Rockets as Inventions (Late 19th Century)

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	During the 19th century, rocket enthusiasts and inventors began to appear in almost every country. Some people thought these early rocket pioneers were geniuses, and others thought they were crazy. Claude Ruggieri, an Italian living in Paris, apparently rocketed small animals into space as early as 1806. The payloads were recovered by parachute. As depicted here by artist Larry Toschik, French authorities were not always impressed with rocket research. They halted Ruggieri's plans to launch a small boy using a rocket cluster. (Reproduced from a drawing by Larry Toschik and presented here courtesy of the artist and Motorola Inc.)
	As far back as 1821, sailors hunted whales using rocket-propelled harpoons. These rocket harpoons were launched form a shoulder-held tube equipped with a circular blast shield.
	By 1870, American and British inventors had found other ways to use rockets. For example, the Congreve rocket was capable of carrying a line over 1000 feet to a stranded ship. In 1914, an estimated 1,000 lives were saved by this technique.
	Later on experimenters in America, Europe and elsewhere attempted to build postal rockets to deliver mail from one location to another. The idea was more novel than successful. In many cases, however, the stamps used in these early postal rockets have become collector's items.
	By the end of the 19th century, soldiers, sailors, practical and not so practical inventors had developed a stake in rocketry. Skillful theorists, like Konstantian Tsiolkovsky in Russia, were examining the fundamental scientific theories behind rocketry. They were beginning to consider the possibility of space travel.
	Tsiolkovsky, a Russian school teacher, published a report in 1903 that suggested the use of liquid propellants for rockets in order to achieve greater range. Tsiolkovsky stated that the speed and range of a rocket were limited by the exhaust velocity of escaping gases.

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