Since the time human beings saw birds soaring through sky, they wished to fly. Ancient Romans and Greeks portrayed many mythological animals and gods with wings. In fact as per the legend of Daedalus and Icarus, both the father and his son broke away from prison by affixing wings made of feathers and wax to their respective bodies. Icarus flew too close to the sun and its heat melted his feathers and wax, leading him to the sea whereas Daedalus landed safe in Sicily.

Legendary characters were known to fly through heavens using mythological powers. Around 100 BC, Hero of Alexandria, a Greek Inventor, introduced a device known as aeolipile. The device used mechanical interaction of water and heat to work. Steam generated through the two elements was its driving force. By mounting sphere above the water kettle and firing it, he turned water into the steam so that gas travelled through pipes to sphere. He also placed two L shaped pipes on opposite ends of sphere to allow the gas to escape. All this gave thrust to sphere and helped it to rotate. The thrust sounded like fireworks than the rockets.

Initially, Chinese used rockets at the time of celebrations and warfares. According to a legend, Wan-Hoo, a Chinese official tried a trip to the moon with a huge wicker chair, fastened using 47 big rockets. His 47 assistants helped him to light fuses and in a blink of an eye, a roar escorted with smoke clouds, was witnessed by the onlookers. As the smoke cleared, Wan-Hoo and his chair, both were gone. Throughout the span of 13 to 15^th century, many such rocket experiments took place.