К.Э. Циолковский

Report:

Konstantin Eduardovitch Tsiolkovsky

1857-1935

|School |N 263 |

|Form |10b |

|Student |Golikov A.|

St.Petersburg.

1999.

The life of Konstantin Eduardovitch Tsiolkovsky

1857-1935

"The Earth is the cradle of the mind, but we cannot live forever in a

cradle".

Konstantin E Eduardovitch. Tsiolkovsky

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was a true visionary and pioneer of astronautics. He

theorized many aspects of human space travel and rocket propulsion decades

before others, and played an important role in the development of the

Soviet and Russian space programs.

He was born on September 17,1857, in the village of Ijevskoe, Ryasan

Province, Russia, the son a a Polish forester who had emigrated to Russia.

He was not from a rich family, but a very large one; Konstantin Tsiolkovsky

had 17 brothers and sisters. At the age of 10 he lost his hearing as the

result of scarlet fever. After that he couldn't attend school, and he never

recieved any formal education. The knowledge and education he attained were

acheived by himself. His books were his teachers, and he read every book in

his father's library. Tsiolkovsky later remembered that his hearing loss

influenced greatly his future life: during all his life he tried to prove

to himself and to others that he was better and more clever than others,

even with his disability.

In 1873-1876 Konstantin Tsiolkovsky lived in Moscow. During this time he

visited the main Moscow libraries, among them the well known Pashkov House

Library. It was in this fashion that he received his self-education. While

in Moscow, Tsiolkovsky was tutored by the eccentric and brilliant Russian

philosopher Nikolai Fedorovitch Fedorov, who was working in a Moscow

library at the time. Fedorov was a leading proponent of Russian Cosmism,

and gave Tsiolkovsky a place to work in the library. In many ways, he took

the place of the university lecturers that Tsiolkovsky never had access to.

At the age of17, while living in Moscow, he first dreamed about the

possibility of space flight. He was, in part, inspired by the novels of

Jules Verne. Since that time he started to think about the problems of

space vehicle design. His great purpose was not simply to go into outer

space, but to live in space, for humainity to become a space civilization.

In 1876-1879, after his coming back to his father's home, he lived in

Vyatka and Ryasan. After passing his exams, he recieved his Teacher's

Certificate, and went to work as a math teacher in Borovsk, Kaluga

Province.

In 1880-1892 Tsiolkovsky lived in Borovsk and worked as a teacher. At that

time he began his scientific research in air baloon building, life in free

space, aerodynamics and philosophy. It was also at that time that he

married. His wife, Barbara E. Sokolova, was the daughter of the local

preacher. Together, they had 3 daughters and 4 sons.

In 1892-1935 he lived and worked in Kaluga. His moving to Kaluga was the

result of a teaching promotion. He lived in the house that is now a part of

the museum complex with his family from the year 1904 until his death in

1935. It was here in Kaluga that he became a well known scientist, and

where he wrote and published his theories of space flight and inter-

planetary travels. In Kaluga he wrote his Cosmic Philosophy, and he dreamed

about the far distant future of humanity, including the eventual conquest

of space and our leaving the cradle of the planet Earth for the stars. He

was made a member of the Soviet Academy of Science in 1919.

He received a government pension in 1920, and continued to work and write

about space. Upon the publication of the works of German rocket pioneer

Herman Oberth in 1923, his works were revised and published more widely,

and he finally earned some international recognition for his ideas.

He wrote over 500 scientific papers, and, even though he never created any

rockets himself, he influenced many young Russian engineers and designers.

Tsiolkovsky lived to see a younger generation of Russian engineers and

scientists begin to make his visionary concepts reality. Among these was

Sergey Korolev, who would become the "Chief Designer" of the Soviet space

program, who launched humanity into space with Sputnik, Laika, and the

launch of the first cosmonaut,Yuri Gagarin.

Konstantin E. Tsiolkovsky, the father of cosmonautics, died in Kaluga at

the age of 78 on September 19,1935. He received an honored State funeral

from the Soviet government. He was buried in the old Kaluga Cemetery.

The tomb of Tsiolkovsky in the Old Kaluga Cemetery.

The Work of Tsiolkovsky

"Men are weak now, and yet they transform the Earth's surface. In

millions of years their might will increase to the extent that they will

change the surface of the Earth, its oceans, the atmosphere, and

themselves. They will control the climate and the Solar System just as

they control the Earth. They will travel beyond the limits of our

planetary system; they will reach other Suns, and use their fresh energy

instead of the energy of their dying luminary."-Konstantin Tsiolkovsky

Tsiolkovsky is considered to be the father of cosmonautics and human space

flight, and was a truly great thinker. His visionary ideas about the future

of humanity in space were magnificent and far ahead of his time. He dreamed

about space flight since he was a very young boy. Tsiolkovsky was certain

that the future of human life will be in outer space, so he deceded that we

must study the cosmos to pave the way for future generations.

Later, he proved mathematically the possibility of space flight, and wrote

and published over 500 works about space travel and related subjects. These

included the design and construction of space rockets, steerable rocket

engines, multi-stage boosters, space stations, life in space, and more. His

notebooks are filled with sketches of liquid-feuled rockets, detailed

combustion chamber designs with steering vanes in the exhaust plume for

directional control, double walled pressurized cabins to protect from

meteorites, gyroscopes for attitude control, reclining seats to protect

from high G loads at launch, air locks for exiting the spaceship into the

vacume of space, and other amazingly accurate predictions of space travel.

