The Old Days of Space Travel

Since the first man was put into space, we have relied on bulky liquid-fuelled rockets to propel astronauts, supplies, and fuel into space. This method of launch is highly inefficent, as the launch vehicle must be large enough to carry not only the human being, his supplies and his life support system, but also the fuel for the entire trip into orbit, as well as the oxygen that reacts with that fuel. The first rockets used, such as the one shown above, had to carry with them and use hundreds of thousands of pounds of fuel...