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, 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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Peenemünde Museum replica of V2

The V-2 rocket (German: Vergeltungswaffe 2, lit. 'Vengeance Weapon 2'), with the development name Aggregat-4 (A4), was the world's first practical, modern ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was developed during the Second World War in Nazi Germany as a "vengeance weapon" and assigned to attack Allied cities as retaliation for the Allied bombings of German cities. After an altitude of 100km was selected to define the edge of space, the V2 rocket also became retroactively the first artificial object to travel into space with the vertical launch of MW 18014 on 20 June 1944.

Research of military use of long-range rockets began when the graduate studies of Wernher von Braun were noticed by the German Army. A series of prototypes culminated in the A4, which went to war as the V2. Beginning in September 1944, more than 3,000 V2s were launched by the Wehrmacht against Allied targets, first London and later Antwerp and Liège. According to a 2011 BBC documentary, the attacks from V-2s resulted in the deaths of an estimated 9,000 civilians and military personnel, while a further 12,000 laborers and concentration camp prisoners died as a result of their forced participation in the production of the weapons. (Full article...)

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In the news

22 March 2026 – Middle Eastern crisis: One person is killed after a rocket fired from Lebanon struck a vehicle near Israel's northern border, marking the first reported Israeli fatality from cross-border fire since hostilities with Hezbollah resumed earlier in March. (AFP via The Daily Star)
20 March 2026 – Middle Eastern crisis: Ceasefire mediators in Cairo, Egypt, give Hamas and all armed groups in the Gaza Strip 90 days to hand over their weapons in the coming months, including their missiles and rocket launchers along with their tunnel network. (Times of Israel)
16 March 2026 – Middle Eastern crisis: At least seven people, including four children, are injured by Hezbollah rocket and drone attacks on northern Israel. (The Times of Israel) (The Jerusalem Post)
12 March 2026 – Middle Eastern crisis: Hezbollah launches over 200 rockets and 20 UAVs at northern Israel, injuring two people. (The Times of Israel)
11 March 2026 – Middle Eastern crisis: Hezbollah launches over 100 rockets at Israel, injuring five civilians in Upper Galilee. (The Jerusalem Post)
7 March 2026 – Middle Eastern crisis: The United States embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, is attacked with four rockets. Iraqi prime minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani orders the security forces to pursue the perpetrators of the "terrorist act". (Al Jazeera)

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

Image 1Simplified 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 2A battery of Katyusha launchers fires at German forces during the Battle of Stalingrad, 6 October 1942 (from History of rockets)
Image 3Rockets carrying the Space Shuttle Discovery into Earth orbit in 2007 (from History of rockets)
Image 4Viking 5C rocket engine used on Ariane 1 through Ariane 4 (from Rocket engine)
Image 5French Diamant rocket, the second French rocket program, developed from 1961 (from History of rockets)
Image 6A semi-active missile homing system (from Missile)
Image 7Rocket 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 8Simplified 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 9Armadillo Aerospace's quad vehicle showing visible banding (shock diamonds) in the exhaust jet (from Rocket engine)
Image 10Robert Goddard and the first liquid-fueled rocket. (from History of rockets)
Image 11A "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 12The Congreve rocket (from History of rockets)
Image 13Signatories of the International Code of Conduct against Ballistic Missile Proliferation. (from Missile)
Image 14A German V-2 rocket on a Meillerwagen. (from History of rockets)
Image 15Robert Goddard (from History of rockets)
Image 16A 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 17Rocket 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)
Image 18Rocket carts from the Wubei Zhi (17th century) (from History of rockets)
Image 19Von Braun's rocket team in 1961 (from History of rockets)
Image 20A Tomahawk cruise missile in flight (from Missile)
Image 21The four expansion regimes of a de Laval nozzle:• under-expanded• perfectly expanded• over-expanded• grossly over-expanded (from Rocket engine)
Image 22A V-1 flying bomb, amongst the first guided missiles (from Missile)
Image 23Robert Esnault-Pelterie (1909). (from History of rockets)
Image 24Robert Anderson suggests using metal for rocket casing (from History of rockets)
Image 25An illustration of fire arrow launchers as depicted in the Wubei Zhi (17th century). The launcher is constructed using basketry. (from History of rockets)
Image 26Layout of a V-2 rocket. (from History of rockets)
Image 27Typical 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 28Opel RAK.1 - World's first public manned flight of a rocket plane on September 30, 1929. (from History of rockets)
Image 29RS-68 being tested at NASA's Stennis Space Center (from Rocket engine)