

QUESTION 12  What did the following men do in relation to space flight?

  1. Yuri Gagarin
  2. Alan Shepard
  3. John Glen

QUESTION 13  What was the purpose of the following lunar programs?

  1. Ranger series
  2. Lunar Orbiter
  3. Gemini mission
  4. Apollo program

QUESTION 14  Name the rocket used to launch manned capsules into space?

QUESTION 15  Who was the first person to walk on the moon?

QUESTION 16  Describe, in steps, the stages the Space Shuttle goes through during its launch into space?

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