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Home , Hermann Oberth, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Mike Gruntman, Walter Hohmann

Volume 19, Number 4 OUEST 2012 THE HISTORY OF QUARTERLY

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Boeing’s Proposed LEM, 1962

THE THREE HEROES OF TELSTAR: MONITORING THE EARTH SPACEFLIGHT: BOEING’S FROM SPACE: THE FIRST COMMUNICATIONS ROPOSED THE RISE OF THE TSIOLKOVSKII – P LEM AN INTERVIEW WITH GODDARD – OBERTH INTERPRETATION JOHN MACDONALD AND ITS CURRENT VALIDITY

IN MEMORIAM: ARMSTRONG, RIDE, MCCARTNEY Contents Volume 19 • Number 4 2012 www.spacehistory101.com

4 The Three Heroes of Spaceflight: Book Reviews The Rise of the Tsiolkovskii - Goddard - Oberth Interpretation and Its Current Validity 53 The Final Journey of the By Michael J. Neufeld Book by Andrew Thomas & Paul Thomarios Review by Hunter Hollins 14 Boeing’s Proposed LEM By Paul Carsola 54 The Cosmonaut Who Couldn’t Stop Smiling: The Life and Legend of 22 Telstar: The First Book by Andrew L. Jenks 50 Years Since Its Launch (10 July 1962) Review by Roshanna P. Sylvester By David Whalen 56 U.S. Presidents and the Militarization 45 Monitoring the Earth from Space: of Space (1946-1967) An Oral History with Dr. John S. MacDonald Book by Sean N. Kalic By Barry Shanko Review by Rick W. Sturdevant

64 In Memoriam: Armstrong, Ride, McCartney 57 50 Years of and / NASA Marshall Space Center By David Christopher Arnold Book by Ed Buckbee Review by Michael J. Neufeld Front Cover Credit: Boeing artist Jack Olson’s 1962 painting of Boeing’s proposed LEM. Credit: Boeing 58 Imagining : European Astroculture in the Twentieth Century Book by Alexander G. T. Geppert Review by Janet Vertesi

59 Architecture for : An Activity-Based Approach Book by Sandra Häuplik-Meusburger Review by Roger D. Launius

60 Atmospheric Science at NASA: A History Book by Erik M. Conway Review by Roger D. Launius

61 The Spacesuit Film: A History (1918-1969) Book by Gary Westfahl Review by Cathleen S. Lewis

62 The Economic Laws of Scientific Research Book by Terence Kealey Review by Roger D. Launius Fifty years ago, in 1962, employees at JPL gathered by the Mariner Venus probe. Image courtesy of Art LeBrun THE THREE HEROES OF SPACEFLIGHT: THE RISE OF THE TSIOLKOVSKII - GODDARD - OBERTH INTERPRETATION AND ITS CURRENT VALIDITY

