17th century rockets - historical fact

If you ask anyone with whom, in his opinion, the history of the development of rocket technology is connected, he will almost certainly tell you the name of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. And if they tell you that rockets, and multi-stage ones, were still in the 17th century. Fairy tales? Not. It is a fact. Before you is the treatise "MAGNAE ARTILLERIAE" of 1650 in Latin and its reprint "ART OF ARTILLERY" of 1729 in English. This book laid the foundations of rocket science long before they were formulated by scholars of the twentieth century. In this book, among other things, the principle of multi-stage rockets is described, drawings of systems of volley fire and a delta-wing stabilizer are given. All this is written and published 250 years before the appearance of the works of Tsiolkovsky. It describes rockets from products with a stabilizing pole to "cruise" missiles. Also worked out the theory of creating a "prototype of a multi-stage rocket." But that´s not all. Even in the 18th century there were legends about fights with fire-breathing dragons. And this is not a fairy tale - there were such weapons. What else is interesting? Probably for those who puzzled over the structures of "star" fortresses there is a hint and very interesting - read and study.