Apollo Pioneers

Spaceflight was first given serious theoretical consideration by the Russian of Polish descent, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (Konstanty Ciolkowski, 1857-1935), who was a rocket scientist writing about astronautic theory, space travel, and rocket propulsion. He worked as a high school mathematics teacher most of his life, but was finally made a professor after his works became well-known. His most important work, The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices, published in 1903, received no immediate attention from other scientists; however, he built no working models. In the 1920s, other scientists began to realize the importance of his work. In 1923, the German Hermann Oberth (front) published By Rocket into Planetary Space, which triggered wide interest and scientific research on spaceflight. Oberth worked on the V2 rocket and consulted on American rockets. Oberth's book reminded Friedrich Zander, a Russian of Livonian descent, about once having read an article on the subject by Tsiolkovsky. Zander contacted him and became active in promoting Tsiolkovsky's work, and developing it further. In 1924 Zander established the first astronautics society in the Soviet Union, The Society for Studies of Interplanetary Travel, and later researched and built liquid-fuelled rockets named OR-1 (1930) and OR-2 (1933). In 1919, the American, Robert Goddard, published A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes, which was read by Oberth, Zander and Tsiolkovsky. Thus began the serious study and experimenation of rocketry and space flight.