The rocket uses the reaction of the gas generated by the combustion of the fuel to push it forward. Regarding the origin of the rocket, there is a disagreement in the academic world. The dominant view is that the rocket originated in China. The principle of using the recoil force of the rocket is considered to have been mastered in China as early as the Northern Song Dynasty.

Before the invention of gunpowder, the "rocket" was an arrow dedicated to fire attack. Its arrow attached grease, rosin, sulfur-like flammable materials, and was launched with a bow after ignition. After the invention of gunpowder, rocket firearms were mainly at the back of the arrow, and a spherical gunpowder bag was attached around the arrow shaft. When in use, first point the spherical shell, then use the bow to launch to the enemy array, ignite the gunpowder from the burning spherical shell, and burn the enemy horse.

In the Northern Song Dynasty, China developed a kind of gunpowder arrow that used the reaction force generated by the gunpowder to inject the gas to shoot the arrow at the enemy, which is consistent with the launching principle of modern rockets. In the first year of Jingkang in the Northern Song Dynasty (1126), when Shang Gang and Li Gang were commanding Song Jun to defend the scorpion, Song Jun used such a rocket to give the Jinjun a great kill.

The structure of the rocket is that a gunpowder made of thick paper is attached to the arrow shaft. After the ignition line is ignited, the gunpowder in the cartridge burns, and the hot air is flushed out of the tail seal of the cartridge to spray backward, thus generating The reaction force pushes the cartridge forward and the arrow flies forward.

In the Ming Dynasty, the use of rockets was more extensive, varied, and the equipment was greatly improved. In the famous military work "Wu Beizhi" of the Ming Dynasty, there were many rocket maps with gunpowder as the driving force. For example, the "Fire Dragonfly" that fires ten arrows at the same time launches "one nest" of thirty-two arrows, launches forty-nine arrows of "Fourty-Nine-Flying Arrows" and launches one hundred arrows. "Baiya Arc Arrow", "Hundreds of Tigers and Arrows", etc. They mostly put the arrow in the tube, connect the medicine line to a bus, ignite the bus, pass it to each arrow, and shoot it all together. It is worth noting that a two-stage rocket named "Fire Dragon Water" is the earliest multi-stage rocket in China and the world. According to (Wu Beizhi), the structure of the fire dragon is recorded as a five-foot bamboo tube. The inside is polished. A wooden faucet is installed at one end of the bamboo tube, and a wooden dragon tail is attached to the other end. The bamboo tube is a dragon body.

The mouth of the faucet is up, and there are several rockets in the dragon's abdomen. The rocket's medicine lines are always connected together, and the total medicine line of the rocket in the dragon's abdomen is connected to the bottom of the rocket barrel outside the dragon body. In this way, the two rocket launchers in the front of the dragon body are ignited, and the dragon body flies in the air in a certain arc. When the two rocket launchers (first stage) are burned, the two rear rocket launchers (second stage) continue to burn. After the gunpowder in the beach burned, the rocket in the dragon's abdomen was led to fly out to kill the enemy. In order to ensure the launch quality of the rocket, the Ming Dynasty firearms developer Zhao Shizhen also created the chute type rocket launcher "rocket slip". Its successful development ensures that the rocket can fly in the target direction, which is similar to the role of modern rocket guides. It is another major leap in the launch technology of ancient Chinese rockets. Editor / Zhao Jing