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A rocket (from Italian: rocchetto, lit. ''bobbin/spool'', and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely from propellant carried within the vehicle; therefore a rocket can fly in the vacuum of space. Rockets work more efficiently in a vacuum and incur a loss of thrust due to the opposing pressure of 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 rely on momentum, airfoils, auxiliary reaction engines, gimballed thrust, momentum wheels, deflection of the exhaust stream, propellant flow, spin, or 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 can be very dangerous. However, careful design, testing, construction and use minimizes risks. (Full article...)

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Bold Orion, with B-47 launch aircraft

The Bold Orion missile, also known as Weapons System 199B (WS-199B), was a prototype air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM) developed by Martin Aircraft during the 1950s. Developed in both one- and two-stage designs, the missile was moderately successful in testing, and helped pave the way for development of the GAM-87 Skybolt ALBM. In addition, the Bold Orion was used in early anti-satellite weapons testing, performing the first interception of a satellite by a missile. (Full article...)

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In the news

6 November 2024 – Israel–Hezbollah conflict: Hezbollah fires rockets at Tel Aviv, Israel, with a rocket striking Ben Gurion Airport. (Yedioth Ahronoth)
29 October 2024 – Israel–Hezbollah conflict: Eight Austrian Army soldiers and peacekeepers are injured when a rocket, likely fired by Hezbollah, hits the UNIFIL headquarters in Naqoura, Lebanon. (Al Jazeera) (Al Arabiya)
28 October 2024 – Russian invasion of Ukraine: At least 21 people are injured when Russian guided bombs and rocket artillery hit Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine. (Reuters)
25 October 2024 – Israel–Hezbollah conflict: Two people are killed and six others are injured when a rocket fired from Lebanon hits a building in the town of Majd al-Krum in northern Israel. (The Jerusalem Post)
20 October 2024 – Israel–Hezbollah conflict: Israeli troops open fire on a truck belonging to the Lebanese Armed Forces near Hanine, killing three soldiers. Israel later issues a formal apology for the attack, stating that its forces mistakenly believed they were targeting a vehicle used by Hezbollah to transport rockets. (The Times of Israel)

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

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