3.3 Four Founders of Modern Rocketry and Astronautics
113
the stage is 24 min 9 s. In the second stage, the rocket engine turns off and continues
to fly to the Moon at the initial accelerated velocity, and the flight time is 48 h 30 min.
In the third stage, when the rocket flies to arrive at a predetermined point close to
the Moon, the direction of the rocket’s engine is reversed and restarted to reduce the
flight velocity; the rocket velocity is exactly zero at landing on the Moon; the flight
time is 3 min 46 s. Based on the scientific theory and calculation, Esnault-Pelterie’s
lecture reports and academic papers are scientific predictions rather than fantasies,
which can be compared with the classic paper published by Tsiolkovsky in 1903.
So, both laid together with the theoretical foundation of modern astronautics.
In 1927, Esnanlt-Pelterie delivered a lecture “Rocket Exploration of the Very High
Atmosphere and the Future of Interplanetary Communications” in the annual general
meeting of the French Astronomical Society, in which he emphasized the connection to his groundbreaking presentation 15 years earlier. His lecture aroused lively
interest and the audience frequently interrupted it with applause. A half of a year
later, the French Astronomical Society published the expanded version of his lecture
in a special supplement, as a separate book, “Rocket Exploration of the Very High
Atmosphere and the Possibility of Interplanetary Travel”, in which the word “Astronautics” appeared for the first time as a scientific term and in quotation marks. In the
meantime, together with a French industrialist André Louis-Hirsch, he established
the first international prize in astronautics, the REP-Hirsch International Astronautics Prize. The Society formed a Committee of prominent scientists to award the
prizes. In 1929, the first REP-Hirsch Award went to the German aerospace pioneer
Hermann Oberth for publishing his book, “Ways to Space Flight”. In the epilogue
of his award-winning book, Oberth wrote: “The French Astronomical Society recognized this book with the REP-Hirsch Award. In addition to great advantages that
this award has brought me and will bring in the future, it had also a not-small moral
effect. I did not sincerely believe that a German would be awarded such a prize in
France, especially since good French, Russian, Italian, and English works were also
submitted. One can see that science and education are capable of bridging national
divisions. I think that I can not thank the French Astronomical Society better than
to pledge here to also work for science and education and to judge others only their
accomplishment”.
In 1930, on the basis of comprehensively and systematically summarizing more
than 20 years’ research results, Esnault-Pelterie wrote and published his culminating
work, Astronautics, which covered virtually all that was then known of rocketry and
space flight. This book involves celestial mechanics, astrophysics, physical chemistry, ballistics and biology, in which the problems of rocket engine, spaceship and
space flight are discussed in detail, as well as the Theory of Relativity are also introduced into studying on rocket’s motions for the first time, and thus is known as the
encyclopedia of aerospace science. Four years later, he published its supplement
edition, Astronautics-Complement, in which the principle of three-axis stabilized
spacecraft by rapidly rotating gyroscope and the re-entry problem of spaceship into
the atmosphere and its solutions are described in detail. Esnault-Pelterie presented
the new science in a consistent and detailed way: discussing rocket motion in vacuum
113
the stage is 24 min 9 s. In the second stage, the rocket engine turns off and continues
to fly to the Moon at the initial accelerated velocity, and the flight time is 48 h 30 min.
In the third stage, when the rocket flies to arrive at a predetermined point close to
the Moon, the direction of the rocket’s engine is reversed and restarted to reduce the
flight velocity; the rocket velocity is exactly zero at landing on the Moon; the flight
time is 3 min 46 s. Based on the scientific theory and calculation, Esnault-Pelterie’s
lecture reports and academic papers are scientific predictions rather than fantasies,
which can be compared with the classic paper published by Tsiolkovsky in 1903.
So, both laid together with the theoretical foundation of modern astronautics.
In 1927, Esnanlt-Pelterie delivered a lecture “Rocket Exploration of the Very High
Atmosphere and the Future of Interplanetary Communications” in the annual general
meeting of the French Astronomical Society, in which he emphasized the connection to his groundbreaking presentation 15 years earlier. His lecture aroused lively
interest and the audience frequently interrupted it with applause. A half of a year
later, the French Astronomical Society published the expanded version of his lecture
in a special supplement, as a separate book, “Rocket Exploration of the Very High
Atmosphere and the Possibility of Interplanetary Travel”, in which the word “Astronautics” appeared for the first time as a scientific term and in quotation marks. In the
meantime, together with a French industrialist André Louis-Hirsch, he established
the first international prize in astronautics, the REP-Hirsch International Astronautics Prize. The Society formed a Committee of prominent scientists to award the
prizes. In 1929, the first REP-Hirsch Award went to the German aerospace pioneer
Hermann Oberth for publishing his book, “Ways to Space Flight”. In the epilogue
of his award-winning book, Oberth wrote: “The French Astronomical Society recognized this book with the REP-Hirsch Award. In addition to great advantages that
this award has brought me and will bring in the future, it had also a not-small moral
effect. I did not sincerely believe that a German would be awarded such a prize in
France, especially since good French, Russian, Italian, and English works were also
submitted. One can see that science and education are capable of bridging national
divisions. I think that I can not thank the French Astronomical Society better than
to pledge here to also work for science and education and to judge others only their
accomplishment”.
In 1930, on the basis of comprehensively and systematically summarizing more
than 20 years’ research results, Esnault-Pelterie wrote and published his culminating
work, Astronautics, which covered virtually all that was then known of rocketry and
space flight. This book involves celestial mechanics, astrophysics, physical chemistry, ballistics and biology, in which the problems of rocket engine, spaceship and
space flight are discussed in detail, as well as the Theory of Relativity are also introduced into studying on rocket’s motions for the first time, and thus is known as the
encyclopedia of aerospace science. Four years later, he published its supplement
edition, Astronautics-Complement, in which the principle of three-axis stabilized
spacecraft by rapidly rotating gyroscope and the re-entry problem of spaceship into
the atmosphere and its solutions are described in detail. Esnault-Pelterie presented
the new science in a consistent and detailed way: discussing rocket motion in vacuum