Introduction Space is not that far away It starts at 62 miles 100 km above the surface of Earth However fewer than 550 people have traveled into space and most have stayed close to our planet The fi rst humans fl ew into space in 1961 but the technology that got them there is hundreds of years old The First Spaceman A Chinese legend tells the story of Wan Hu who tied 47 large fi reworks to a chair in the 1500s He thought the rockets would power him into space He boarded his rocket ship lit the fuse and there was a big bang Wan Hu and the chair were never seen again Fireworks Spacecraft use rocket engines These can work in the emptiness of space unlike jet engines which need a supply of air to burn their fuel The fi rst rockets were fi reworks invented in China in the 800s They were powered by exploding gunpowder 4
A DIFFERENT VIEW SCIENCE FICTION Space travel was the subject of early science fiction books In 1869 American Edward Everett Hale’s book The Brick Moon told the story of people living inside a brick space station War Rockets For centuries Chinese armies used rockets as weapons These Chinese arrows were large fi reworks designed to set an enemy camp alight In the 1800s the British Royal Navy began fi ring long-range metal rockets right from ships These rockets were used to attack enemy ports 5
