Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard joined the Montreal Canadiens for his first NHL game on October 31, 1942 at the age of 21. Maurice Richard's glorious career of 18 seasons with the Montreal Canadiens was highlighted by eight Stanley Cup Championships, including five consecutive ones from 1956 to 1960. Richard today remains the Montreal Canadiens career leader in regular season goals (544) and playoff goals (82), and all-together collected a total of 1,091 points (626 goals, 465 assists) in 1,111 NHL games. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1961. A recipient of the Order of Canada , Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard became in 1992 the first sports personality to be named as a member of the Queen Private Council. The Rocket died in May 2000 at the age of 78 and is remembered as one of the greatest hockey players ever.
The Saturn V (Saturn-5) is best know as the work horse for NASA's Apollo Moon Program and was the largest rocket ever constructed. The Saturn V Rocket was used in three stages for Apollo. Stage 1 was powered by five F-l rocket engines which produced more than 7.5 million pounds of thrust. Stage 2 was powered by five J-2 rocket engines which took the vehicle and payload to an altitude of 185 kilometers (115 miles). Stage 3 was powered by one liquid J-2 rocket engine which burned for 2.75 minutes boosting the spacecraft to orbital velocity of about 28,160 kilometers (17,500 miles) per hour. The third stage was shut down with fuel remaining and stayed attached to the spacecraft in Earth orbit. The J-2 engine was reignited to propel the spacecraft into translunar trajectory at a speed of 39,430 kilometers (24,500 miles) per hour. Even though the Saturn V Rocket was abandoned shortly after launching the Skylab Space Station it is universally acknowledged as the most important rocket in NASA’s space exploration program.
Roger Clemens is a six-time winner of the American League’s Cy Young Award as the league’s best pitcher. Clemens has won more Cy Young Awards than any other pitcher in the history of baseball. Because of his explosive fastball, which is regularly clocked at above 90 mph (145 km/h), the powerful right-hander is nicknamed the Rocket. Clemens signed with the Boston Red Sox of the American League (AL) in 1983. Although he had an overpowering fastball, he pitched erratically in 1984, and early in 1985 he was sidelined by an injury. Fully recovered in 1986, Clemens compiled a 24-4 record. He also won 14 straight games at one point and struck out 20 batters in a single game. His performance earned him the Cy Young Award and the league’s most valuable player (MVP) award. Clemens won the Cy Young Award again the following year, with a record of 20-9, becoming only the fourth pitcher in history to do so in successive seasons. From that time on, Clemens was a consistent star, despite an explosive temper that sometimes antagonized fans and teammates.
- Surely one of Elton’s best
She packed my bags last night pre-flight
Zero hour nine a.m.
And I'm gonna be high as a kite by then
I miss the earth so much I miss my wife
It's lonely out in space
On such a timeless flight
And I think it's gonna be a long long time
Till touch down brings me round again to find
I'm not the man they think I am at home
Oh no no no I'm a rocket man
Rocket man burning out his fuse up here alone
Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids
In fact it's cold as hell
And there's no one there to raise them if you did
And all this science I don't understand
It's just my job five days a week
A rocket man, a rocket man
And I think it's gonna be a long long time...
Though less heralded than Thomas Edison, Charles Kettering is responsible for inventions that changed the way we live. In addition to the electric self-starter, Kettering also developed the storage battery-powered electrical ignition that is still used in every gasoline powered vehicle today. Kettering , however, saved his best invention for last. Introduced in 1949 the Kettering "Rocket" V-8 was a sensation. Kettering reasoned that if an engine could use a compression ratio higher than normal more power would result. But, as Kettering discovered, higher compression engines would literally rattle to death on the low-octane gasoline then available. In typical fashion, Kettering worked backward to find a solution. Instead of trying to adapt his high-compression engine to the available fuel, he set about not only perfecting the high-compression engine, but also perfecting a higher-octane fuel that would make it practical. The results of his labours were two-fold: the high compression V-8 engine or the Olds "Rocket" engine and high-octane leaded gasoline. The Rocket V-8 set the standard for every American V-8 engine for at least three decades. Even today the very modern Chevrolet Corvette engine owes a huge debt to the Rocket and Charles Kettering.
In the immediate post-war years Oldsmobile had two models, the near-luxury 98 and the mid-range 76. At first the Rocket (or " Kettering " V-8) seemed destined for just the top-of-the-line 98, but then good sense prevailed and the modern V-8 was also offered in the much-lighter 76 chassis in a new 1949 model dubbed the 88. A legend was born. Though fitted with an automatic transmission (the Olds manual couldn't handle the engine's torque), the Oldsmobile 88 was the hit of NASCAR's 1950 season, winning eight of the 10 races. Given its lightning-like success, one could make a strong case that the Olds 88 with its 135-horsepower V-8 was the first true "musclecar" and led to the development of legends such as the Pontiac GTO, Dodge Charger and Olds 442. In fact, all the successful Oldsmobile vehicles that would follow the Oldsmobile 88 for the next 30 years would bear the distinct seal of Charles Kettering's last great invention, the legendary Rocket V-8.
"Rocket 88" , is also a rhythm and blues song from 1951 claimed by pioneer rock and roll record producer and Sun Records owner Sam Phillips as " the first rock and roll song". The record was credited to Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats, but the band did not actually exist. The song was written by Ike Turner and recorded by him with his band, the Kings of Rhythm. Brenston was a saxophonist with Turner and also sang the vocal on "Rocket 88", a hymn of praise to the joys of the Oldsmobile Rocket 88. Working from the raw material of jump blues and swing combo music, Turner made it even rawer, with a strong back beat and Brenston's enthusiastic vocals and tenor saxophone solos. The song also features one of the first examples of distorted, or fuzz guitar ever recorded. Reportedly, a speaker was damaged on Highway 61 when the band was driving from Mississippi to Memphis but Phillips liked the sound and used it. "Rocket 88" is the prototype for hundreds of other rock and roll records in style, not to mention its lyrics in which an automobile serves as a metaphor for romantic prowess. The claim that "Rocket 88" was the first rock and roll record is perhaps overstated, but one undisputed fact is that it was the second-biggest rhythm and blues single of 1951.
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