Can you keep up with the rocket scientists?

Rockets: some go up, some come back down – but not all. The account we read claimed that the Confederates sent a rather large (120-ft) rocket in the general direction of Washington, D.C., back in the US Civil War. It was never seen again. At least one historian claims the CSA was first in space.

Here are the answers to the quiz.

True or false?

1. The earliest rockets were used by the Chinese to repel extraterrestrials. True. (They were scaring away evil spirits. We didn't say it worked. But then, have you seen any?)
2. There were no bomb craters in China in the 13th Century. False. At the battle of Kai-fung-fu in 1232, one made such a big hole that 'the point of
   impact was devastated for 2,000 feet in all directions.'
3. The Turks used rockets to capture Budapest on 25 December 1241. False. It was the Mongols.
4. The Mongols used rockets to capture Baghdad in 1258. True. (They probably called it 'Shock and Awe' in Mongolian.)
5. The 1647 English work, The Art of Gunnery, contains 43 pages on rockets. True. Not 42, alas.
6. In 1730, the Germans made the biggest rockets in Europe. True. Of course they did, up to 120 pounds.
7. The Tippoo Sultan was overwhelmed by British rocketry at the two battles of Seringapatam. False. The British were the targets of the Tippoo Sultan's rocketeers – about 5,000 of them.
8. Congreve rockets are the 'bombs bursting in air' in the US national anthem. True. The Brits also used them to set fire to the White House.
9. In 1862, a rocket exploded under a Union Army mule. The mule deserted to the Confederacy. True. The rocket lifted the mule several feet off the ground, but only made it frightened enough to run away to the Rebel lines.
10. Wernher von Braun was considered a juvenile delinquent because of his interest in rockets. True. At 16, von Braun strapped six fireworks rockets onto the back of a toy wagon, and released this piece of domestic terrorism into the centre of town. The cops were not amused.

If you knew all that, you've probably been noodling around in the backyard with dangerous chemicals. Be careful out there.

Dmitri Gheorgheni

22.08.16 Front Page

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