3.3 Four Founders of Modern Rocketry and Astronautics
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For many years, Tsiolkovsky’s ideas were little known outside Russian, and the
field lagged until German and other scientists independently made the same calculations decades later. After the Russian October Revolution, Tsiolkovsky’s work was
encouraged by the Soviet government. At that time, when the country was very difficult, it still actively supported to research the rockets, but it was yet insufficient to
understand the importance of the astronautic theory early proposed by Tsiolkovsky.
With the development of researching the rocket and spaceflight in Europe and the
United States, many astronautic enthusiasts started to devote in the Soviet Union to
studying rocket. In view of the rapid development of international rocket and spaceflight, the Soviet government started to pay more attention to the field. In 1924, the
Soviet government organized experts to review Tsiolkovsky’s articles, and published
again his classic paper “The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction
Devices” and popular science fictions. The special organizations to study rocket and
spaceflight were set up in Moscow and Leningrad, and the associations of space
flight were also created by the student groups of the universities. Tsiolkovsky was
invited to join these organizations and provide guidance to study aerospace science.
For the final decade of his life, Tsiolkovsky was still working. In 1926, he
published “Plan of Space Exploration”, which consists of a bold 16-step program,
from the very beginning of space conquest until the far future, including interstellar
travel and the colonization of the solar system and beyond. Three years later, he
proposed the thoughts about multistage rockets in his book, The Space Rocket Trains.
His calculations proved that building a rocket with separate stages, each of which
would be jettisoned as it finished consuming its propellants, would allow a payload
to be accelerated further. In his later years, he wrote a comprehensive paper, “The
Work of Space Rocket: 1903−1927”, which was published 1 year after his death.
He systematically summarized his work and achievements of studying rocket theory
and space flight in this paper, and predicted the development steps in the future.
In the 1930s, with the upsurge of studying rocket and spaceflight all over the world,
Tsiolkovsky’s fame was also rising rapidly. In 1932, on his 75th birthday, his deeds
and scientific achievements were published in the Soviet newspapers and magazines,
and the Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin also sent him a birthday message. For a while,
the old man became an outstanding hero of the Soviet Union. On September 19,
1935, Tsiolkovsky died at the age of 78 in Kaluga and was given a state funeral. He
lived to see a younger generation of Soviet engineers and scientists begin to make
his visionary concepts reality. It is gratifying to the great pioneer that his planned
spaceflight practice was first achieved in his hometown the Soviet Union. The world’s
first artificial earth satellite was launched successfully on October 1, 1957, and since
then human beings entered the age of space flight.
3.3.2 Robert Albert Charles Esnault-Pelterie
Robert Albert Charles Esnault-Pelterie (1881−1957) is a French aircraft designer
and spaceflight theorist, and one of the founders of modern rocketry and astronautics.
111
For many years, Tsiolkovsky’s ideas were little known outside Russian, and the
field lagged until German and other scientists independently made the same calculations decades later. After the Russian October Revolution, Tsiolkovsky’s work was
encouraged by the Soviet government. At that time, when the country was very difficult, it still actively supported to research the rockets, but it was yet insufficient to
understand the importance of the astronautic theory early proposed by Tsiolkovsky.
With the development of researching the rocket and spaceflight in Europe and the
United States, many astronautic enthusiasts started to devote in the Soviet Union to
studying rocket. In view of the rapid development of international rocket and spaceflight, the Soviet government started to pay more attention to the field. In 1924, the
Soviet government organized experts to review Tsiolkovsky’s articles, and published
again his classic paper “The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction
Devices” and popular science fictions. The special organizations to study rocket and
spaceflight were set up in Moscow and Leningrad, and the associations of space
flight were also created by the student groups of the universities. Tsiolkovsky was
invited to join these organizations and provide guidance to study aerospace science.
For the final decade of his life, Tsiolkovsky was still working. In 1926, he
published “Plan of Space Exploration”, which consists of a bold 16-step program,
from the very beginning of space conquest until the far future, including interstellar
travel and the colonization of the solar system and beyond. Three years later, he
proposed the thoughts about multistage rockets in his book, The Space Rocket Trains.
His calculations proved that building a rocket with separate stages, each of which
would be jettisoned as it finished consuming its propellants, would allow a payload
to be accelerated further. In his later years, he wrote a comprehensive paper, “The
Work of Space Rocket: 1903−1927”, which was published 1 year after his death.
He systematically summarized his work and achievements of studying rocket theory
and space flight in this paper, and predicted the development steps in the future.
In the 1930s, with the upsurge of studying rocket and spaceflight all over the world,
Tsiolkovsky’s fame was also rising rapidly. In 1932, on his 75th birthday, his deeds
and scientific achievements were published in the Soviet newspapers and magazines,
and the Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin also sent him a birthday message. For a while,
the old man became an outstanding hero of the Soviet Union. On September 19,
1935, Tsiolkovsky died at the age of 78 in Kaluga and was given a state funeral. He
lived to see a younger generation of Soviet engineers and scientists begin to make
his visionary concepts reality. It is gratifying to the great pioneer that his planned
spaceflight practice was first achieved in his hometown the Soviet Union. The world’s
first artificial earth satellite was launched successfully on October 1, 1957, and since
then human beings entered the age of space flight.
3.3.2 Robert Albert Charles Esnault-Pelterie
Robert Albert Charles Esnault-Pelterie (1881−1957) is a French aircraft designer
and spaceflight theorist, and one of the founders of modern rocketry and astronautics.