Alex E. Woods Dr. Carol Eades Composition and Reading 1 18 February 2014

Rocket History and exploring the future

My prewriting strategies I used were, research, and outline. My audience are teenagers and adults. My tone for this essay is being informative. My thesis is, although man has created many things, rockets are one of the greatest creations. My purpose for this essay is to educate people on the history of rockets, and I wanted to express why it is one of the greatest creations man has created. The horse and buggy were used to discover uncharted territories and now we are using rocket to explore the uncharted parts of space. This essay discusses the history of rocket fuel, past explorers of space, and the future opportunities in space. Although man has created many things, rockets are one of the greatest creations.
Rocket fuel has changed drastically over many years, the first documented rocket was by the Chinese in the fourteenth century, and its fuel was black powder (“History of rockets- Spread of Rocket Technology”). This was the start of something big. Later in history, in the year 1261, Roger Bacon perfected the formula for the rocket; instead of just using gun powder he added saltpeter, carbon, and sulfur (“History of rockets- Spread of rocket technology”). By perfecting the formula he increased performance by staggering numbers. As people continued to experiment with rocket, a man named Robert Godard, invented a rocket that ran on liquid fuel, this was a big step for rocketry, his rocket only flew 41 feet, but the more he experimented, the higher it got (Stern).
The pioneers in exploring space made it to different lengths in the space race. For instance, the first manned successful rocket launch was in April 12, 1961, by the Russians, his name was Yuri Gagarin; he made one orbit around the Earth aboard the Vostok 1 spacecraft (“Human Spaceflight-History”). Two years later, the Russians launched the first woman into space, her name was Valentina Tereshkova, and she was aboard the Vostok 6, on June 16 1963 (“Human Spaceflight-History”). During this time, things were tense between Russia and the United States. We were in the greatest space race ever, it was a blow to the USA that Russia launched the first manned mission into space, but that was not going to stop us. Perhaps one of the most memorable space flights was when we landed on the moon. The men who were there were: Neil Armstrong along with Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. When they arrived at the moon Buzz and Neil flew the lunar lander to the moon’s surface, Michael had to stay in orbit so that he could pick them back up when they returned (“Apollo 11”). I think everybody remembers this famous quote stated by Neil Armstrong, "This is one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” (“Apollo 11”). After their journey to the moon it was time to come home. They all returned to earth four days later on July 24 (“Apollo 11”).
This was a big turning point in the space race. Instead of just launching ourselves back into orbital space, we decided that we were going to go to the moon. We were the country that was going to take the next big step in space exploration. Had we not taken the risk, we might have never known what it was like to walk on the moon. Curiosity is what drives us forward, perhaps it's because we're going into the unknown not knowing what danger lies ahead.
Take a look at today’s rockets. We send robots to Mars, trying to find out if life exists there. According to the article, 200,000 people apply to live on Mars, it discusses how an overseas company is going to launch people to mars in the next decade (Landau). They want to answer the million dollar question, is there life on mars? Recently, the company that is going to launch people to mars had a sign-up sheet for anyone who wanted to go to mars. You didn’t have to be a doctor or have a PhD in science, the only catch is it’s a one way ticket, you would live there permanently.
I was inspired by the people that took the risk to go to space, and to the moon. It inspired me so much that I have decided to build a rocket that could launch a man into suborbital space. At this height, which is about 60 miles above sea level, you would be able to see the outer rim of earth and you would be weightless, until gravity takes you back down to earth (“Sub-orbital Spaceflight-Ballistics Missiles”). This project will take a few years to complete, but I have something to look forward to in the future.

Work Cited
“Apollo 11” Wikipedia. 5 Feb. 2014. Web. 17 Feb. 2014
“History of rockets- Spread of Rocket Technology.” Wikipedia. 10 Feb. 2014. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.
“Human Spaceflight-History.” Wikipedia. 17 Feb. 2014. Web. 17 Feb. 2014
Landau, Elizabeth. “200,000 people Apply To live on Mars.” CNN. 10 Dec. 2013. Web. 17 Feb. 2014
Stern, David. “Robert Goddard and His Rockets - liquid fuel.” 14 Jan. 2005. Web. 17 Feb. 2014
“Sub-orbital Spaceflight- Ballistics Missiles.” Wikipedia. 18 Jan. 2014. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.