Portal:Rocketry

The Rocketry Portal

A Soyuz-FG rocket launches from "Gagarin's Start" (Site 1/5), Baikonur Cosmodrome

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, and 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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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

27 August 2026 –: The Korea AeroSpace Administration says that the Nuri will launch 15 satellites, a record, into space from the Naro Space Center in South Korea's Goheung County on October 7. (Korea Times) (Yonhap)
5 August 2026 – 2026 SpaceX lunar impact: The spent upper stage (COSPAR ID 2025-010D) of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket collided with the Moon near Einstein Crater. (The Guardian)

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General images -

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

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

Selected picture

Saturn V

Credit: NASA

Launch of Saturn V at the start of Apollo 11.

Related portals

WikiProjects

WikiProject Military history
- Military aviation task force
- Military science, technology, and theory task force
- Weaponry task force
- WikiProject Rocketry
WikiProject Transport
- WikiProject Aviation
  - WikiProject Aircraft
  - WikiProject Rocketry
- WikiProject Spaceflight
  - Timeline of spaceflight working group
  - WikiProject Rocketry

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Things to do

Here are some tasks awaiting attention:

Assess : Delta launch vehicles
Expand : Delta Launch vehicles
Infobox : See Category:Rocketry articles needing infoboxes
Maintain : Space Launch System, SpaceX Starship, List of Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches, List of Falcon 9 first-stage boosters, Soyuz-5
Stubs : See Category:Rocketry stubs
Update : Please update rocketry articles often because plans can change and new launches may be planned or have happened.
Other : make assessment page more understandable