108
3 A Brief History of Space Flight
Esnault-Pelterie, the American Robert Hutching Goddard and the German Hermann
Julius Oberth are the prominent pioneers and founders of modern rocketry and astronautics in the early twentieth century [5]. Justly inspired by the space science fiction
novels, they established the theoretical system of rocket and spaceflight and ushered
an emerging discipline, astronautics.
3.3.1 Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky
Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky (Konctant´in ndy´ apdoviq Ciolk´ ovckii,
1857−1935) was the Imperial Russian and Soviet rocket scientist and the pioneer and
founder of modern astronautics, known as the “father of astronautics”. Konstantin
Tsiolkovsky has created many world firsts in rocket theory and space flight, established a complete theoretical system of space science, published more than 500
academic papers and science fictions, and contributed his lifetime and energy to the
development of human astronautic industry. In August 1911, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
wrote a famous saying in a letter to his friend: “the Earth is the cradle of mankind,
but one cannot live in the cradle forever; in the pursuit of light and space will at first
timidly penetrate beyond the limits of the atmosphere, and then will conquer all the
space around the Sun”. Konstantin’s visionary ideas for the future of humanity in
space were far ahead of his time.
On September 17, 1857, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was born in the village of
Izhevskoe in Ryazan Province, about 200 km in the south of Moscow, Russia. His
father is Polish, a forester; his mother is Russian, an educated woman. He grew up
in a middle-class family with 18 children, out of which he was the fifth child. At
the age of 10, Tsiolkovsky caught scarlet fever and became hard of hearing. For
this reason, he was suspended from the local school for boys and had to study at
home by self-education. He had never completed any formal education. His father’s
library became his school, and his disability did his driving force. At the age of 16,
his father sent him to Moscow to study. Although he was still unable to enter the
school to study normally, there was better studying condition than that in the countryside, and he taught himself at Chertkovskaya Library, which held the Russian
finest collection of books. He widely studied mathematics, analytical mechanics,
astronomy, physics, chemistry, as well as classical literature. Particularly, he was
strongly interested in the issues on space flight. Around this time, he also found the
novels of French science fiction and adventure writer Jules Verne, From the Earth
to the Moon. It is just the scientific fiction that inspired a generation of spaceflight
pioneers. Nevertheless, Tsiolkovsky thought that the way of launching the projectile
was not feasible, and an approach to realizing space flight would be based on the
principle of action–reaction force.
After returning to his native place in 1876, Tsiolkovsky passed exams for his
Teacher’s Certificate and became a teacher to teach arithmetic and geometry in a
school named Uezdnoe Uchilishe in the town of Borovsk in Kaluga Region, about
110 km in the south of Moscow, until 1892. During this period, while working on
3 A Brief History of Space Flight
Esnault-Pelterie, the American Robert Hutching Goddard and the German Hermann
Julius Oberth are the prominent pioneers and founders of modern rocketry and astronautics in the early twentieth century [5]. Justly inspired by the space science fiction
novels, they established the theoretical system of rocket and spaceflight and ushered
an emerging discipline, astronautics.
3.3.1 Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky
Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky (Konctant´in ndy´ apdoviq Ciolk´ ovckii,
1857−1935) was the Imperial Russian and Soviet rocket scientist and the pioneer and
founder of modern astronautics, known as the “father of astronautics”. Konstantin
Tsiolkovsky has created many world firsts in rocket theory and space flight, established a complete theoretical system of space science, published more than 500
academic papers and science fictions, and contributed his lifetime and energy to the
development of human astronautic industry. In August 1911, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
wrote a famous saying in a letter to his friend: “the Earth is the cradle of mankind,
but one cannot live in the cradle forever; in the pursuit of light and space will at first
timidly penetrate beyond the limits of the atmosphere, and then will conquer all the
space around the Sun”. Konstantin’s visionary ideas for the future of humanity in
space were far ahead of his time.
On September 17, 1857, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was born in the village of
Izhevskoe in Ryazan Province, about 200 km in the south of Moscow, Russia. His
father is Polish, a forester; his mother is Russian, an educated woman. He grew up
in a middle-class family with 18 children, out of which he was the fifth child. At
the age of 10, Tsiolkovsky caught scarlet fever and became hard of hearing. For
this reason, he was suspended from the local school for boys and had to study at
home by self-education. He had never completed any formal education. His father’s
library became his school, and his disability did his driving force. At the age of 16,
his father sent him to Moscow to study. Although he was still unable to enter the
school to study normally, there was better studying condition than that in the countryside, and he taught himself at Chertkovskaya Library, which held the Russian
finest collection of books. He widely studied mathematics, analytical mechanics,
astronomy, physics, chemistry, as well as classical literature. Particularly, he was
strongly interested in the issues on space flight. Around this time, he also found the
novels of French science fiction and adventure writer Jules Verne, From the Earth
to the Moon. It is just the scientific fiction that inspired a generation of spaceflight
pioneers. Nevertheless, Tsiolkovsky thought that the way of launching the projectile
was not feasible, and an approach to realizing space flight would be based on the
principle of action–reaction force.
After returning to his native place in 1876, Tsiolkovsky passed exams for his
Teacher’s Certificate and became a teacher to teach arithmetic and geometry in a
school named Uezdnoe Uchilishe in the town of Borovsk in Kaluga Region, about
110 km in the south of Moscow, until 1892. During this period, while working on