Rockets represent remarkable collections of human ingenuity.
NASA's Space Shuttle, for example, is one of the most complex flying machines ever invented. It stands upright on a launch pad, lifts off as a rocket, orbits Earth as a spacecraft, and returns to Earth as a gliding airplane. The rockets and spaceships of today and the spaceships of the future have their roots in the science and technology of the past. They are natural outgrowths of literally thousands of years of experimentation and research on rockets and rocket propulsion. As an employee for NASA, your boss, Mr. Blast, has asked you to write a short informational article on the history of rockets.