4 ms·
A Brief History of Rocket Launches
- ggreer 11y agoThis reminds me of 1945-1998[1]. The map and timeline are similar, but it follows nuclear explosions instead of rocket launches. Considering the two main parties involved in both, it would be interesting to see the data together. 1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjAqR1zICA0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjAqR1zICA0
- bhaak 11y ago1957 being the starting date is probably due to the used catalogs but remember that rockets have been launched decades before that. Depending on your definition, at least the start of Goddard's rocket in 1926 or the A-4 that reached space in 1942 come to mind.
- nattybumppo 11y agoVery true. 1957 is the starting point because the visualization only shows rockets that went to orbit (or that were intended to, at least); suborbital flights are not included.
- nkoren 11y agoNice! As the launch rate ramps up, however, it gets quite laggy. I'd strongly suggest switching from svg to canvas for this.
- nattybumppo 11y agoPart of the lag was due to updating the DOM constantly to add to the "Launch Log." I made a minor performance optimization and that part of it is working a lot faster now.
- dasmoth 11y agoThis is great. One thought: any chance of showing launches as arrows -- ideally approximating the actual launch azimuth -- rather than circles? Would help dispel the myth that rockets go primarily upwards!
- Isamu 11y agoOh! Orbital launches. For some reason I was expecting to see Robert Goddard's launches. Nice though.
- bwooceli 11y agoFirst thought I had after getting into the early sixties was, "Wow, no wonder we made it to the moon first". Talk about practice makes perfect...
- matthewmcg 11y agoThis is even more vividly shown in this NASA plot of booster development: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/USAF_ICBM_and_NASA_Launch_Vehicle_Flight_Test_Successes_and_Failures_%28highlighted%29.png http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/USAF_ICBM...
- dominotw 11y ago>no wonder we made it to the moon first Korolev's premature death and his successor's lack of political savvy might have to do something with it.
- TeMPOraL 11y agoWhoa, I never suspected there were so many launches happening. Especially in the last few years it looks like there was a launch every other day... I always thought there were launches every other month...