Many of these were done before the first airplane flight. He determined

correctly that the escape velocity from the Earth into orbit was 8

km./second, and that this could be achieved by using a multi-stage rocket

fueled by liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. He predicted the use of liquid

oxygen and liquid hydrogen or liquid oxygen and kerosene for propulsion,

spinning space stations for artificial gravity, mining asteroids for

materials, space suits, the problems of eating, drinking, and sleeeping in

weightlessness, and even closed cycle biological systems to provide food

and oxygen for space colonies.

Some of his works include:

"Astronomical Drawings" (1879). The earliest manuscript of Tsiolkovsky. He

drew the Solar System, the distances between the planets, their satellites,

etc.

"Free Space" (1883). Manuscript of Tsiolkovsky, first published in 1956. In

this work, he described the life and ways of motion in free space, zero

gravity, all done without the benefit on any mathematical calculations. It

was in this paper that Tsiolkovsky drew the primitive design of a true

Space Craft, which moved in outer space with the help of reactive forces.

This was the first drawing of Tsiolkovsky's of a space vehicle, from "Free

Space" (1883). It shows cosmonauts in weightlessness, gyroscopes for

attitude control, and an airlock for exit into free space.

"The Tsiolkovsky Rocket Equation". He created his calculations about space

flight theory on May 10, 1897. The first publication of the results was in

the article "Exploration of the Universe with Reaction Machines", in the

monthly magazine "The Science Review",# 5 (St.Petersburg, 1903). This was

the first publication in the world on this subject.

His Classic article "Research into Interplanetary Space by Means of Rocket

Power" was published in 1903, the year of the first airplane flight by the

Wright Brothers. It accurately described the state of weightlessness and

the theoretical function of rockets in a vacume. He demonstrated why

rockets would be needed for space exploration, and also advocated the use

of liquid propellants that are used today.

This is his book published in 1914 that was the reprint of the 1903

article.

"Plan of Space Exploration". This was published in 1926. It consists of 16

Points, from the very begining of space conquest, until the far distant

future, including interstellar travel.

He also wrote science fiction books, including "On The Moon (1895), Dreams

of the Earth and Sky (1895), and Beyond the Earth (1920).

"The Space Rocket Trains". (1929). This publication of Tsiolkovsky was

about his original idea of a multi-stage rocket, which consisted of several

separate rockets, one on top of another. Tsiolkovsky proved that only such

a type of rocket would be able to reach escape velocity and fly to Earth

orbit.

"Album of Space Travels". (1932). The drawings from this manuscript of

Tsiolkovsky show us his brilliant ideas about life in space, including zero

gravity, air pressure locking, space habitats, rocket guidance, etc.

Tsiolkovsky's Cosmic Philosophy

"All the Universe is full of the life of perfect creatures." Tsiolkovsky.

Tsiolkovsky was very much as interested in the philosophy of space as he

was with the engineering needed to make space flight possible. This was the

very begining of Tsiolkovsky's research into space flight problems and was

the basis for it. His main work of this subject was "Ethics or the Natural

Foundations of Morality" (1902-1918). In 1932 Tsiolkovsky wrote "The Cosmic

Philosophy" - the summary of his philosophical ideas. His main idea was to

achieve happiness not only for humanity, but also for all the living beings

in the Cosmos, for all the Universe. He believed that human occupation of

space was inevitable and would drive human evolution.

According to Tsiolkovsky's Cosmic Philosophy, "happiness" is the absence of

all kind of suffering in all the Universe, for all times, as well as the

absence of all of the processes for destroying goodness. How shall we start

this evolution to the "Universial Happiness"? The main task is to study the

laws which rule the Universe. To do so, we must study the Universe, and

therefore we must learn how to live in outer space. To begin that long

period of our evolution, we will have to design large manned space rockets.

So, the first space flight will be the beginning of the new era of space

exploration, the beginning of Space Culture in human history. It will be

the beginning of our history itself. He truly beleived that it was the

destiny of humankind to occupy the solar system and then to expand into the

depth of the cosmos, living off the energy of the stars to create a cosmic

civilization that would master nature, abolish natural catastrophes, and

acheive happiness for all.

1n 1926 Tsiolkovsky defined his "Plan of Space Exploration", consisting of

sixteen steps for human expansion into space:

1) Creation of rocket airplanes with wings.

2) Progressively increasing the speed and altitude of these airplanes.

3) Production of real rockets-without wings.

4) Ability to land on the surface of the sea.

5) Reaching excape velocity (about 8 Km/second), and the first flight into

Earth orbit.

6) Lengthening rocket flight times in space.

7) Experimental use of plants to make an artificial atmosphere in

spacships.

8) Using pressurized space suits for activity outside of spaceships.

9) Making orbiting greenhouses for plants.

10) Constructing large orbital habitats around the Earth.

11) Using solar radiation to grow food, to heat space quarters, and for

transport throughout the Solar System.

12) Colonization of the asteroid belt.

13) Colonization of the entire Solar System and beyond.

14) Acheivement of individual and social perfection.

15) Overcrowding of the Solar System and the colonization of the Milky Way

(the Galaxy).

16) The Sun begins to die and the people remaining in the Solar System's

population go to other suns.

Kosmodemyanksy, Arkady A., 1956. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky: His Life and

Works. Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, Russia.

Shkolenko, Yuri, 1987. The Space Age. Progress, Moscow.

Samiolovitch, Sergei, I., 1969. Citizen of the Universe: Sketches of the

Life and Works of Konstantin Eduardovitch Tsiolkovsky (in Russian).

Tsiolkovsiy State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics, Kaluga, Russia.