The Rocket in the 20th Century
http://www.ctconnors.com/digitalculture/postww1.htm
Offensive uses of rockets during World War I were primarily used by that of the French, who used small solid-fueled rockets called La Prieur rockets after their inventor, Naval Lt. Y.P.G. La Prieur. Designed to be fired from French or British bi-planes against German observation balloons, they were not the only rockets in use during World War I. The British would add the A.T. and U.S. Kettering Bug rockets, both considered to be the first guided missiles (Lethbridge).
British guided missile studies began in 1914 under the direction of Professor A.M. Low. The project was named A.T. for "Aerial Target" so that enemy spies would believe the vehicles were simply drones flown to test the effectiveness of anti-aircraft guns. Later, in 1917, the Kettering Bug was developed. The Kettering Bug was a pilotless bi-plane bomber made of wood and weighing only 600 pounds, yet it carried a 300-pound payload.
The Kettering Bug was also the precursor the Larynx, which was developed much later. Introduced in 1927 by British Engineers at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, it was in essence, a remote controlled mono-plane that carried a 250-pound payload up to 100 miles away from its point of origin to its destination at speeds of up to 200 miles per hour.
World War II, however, would the demonstration of the first, true, long-range destructive rocket, the A-4, or its more familiar name, the V-2 rocket. It was the V-2 that "would go on to lay the cornerstone of modern rocketry" (Lethbridge). After World War II, the same German scientists behind the V-2 came to the United States and brought with them their model. The V-2, over the course of 13 years, evolved into the modern-day rocket which, on October 4, 1957 carried Sputnik, the first artificial satellite ever to orbit Earth, into space.
Thus commencing the rocket's adaptation from it's original intent to kill, to a new and bold use, that of discovery and exploration.
A Brief History of Rocketry
http://www.allstar.fiu.edu/aero/rocket-history.htm
Rocketry through the Ages : A Timeline of Rocket History
http://history.msfc.nasa.gov/rocketry/index.html
