A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine.

In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction. Rocket engines push rockets forwards simply by throwing their exhaust backwards extremely fast. 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 of the Space Age, including setting foot on the moon. Rockets are used for fireworks, weaponry, ejection seats, launch vehicles for artificial satellites, human spaceflight and space exploration. While comparatively inefficient for low speed use, they are very lightweight and powerful, capable of generating large accelerations and of attaining extremely high speeds with reasonable efficiency. Chemical rockets are the most common type of rocket and they typically create their exhaust by the combustion of rocket propellant. 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.
The availability of black powder (gunpowder) to propel projectiles was a precursor to the development of the first solid rocket. Ninth century Chinese Taoist alchemists discovered black powder while searching for the elixir of life; this accidental discovery led to experiments as weapons such as bombs, cannon, incendiary fire arrows and rocket-propelled fire arrows. The discovery of gunpowder was probably the product of centuries of alchemical experimentation.

Exactly when the first flights of rockets occurred is contested. A common claim is that the first recorded use of a rocket in battle was by the Chinese in 1232 against the Mongol hordes at Kai Feng Fu. This is based on an old Mandarin civil service examination question which reads "Is the defense of Kai Feng Fu against the Mongols (1232) the first recorded use of cannon?". Another question from the examinations read "Fire-arms began with the use of rockets in the dynasty of Chou (B. C. 1122-255)--in what book do we first meet with the word p'ao, now used for cannon?". The first reliable scholarly reference to rockets in China occurs in the Ko Chieh Ching Yuan (The Mirror of Research) which states that in 998 A.D. a man named Tang Fu invented a rocket of a new kind having an iron head. There were reports of fire arrows and 'iron pots' that could be heard for 5 leagues (25 km, or 15 miles) when they exploded upon impact, causing devastation for a radius of 600 meters (2,000 feet), apparently due to shrapnel. The lowering of the iron pots may have been a way for a besieged army to blow up invaders. The fire arrows were either arrows with explosives attached, or arrows propelled by gunpowder, such as the Korean Hwacha. Less controversially, one of the earliest devices recorded that used internal-combustion rocket propulsion, was the 'ground-rat,' a type of firework recorded in 1264 as having frightened the Empress-Mother Kung Sheng at a feast held in her honor by her son the Emperor Lizong. Subsequently, one of the earliest texts to mention the use of rockets was the Huolongjing, written by the Chinese artillery officer Jiao Yu in the mid-14th century. This text also mentioned the use of the first known multistage rocket, the 'fire-dragon issuing from the water' (huo long chu shui), used mostly by the Chinese navy.

The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and reentry spaceplane with modular add-ons. Major missions included launching numerous satellites and interplanetary probes, conducting space science experiments, and 37 missions constructing and servicing the International Space Station. A major international contribution was the Spacelab payload suite, from the ESA. Major components included the orbiters, recoverable boosters, external tanks, payloads, and supporting infrastructure. The Space Shuttle was a partially reuseable launch system and orbital spacecraft operated by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for human spaceflight missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons. The first of four orbital test flights occurred in 1981 leading to operational flights beginning in 1982, all launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The system was retired from service in 2011 after 135 missions; ] on July 8, 2011, with Space Shuttle Atlantis performing that 135th launch - the final launch of the three-decade Shuttle program. The program ended after Atlantis landed at the Kennedy Space Center on July 21, 2011. Major missions included launching numerous satellites and interplanetary probes, conducting space science experiments, and servicing and construction of space stations. Enterprise was a prototype orbiter used for atmospheric testing during development in the 1970s, and lacked engines and heat shield. Five space-worthy orbiters were builttwo were destroyed in accidents and the others have been retired. It was used for orbital space missions by NASA, the U.S. Department of Defense, the European Space Agency, Japan, and Germany. The United States funded Space Transportation System (STS) development and Shuttle operations except for Spacelab D1 and D2 sponsored by West Germany and reunified Germany respectively. In addition, SL-J was partially funded by Japan. At launch, it consisted of the "stack", including a dark orange-colored external tank (ET); two white, slender Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs); and the Orbiter Vehicle (OV), which contained the crew and payload. Some payloads were launched into higher orbits with either of two different booster stages developed for the STS (single-stage Payload Assist Module or two-stage Inertial Upper Stage). The Space Shuttle was stacked in the Vehicle Assembly Building and the stack mounted on a mobile launch platform held down by four explosive bolts on each SRB which are detonated at launch.