By Michael J. Neufeld impact on technology and the The majority pattern was the mul- public imagination.2 This new litera- tiple independent discovery of the same ture provides the basis for the reexami- set of ideas, or at least parts of them, The single most enduring inter- nation of the validity of the “three between about 1908 and 1918, a quite pretation in space history credits three heroes” scheme that Clary calls for, and common occurrence in the history of thinkers with independently proving the not just an examination of its origins. It science and technology.3 For example, scientific and technological feasibility is my conclusion that, based on the the- after several years of racking his brains, of spaceflight in the late 19th and early oretical originality of Tsiolkovskii, the American physics student Robert 20th centuries: Konstantin Tsiolkovskii Goddard, and Oberth, and their role in Goddard realized the rocket was the in and the USSR, Hermann sparking the formation of space soci- answer in early 1909, a year or so after Oberth in German-speaking central eties and stimulating other theorists to French aviation pioneer Robert Europe, and Robert Goddard in the publish, the traditional interpretation Esnault-Pelterie, and a year or so before United States. Precursors and contem- still is defensible, but at the cost of iron- the Transylvanian-German high-school poraries, such as Hermann Ganswindt ing out many complexities, such as the student . But despite and Robert Esnault-Pelterie, are usually intellectual foundations of the various early articles by Tsiolkovskii (1903 and assigned to a distinctly second rank. In space movements, and the contributions 1911-13) and Esnault-Pelterie (1913), a recent years, the historian of Soviet of other theorists like Robert Esnault- Belgian patent on advanced rocket spaceflight, Asif Siddiqi, has labeled Pelterie, Walter Hohmann, Yurii ideas issued to the French physician this scheme a “cliché” and the Goddard Kondratiuk, and Fridrikh Tsander. André Bing (1911), and an extremely biographer David Clary has called the obscure and flawed book by a French interpretation a 1960s invention that The Origins of the Interpretation utopian socialist, Victor Coissac “bears reexamination.”1 Before an international space- (1916), all of the pioneers operated in While the Tsiolkovskii-Goddard- flight movement emerged between isolation, and several were convinced Oberth (TGO) interpretation had its 1924 and 1933, there was a period of that they were the first in the world to origins in priority claims inside the several decades in which isolated ama- think of these ideas. Goddard, for one, international space advocacy move- teur and professional scientists, engi- was obsessed with his supposed priori- ment between the 1920s and 1950s, this neers, and inventors tried to imagine ty for the rest of his life. The few publi- paper traces its full-blown emergence, how to create a feasible technology to cations there were languished in obscu- at least in the English-language litera- solve the apparently utopian problem of rity, except in Russia, where the famous ture, to the post-1957 “space race.” travel to other celestial bodies. I cannot science journalist Iakov Perel’man pub- After the launch of , the USSR re-tell that complicated story here, lished a book based on Tsiolkovskii’s trumpeted Tsiolkovskii’s founding role although I will later discuss some of the work, Mezhplanetnoe puteshestvie even more loudly than it had earlier, the priorities of the various writers and (“Inter- planetary Travel”) in 1915, the United States adopted Goddard as its thinkers that shed light on whether the world’s first popular, non-fiction dis- neglected hero, and the former TGO interpretation is still defensible. cussion of realistic spaceflight tech- in the United States (notably Suffice it to say that the clear pattern is nologies. But a combination of the lin- and ) tes- that there are two outliers who began as guistic barrier between Russia and the tified as to Oberth’s influence. The early as the 1880s to grasp the central west, the war, and the Revolution and interpretation hardened into a set pat- insight, that a greatly improved rocket Civil War, meant that this work was tern visible in most histories of space- was the key to space travel (an idea unknown outside Russia and soon flight written by advocates and journal- much more obvious in hindsight than it mostly forgotten within it. ists, especially those in English. was at the time). Both of them were The first work that made an inter- In recent years, new scholarship marginal eccentrics—a near-deaf national impact was Goddard’s A has made the historical context for the schoolteacher in Kaluga, Russia, Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes, early theorists and enthusiasts much Konstantin Tsiolkovskii, and a cranky which the Smithsonian Institution pub- richer, notably works by Siddiqi and inventor in , , Hermann lished in early January 1920 with a James Andrews on Tsiolkovskii and the Ganswindt. But only the former went 1919 date on it. Frank Winter has early Russian/Soviet spaceflight move- on to develop a scientifically sound recently demonstrated that Goddard’s ment, and by Clary, J. D. Hunley, and body of theoretical work demonstrating proposal to hit the with a rocket Frank H. Winter on Goddard and his space travel’s feasibility. carrying flash power accidentally pro-

