Portal:Rocketry

The Rocketry Portal

A rocket (from Italian: rocchetto, lit. ''bobbin/spool'', and so named for its shape) is an elongated flying vehicle that uses a rocket engine to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Unlike jet engines, rockets are fuelled entirely by propellant which they carry, without the need for oxygen from air; consequently a rocket can fly in the vacuum of space, and indeed rocket engines operate more efficiently outside the atmosphere.

Multistage rockets are capable of attaining escape velocity from Earth and therefore can achieve unlimited maximum altitude. Compared with airbreathing engines, rockets are lightweight and powerful and capable of generating large accelerations. To control their flight, rockets may use momentum, airfoils, auxiliary reaction engines, gimballed thrust, momentum wheels, deflection of the exhaust stream, propellant flow, and spin, or may simply fly in a ballistic trajectory under the influence of gravity.

Rockets for military and recreational uses date back to at least 13th-century China. Significant scientific, interplanetary and industrial use did not occur until the 20th century, when rocketry was the enabling technology for the Space Age, including setting foot on the Moon. Rockets are now used for fireworks, missiles and other weaponry, ejection seats, launch vehicles for artificial satellites, human spaceflight, and space exploration.

Chemical rockets are the most common type of high-power rocket, typically creating a high-speed exhaust by the combustion of fuel with an oxidizer. The stored propellant can be a simple pressurized gas or a single liquid fuel that disassociates in the presence of a catalyst (monopropellant), two liquids that spontaneously react on contact (hypergolic propellants), two liquids that must be ignited to react (like kerosene (RP1) and liquid oxygen, used in most liquid-propellant rockets), a solid combination of fuel with oxidizer (solid fuel), or solid fuel with liquid or gaseous oxidizer (hybrid propellant system). Chemical rockets store a large amount of energy in an easily released form, and the consequences of accidents can be severe.

The term "rocket" is also used for small fireworks, which are the subject of article rocket (firework). (Full article...)

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1943 RAF photo-recon of Test Stand VII at the Peenemünde Army Research Center

The Peenemünde Army Research Center (German: Heeresversuchsanstalt Peenemünde, HVP) was founded in 1937 as one of five military proving grounds under the German Army Weapons Office (Heereswaffenamt). Several German guided missiles and rockets of World War II were developed by the HVP, including the V-2 rocket. The works were attacked by the British in Operation Crossbow from August 1943, before falling to the Soviets in May 1945. (Full article...)

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In the news

18 July 2026 – Space industry of India: Skyroot Aerospace successfully launches Vikram-1, India's first privately built orbital rocket, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh, carrying small satellite payloads into low Earth orbit on its maiden flight. (AFP via Asharq Al-Awsat)
10 July 2026 – 2026 in spaceflight: China becomes the second country to achieve the controlled recovery of an orbital-class rocket booster, after successfully launching the Long March 10B. (South China Morning Post)
28 June 2026 – Middle Eastern crisis: Israel says its military has destroyed a Hezbollah tunnel in Majdal Zoun, southern Lebanon, after notifying the United States. Israeli officials state that the 200-metre (660 ft) tunnel contained weapons and rocket launcher shafts. (AFP via Daily Sun) (Reuters)

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General images - load new batch

The following are images from various rocketry-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1A battery of Katyusha launchers fires at German forces during the Battle of Stalingrad, 6 October 1942 (from History of rockets)
Image 2Robert Goddard (from History of rockets)
Image 3Von Braun's rocket team in 1961 (from History of rockets)
Image 4Robert Goddard and the first liquid-fueled rocket. (from History of rockets)
Image 5A V-1 flying bomb, amongst the first guided missiles (from Missile)
Image 6Simplified diagram of a solid-fuel rocket:
1. Solid fuel–oxidiser mixture (propellant) packed into casing
2. Igniter initiates propellant combustion.
3. Central hole in propellant acts as the combustion chamber.
4. Exhaust nozzle expands and accelerates the gas jet to produce thrust.
5. Exhaust exits nozzle.
(from Rocket engine)
Image 7A German V-2 rocket on a Meillerwagen. (from History of rockets)
Image 8A Tomahawk cruise missile in flight (from Missile)
Image 9Signatories of the International Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation. (from Missile)
Image 10Armadillo Aerospace's quad vehicle showing visible banding (shock diamonds) in the exhaust jet (from Rocket engine)
Image 11Opel RAK.1 - World's first public manned flight of a rocket plane on September 30, 1929. (from History of rockets)
Image 12A simplified diagram of a solid-fuel rocket.
1. A propellant is packed with a hole in the middle
2. An igniter combusts the propellant
3. The hole acts as a combustion chamber
4. The hot exhaust is choked at the throat
5. Exhaust exits the rocket
(from Missile)
Image 13Simplified diagram of a liquid-fuel rocket:
1. Liquid-fuel tank
2. Liquid-oxidiser tank
3. Pumps feed fuel and oxidiser under high pressure.
4. Combustion chamber mixes and burns the propellants.
5. Exhaust nozzle expands and accelerates the gas jet to produce thrust.
6. Exhaust exits nozzle.
(from Rocket engine)
Image 14Robert Esnault-Pelterie (1909). (from History of rockets)
Image 15A "long serpent enemy breaking" fire arrow launcher as depicted in the Wubei Zhi (17th century). It carries 32 medium small poisoned rockets and comes with a sling to carry on the back. (from History of rockets)
Image 16The four expansion regimes of a de Laval nozzle:• under-expanded• perfectly expanded• over-expanded• grossly over-expanded (from Rocket engine)
Image 17An illustration of fire arrow launchers as depicted in the Wubei Zhi (17th century). The launcher is constructed using basketry. (from History of rockets)
Image 18RS-68 being tested at NASA's Stennis Space Center (from Rocket engine)
Image 19Rockets carrying the Space Shuttle Discovery into Earth orbit in 2007 (from History of rockets)
Image 20French Diamant rocket, the second French rocket program, developed from 1961 (from History of rockets)
Image 21Layout of a V-2 rocket. (from History of rockets)
Image 22Rocket thrust is caused by pressures acting in the combustion chamber and nozzle. From Newton's third law, equal and opposite pressures act on the exhaust, and this accelerates it to high speeds. (from Rocket engine)
Image 23A semi-active missile homing system (from Missile)
Image 24Typical ballistic missile sequence:
- 1. Launches by firing motor1(A)
- 2. Stage1 drops, motor2(B) ignites & shroud(E) ejects
- 3. Motor3(C) ignites and separates
- 4. Stage3 terminates and post-boost vehicle(D) separates
- 5. Vehicle maneuvers itself and prepares re-entry vehicle (RV)
- 6. RV with decoys and chaffs deploys
- 7. RV re-enters the atmosphere
- 8. Warhead(s) detonate on target
(from Missile)
Image 25Viking 5C rocket engine used on Ariane 1 through Ariane 4 (from Rocket engine)
Image 26Robert Anderson suggests using metal for rocket casing (from History of rockets)
Image 27Rocket carts from the Wubei Zhi (17th century) (from History of rockets)
Image 28The Congreve rocket (from History of rockets)
Image 29Rocket vehicle mechanical efficiency as a function of vehicle instantaneous speed divided by effective exhaust speed. These percentages need to be multiplied by internal engine efficiency to get overall efficiency. (from Rocket engine)