A satellite is an object that goes around, or orbits, a larger object, such as a planet. While there are natural satellites, like the Moon, hundreds of man-made satellites also orbit the Earth. What are the components of a satellite?

communication capabilities with earth a power source a control system to accomplish its mission

Communications antennae, radio receivers and transmitters enable the satellite to communicate with one or more ground stations, called command centers. Messages sent to the satellite from a ground station are "uplinked"; messages transmitted from the satellite to Earth are "downlinked." Many satellites are battery-powered, taking advantage of the ultimate battery recharger, the sun. Silvery solar panels are prominent features on many satellites. Other satellites have fuel cells that convert chemical energy to electrical energy, while a few rely on nuclear energy. Small thrusters provide attitude, altitude, and propulsion control to modify and stabilize the satellite's position in space. Energy is also required to provide climate control onboard for delicate instruments (and sometimes for people). Specialized systems accomplish the tasks assigned to the satellite. These often include sensors capable of photographing a range of wave lengths. Telecommunications satellites require no optics, while environmental satellites do. Environmental satellites transmit data as numbers to a computer on Earth which translates this digital data into images. While some of the images on the computer screen look like photographs, some don't. Bright colors (false colors) are often added to enhance the contrast to make details stand out or to allow us to see what was recorded in the infrared wavelength, beyond our visual range. False colors do not correspond to the colors we normally see. For example, a field of wheat might look pink; clear water may appear black.
Satellites used for television signals are generally in either naturally highly elliptical (with inclination of +/-63.4 degrees and orbital period of about 12 hours, also known as Molniya orbit) or geostationary orbit 37,000 km (23,000 mi) above the earths equator.

A space probe is a scientific space exploration mission in which a spacecraft leaves Earth and explores space. It may approach the Moon, enter interplanetary, flyby or orbit other bodies, or approach interstellar space. Space probes are a form of robotic spacecraft. the space agencies of the USSR (now Russia and Ukraine), the United States, the European Union, Japan, China and India have in the aggregate launched probes to several planets and moons of the solar system as well as to a number of asteroids and comets. It is used to explore space. Once a probe has left the vicinity of Earth, its trajectory will likely take it along an orbit around the Sun similar to the Earth's orbit. To reach another planet, the simplest method, but wasteful of fuel, would be to head straight for it. More complex techniques, such as gravitational slingshots, can be more fuelefficient, though they may require the probe to spend more time in transit. A technique using very little propulsion, but possibly requiring a considerable amount of time, is to follow a trajectory on the Interplanetary Transport Network

A space station (or orbital station) is a spacecraft capable of supporting a crew which is designed to remain in space (most commonly in low Earth orbit) for an extended period of time, and to which other spacecraft can dock. A space station is distinguished from other spacecraft used for human spaceflight by its lack of major propulsion or landing systems. Instead other vehicles transport people and cargo to and from the station. As of October 2011 two space stations are in orbit; the International Space Station, and China's Tiangong 1, (which, after a delay, successfully launched on September 29, 2011) revious stations include the Almaz and Salyut series, Skylab and most recently Mir. Space stations are used to study the effects of long-term space flight on the human body as well as to provide platforms for greater number and length of scientific studies than available on other space vehicles. All space stations have been designed with the intention of rotating multiple crews, with each crew member staying aboard the station for weeks or months, but rarely more than a year. Since the ill-fated flight of Soyuz 11 to Salyut 1, all manned spaceflight duration records have been set aboard space stations. The duration record for a single spaceflight is 437.7 days, set by Valeriy Polyakov aboard Mir from 1994 to 1995. As of 2011, three astronauts have completed single missions of over a year, all aboard Mir. Space stations have been used for both military and civilian purposes. The last military-use space station was Salyut 5, which was used by the Almaz program of the Soviet Union in 1976 and 1977.