Q U E S T 19:4 2012 4 www.spacehistory101.com duced not just a newspaper flap in the topic in 1928 that rates (in typically or half-baked ideas. Only in the later United States, but also a worldwide nationalist fashion) Ganswindt as a volumes does he clearly assign credit. echo of media publicity, one that funda- misunderstood genius. He then devotes He devotes all of volume 7 to mentally reshaped science fiction and several pages each to Goddard, Oberth, Tsiolkovskii (including the reprint of the popular understanding of space- and the Austrian theoretician Franz many of his works), and volume 8 to (in flight.4 Wild rumors that Goddard Edler von Hoefft (in hindsight a minor this order): Esnault-Pelterie, Goddard, would soon launch himself to the Moon figure and even a quasi-fraud), but he Oberth, Hohmann, the German space- circulated around the globe in the never mentions any . Willy flight skeptic Hans Lorenz, and then a 1920s, notably in central Europe and Ley’s small chronology of the history dozen others more briefly. Earlier in the Soviet Russia. The effect was such that of the rocket in November 1932 does series, in volume 4, Rynin makes clear the Austrian rocket experimenter Max discuss Tsiolkovskii, but not until 1924, that his fundamental list was five, not Valier wrote in 1930 that “even today the date of republication in the USSR of three, that is, including Esnault-Pelterie the broad mass of the public often mis- the Russian theorist’s earlier work, and and Hohmann.8 takenly believes that [Goddard] was the does not mention Esnault-Pelterie until Another key Soviet space popu- first originator of the modern space- he reaches 1927. The latter, in his com- larizer was Iakov Perel’man. Asif flight idea.”5 prehensive work L’Astronautique (he Siddiqi, in a survey of some of his Hermann Oberth’s publication of coined the term) in 1930, naturally space works, found that the TGO inter- Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen trumpets his priorities in thinking going pretation can first be seen in (“The Rocket into Interplanetary back to 1908 and in publication going Perel’man’s 1932 biography of Space”) [1923] then helped sparked the back to 1913, and then gives an exten- Tsiolkovskii, but a 1935 work adds formation of a short-lived spaceflight sive laundry list of everyone else who Tsarist assassin Nikolai Kibal’chich, society in the USSR in 1924 (and with wrote anything else on the topic of who drew a vague concept for a rocket it, a revival of Tsiolkovskii’s reputa- spaceflight and rocketry. Alexandr airplane shortly before his execution in tion) and somewhat more stable ones in Shershevskii, a Russian then living in 1881. In 1937, Perel’man, in another Austria in 1926 and Germany in 1927. Berlin, penned a similar laundry list in Tsiolkovskii biography, drops Esnault-Pelterie helped create an inter- 1929 in his survey of the topic in Kibal’chich and foregrounds Esnault- national astronautical prize in France in German, but of course gives Pelterie instead, but in each case, he 1928, American and British “interplan- Tsiolkovskii a somewhat larger role. emphasized four, not three.9 etary societies” were founded in 1930 The American David Lasser, in the After Stalin’s rise to total power and 1933, respectively, a Dutch rocket 1931 first popular spaceflight book in in the USSR in the late 1920s and club arose in 1934 and an astronautical English, begins with Esnault-Pelterie, Hitler’s seizure of power in Germany in section of the French astronomical soci- Bing, Goddard, Oberth, and Hohmann, 1933, the intensification or creation of ety appeared in 1938. At the outset, the but has no awareness whatsoever of the totalitarian police states in those two spaceflight movement was fundamen- Russians. Englishman Charles A. Philp, countries led to an emphasis on secret tally cosmopolitan in character, as in a popular account published in military rocketry, effectively cutting off Frank Winter and Alexander Geppert, London in 1935, singles out Soviet and German rocketeers and among others, have noted.6 “Ziolkovsky,” Esnault-Pelterie, Goddard space enthusiasts from international Transnational communication, reflect- and Oberth, in that order, likely reflect- communication after about 1935. World ing the relatively benign international ing his correspondence with Willy Ley. War II then interrupted the activities of climate and state of intellectual free- Philip E. Cleator, founder of the British American, British, and French space dom before the mid-1930s, was a Interplanetary Society in 1933, similar- advocates, who in any case contributed prominent ethic in the early movement. ly foregrounds those four in his 1936 little to theory, so that not much was Certain key, multilingual individuals, book.7 published about the topic between the especially Nikolai Rynin in Leningrad By far the most comprehensive mid-1930s and the end of the war. and Willy Ley in Berlin, sought to fos- survey was by Rynin, who issued a pio- The first important late-war/post- ter an exchange of ideas across borders, neering nine-volume encyclopedia, war work of synthesis in English was but the key actors also exchanged let- Mezhplanetnye sooshchenia (“Inter- Willy Ley’s Rockets (1944)—Ley had ters among themselves. planetary Flight and Communica- immigrated to the United States in 1935 When one reads the astronautical tions”), between 1928 and 1932. In his to escape the Nazis. It was reissued in literature of the 1920s and 1930s, no early volumes he comprehensively multiple editions with expanded titles clear consensus in the recognition of chronicles every idea and concept for and content until the late 1960s. I had priorities and founders emerges, space travel (and also for advanced earlier assumed that this book was the although national biases and personal atmospheric flight and long-range mis- origin of the TGO interpretation in priority claims are apparent. For exam- siles) in non-fiction and fiction—a English, but his chapters on the 1920s ple, the popular German writer Otto valuable compendium that includes and 1930s are dominated by his enter- Willi Gail published a survey of the many long-forgotten and mostly wrong taining and valuable memoir of his

