96
3 A Brief History of Space Flight
Fig. 3.3 Structure of fire-arrow “One-Swarm-Bee Arrow” recorded in Wubei Zhi
single fire-arrows, cluster fire-arrows, fire-arrow bombs and multiple stage firearrows were recorded in Wubei Zhi, a comprehensive military works written by
Yuanyi Mao (1594−1644 A.D.), a military specialist in the Ming Dynasty.
The single fire-arrows are the types of rockets with feather-ling stability control,
whose rocket barrels are 27-cm long and 4-cm in diameter, arrow poles are 2-m long
and 2-cm in diameter, feather-lings are 23-cm long, as well as shot ranges can reach
500 steps (one step in the Ming Dynasty equal to about 1.5 m). The cluster fire-arrows
are the types of rockets with special launch-barrel to shoot out multiple arrows at the
same time, such as “Five-Tiger out-of-Hole Arrows (5 sets, range 500 steps), SevenStar Arrows (7 sets), Nine-Star Arrows (9 sets), Crossbow-Meteor Arrows (10 sets),
Fire-Dragon Arrows (20 sets), Long-Snake-Burst Arrows (30 sets, range 200 steps),
One-Swarm-Bee Arrows (32 sets, range 300 steps, as shown in Fig. 3.3), Group-ofLeopard Running Arrows (40 sets, range 400 steps), Forty-Nine Sets Flying-Curtain
Arrows (49 sets), Hundred-Tiger Running Arrows (40 set, range 400 steps)” and so
on. The fire-arrow bombs are the types of rockets composed of the launch vehicle
with a jet-propulsion device and the warhead, whose ranges are usually very far,
such as “Flying-Fire Raven”, “Shock Sky-Guns of Attacking Thieves in Flying Air”
and so on. The multiple stage fire-arrows are mainly applied to sea warfare, such as
“Fire-Dragon out of the Water” (a two-stage rocket, as shown in Fig. 3.4), and “Sand
Barrel in Flying Air”, which disturbed the enemy’s mind and could be recycled to
use again.
There were many kinds of fire-arrows in the Ming Dynasty, whose overall technical level was in the leading position all over the world at that time. Although the
rocket technology in the Qing Dynasty (1636−1912 A.D.) developed to some extent,
the general trend was gradually declining. After moving its capital to Beijing, the
Qing Dynasty had been in a peaceful environment for a long time, passing through
the prosperous age from Emperors Kang Xi to Qian Long (also called the High Qing
era, 1681−1796), and thus the rocket weapons were seldom used and developed.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the rocket technology of the Western
countries eventually caught up with that of China.
3 A Brief History of Space Flight
Fig. 3.3 Structure of fire-arrow “One-Swarm-Bee Arrow” recorded in Wubei Zhi
single fire-arrows, cluster fire-arrows, fire-arrow bombs and multiple stage firearrows were recorded in Wubei Zhi, a comprehensive military works written by
Yuanyi Mao (1594−1644 A.D.), a military specialist in the Ming Dynasty.
The single fire-arrows are the types of rockets with feather-ling stability control,
whose rocket barrels are 27-cm long and 4-cm in diameter, arrow poles are 2-m long
and 2-cm in diameter, feather-lings are 23-cm long, as well as shot ranges can reach
500 steps (one step in the Ming Dynasty equal to about 1.5 m). The cluster fire-arrows
are the types of rockets with special launch-barrel to shoot out multiple arrows at the
same time, such as “Five-Tiger out-of-Hole Arrows (5 sets, range 500 steps), SevenStar Arrows (7 sets), Nine-Star Arrows (9 sets), Crossbow-Meteor Arrows (10 sets),
Fire-Dragon Arrows (20 sets), Long-Snake-Burst Arrows (30 sets, range 200 steps),
One-Swarm-Bee Arrows (32 sets, range 300 steps, as shown in Fig. 3.3), Group-ofLeopard Running Arrows (40 sets, range 400 steps), Forty-Nine Sets Flying-Curtain
Arrows (49 sets), Hundred-Tiger Running Arrows (40 set, range 400 steps)” and so
on. The fire-arrow bombs are the types of rockets composed of the launch vehicle
with a jet-propulsion device and the warhead, whose ranges are usually very far,
such as “Flying-Fire Raven”, “Shock Sky-Guns of Attacking Thieves in Flying Air”
and so on. The multiple stage fire-arrows are mainly applied to sea warfare, such as
“Fire-Dragon out of the Water” (a two-stage rocket, as shown in Fig. 3.4), and “Sand
Barrel in Flying Air”, which disturbed the enemy’s mind and could be recycled to
use again.
There were many kinds of fire-arrows in the Ming Dynasty, whose overall technical level was in the leading position all over the world at that time. Although the
rocket technology in the Qing Dynasty (1636−1912 A.D.) developed to some extent,
the general trend was gradually declining. After moving its capital to Beijing, the
Qing Dynasty had been in a peaceful environment for a long time, passing through
the prosperous age from Emperors Kang Xi to Qian Long (also called the High Qing
era, 1681−1796), and thus the rocket weapons were seldom used and developed.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, the rocket technology of the Western
countries eventually caught up with that of China.