ROCKET

pioneer railway locomotive built by the English engineers George and Robert Stephenson. Following the success of the Stockton & Darlington Railway in 1825, the cities of Liverpool and Manchester decided to build a 40-mile (64.4-kilometre) steam-operated line connecting them. George Stephenson was entrusted with constructing the line, but a competition was held to choose a locomotive. The Stephensons' Rocket won against three rivals, including an entry by John Ericsson, who later designed an armoured vessel called the Monitor for the federal forces during the American Civil War. For a short stretch the Rocket achieved a speed of 36 mi per hour. Additional reading Wernher Von Braun and Frederick I. Ordway III, Space Travel: A History, 4th ed. rev. in collaboration with David Dooling (1985); and Willy Ley, Rockets, Missiles, and Space Travel, rev. and enlarged ed. (1961), offer introductions to the history of rocketry. Rocket engines are discussed in Marcel Barrre et al., Rocket Propulsion (1960; originally published in French, 1957); and George P. Sutton, Rocket Propulsion Elements: An Introduction to the Engineering of Rockets, 5th ed. (1986). Edward W. Price