1st Century AD
![Hero of Alexandria, 1st century BC, Greek scientist Hero of Alexandria, 1st century BC, Greek scientist (physicist and mathematician), steam-powered device © Mary Evans](https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/41/2020/03/Mary_Evans_10447368-1058ce2.jpg?webp=1&w=1200)
Hero of Alexandria creates his aeolipile device.
This Greek engineer, who specialises in exotic machinery, makes a metal sphere rotate using a pair of steam-emitting rocket nozzles.
13th Century AD
![Raketentechnik, Anf.: Kriegsfühung mittels Brandpfeile © Getty Images](https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/41/2020/03/GettyImages_542880501-037e38b.jpg?webp=1&w=1200)
Although gunpowder has been in use in China for around 200 years, this century sees the first recorded production of gunpowder-powered rockets.
Read more about rocket science:
1903
![Konstantin_Tsiolkovsky Konstantin Tsiolkovsky © Wikimedia Commons](https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/41/2020/05/Konstantin_Tsiolkovsky-ccfa27b.jpg?webp=1&w=1200)
Russian schoolteacher Konstantin Tsiolkovsky publishes his book Investigating Space With Reaction Devices, defining modern rocket technology.
This is also the year that the Wright Brothers first took a powered flight.
1942
![V2 Rocket A captured German V-2 rocket, the world's first guided missile, launched at the US Army testing base at White Sands, in New Mexico © Getty Images](https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/41/2020/05/GettyImages-3242215-0e61be8.jpg?webp=1&w=1200)
The V-2 rocket-powered weapon (technically an A-4 rocket) is used for the first time to make the first long-range ballistic missile.
Though it causes devastation, the V-2 kick-starts both the US and the USSR’s space programmes.
1957
![TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY NIKE COLEMAN(FI Sputnik © Getty Images](https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/41/2020/03/GettyImages_77111910-e28849d.jpg?webp=1&w=1200)
A modified Russian R-7 rocket carries Sputnik 1, the world’s first artificial satellite, into space.
This tiny satellite begins the space race between the US and the USSR.
1969
![US-SPACE-MOON-APOLLO XI-SPECTATORS Thousands of people watch Apollo 11 take off © Getty Images](https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/41/2020/05/GettyImages-476974159-ffea8fb.jpg?webp=1&w=1200)
Apollo 11 takes off on a Saturn V rocket, which is still the largest and most powerful rocket ever built.
It makes history when it takes the first manned mission to land on the Moon.