The rockets were positioned on the wood racks. In battles, the soldiers held the rear of the rockets and lit the fuse to fire at the enemies. The device could be used both on land and under water. More than 2,000 rockets were equipped on ten warships. 4,760 rockets were facilitated among the infantry and cavalry troops. Such a great number was unprecedented both in Chinese and world military history. The other countries in the world only knew of this kind of weapon some 240 years later.

Even more advanced was the "multi-shot rockets" which appeared later. A large number of rockets were positioned in a bucket, which had two layers for orientation and direction purposes. Meanwhile, all the fuses of each single rocket were bundled together. Once the soldier fired the fuse, all of shots were made at the same time, covering quite a noticeable range. Besides this kind, there were some other dozens of variations, with 2 to 100 shots at a time.

General Qi Jiguang's troops also put several "multi-shot rockets" on a cart, which could shoot hundreds, or even thousands of arrows at one time. When his troops were guarding the east part of theGreat Wall, Qi would have at least 40 carts equipped with "multi-shot rockets." This was also unique at the time in the world.

The weapon experts in late Ming Dynasty also invented the rockets with wings in the shapes of a ball or crow, with the ball or crow full of powder. A fuse was used to link the powder that pushed forward the rocket with that in the body of the ball or crow. When the rocket reached the enemy, it would also explode, inflicting more damage on the enemy. It was also a very useful weapon in attacking cities. Missiles nowadays use exactly the same basic principle with these winged rockets filled with powder.

In the late Ming Dynasty, the rockets with double boosts were also produced. At the rear of the rockets, there were four gunpowder boosters. These two features resembled the basic characteristics of the rockets nowadays. The weapon could fly for a few miles above water. What's more, three other kinds of rockets with double boosters that used recyclable body were also invented, which greatly inspired the research and development of modern rockets.

Not only were the rockets used in the military domain in the Ming Dynasty; there were also men's attempts to fly together with the rockets. The scholar Wan Hu in the Ming Dynasty, who is regarded as the originator of the manned rockets, was the trailblazer in doing experiments aimed at taking human being to space.

On the basis of his research about the boosting power generated by the rockets, he made a chair with 47 rockets, the maximum number that could possibly be tied to his chair. He tied himself to the chair, and held two bigkitesin each of his hands. Then he asked his assistants to fire the fuses of the 47 rockets at the same time, hoping to fly in the sky with the boosting power from the rockets and the kites.

Though doomed to fail, Wan Hu has been universally acknowledged as the first man to try flying to space with the help of rockets. In memory of Wan, one of the lunar craters on the back of the moon is named after him.

Around the end of the 13th century and the beginning of the 14th century, Chinese inventions of powder and rockets spread to India, Arab, and in turn, Europe. With centuries of development and application, rocketry began to be used for spatial exploration after World War Ⅱ.

Despite the fact that powder and rocket were first invented in China, the ancient rocketry failed to develop into modern rocketry due to longtime neglect in science and technology. Consequently, powder and rocket were only used in fireworks for centuries.