Q U E S T 19:4 2012 5 www.spacehistory101.com Robert Goddard Konstantin Tsiolkovskii Hermann Oberth Credit: NASM Archives Credit: NASM Archives Credit: NASM Archives activities in Germany. An earlier chap- creation of the International which the USSR reissued in English ter on the history of the rocket ends by Astronautical Federation, dedicates his translation at late as 1985, claims that featuring Ganswindt and Tsiolkovskii 1950 book L’Astronautique to “mon Goddard, Oberth, and the other pio- equally as two forerunners. The next maître [my master] Konstantin neers stole all their ideas from the chapter discusses Goddard, Oberth, and Eduardovitsch Ziolkowsky” and gives Russian! The spaceflight entry in the Hohmann at the outset. Esnault-Pelterie him priority for his 1903 paper, while 1954 Large Soviet Encyclopedia is is dismissed as someone who took an also noting Bing’s 1911 patent and more reasonable, in that it gives many interest in the topic in the late 1920s.10 Esnault-Pelterie’s 1912 speech.12 paragraphs to Tsiolkovskii, several sen- Another survey by American Meanwhile, the Soviets had tences to Kondratiuk and Tsander, then Interplanetary Society (later Rocket begun to put Tsiolkovskii on a pedestal mentions in a sentence the pioneering Society) founder G. Edward Pendray in again under the influence of a Stalinist “foreign investigations” of Oberth, 1945 provides much more detail about nationalism that attributed all important Hohmann, Esnault-Pelterie, and Goddard’s life and career than had inventions to Russians. At the end of his Goddard. The biographical entries in heretofore been available, and goes on life, between 1932 and 1935, the 1969 Soviet Encyclopedia of Space to describe Oberth and especially the Tsiolkovskii was hailed as a Soviet hero Flight have a similar balance.14 Berlin rocket experimenters, with of aeronautics and rocketry—he had The postwar Soviet cult of whom Pendray had been in close con- spent more time and effort advocating Tsiolkovskii helped to establish his pri- tact. But as in Lasser’s 1931 book, the the metal airship during his lifetime orities in thought and publication in the Russians are entirely missing; another than he ever had on rockets. But during west, reinforcing the writings of Ley American book of this time, by Herbert World War II, his name sank back into and other western popularizers. Zim, is similar.11 relative obscurity. After 1946/47, as Beginning in the 1950s, his role is Two Western European works of Asif Siddiqi has recently demonstrated increasingly acknowledged in space- around 1950 also shortchange or ignore in The Red Rocket’s Glare, leading flight histories and surveys. To take one Tsiolkovskii. Hans Kaiser in Kleine rocket engineers around example, Heinz Gartmann’s 1954 Raketenkunde (“Little Rocket Primer”) strategically revived Tsiolkovskii’s rep- Träumer, Forscher, Konstrukteure of October 1949 gives Ganswindt a utation primarily as a space pioneer in (“Dreamers, Researchers, Designers”— short paragraph and the Russian a bit order to build a foundation for future but translated as “The Men Behind the longer one, but he devotes six pages to Soviet spaceflight projects just as their Space Rockets”) gives Tsiolkovskii a Goddard and nine to Oberth, followed ballistic missile program was accelerat- full chapter, following the one on by several more on other Austrian and ing based on captured German technol- Ganswindt and before the ones on German pioneers. Arthur C. Clarke’s ogy. This led to an outpouring of Soviet Goddard and Oberth.15 The Exploration of Space (1951), a literature on Tsiolkovskii in the 1950s The Soviet space triumphs that book about the technical feasibility, not that asserted his priority as the first and began in 1957 further legitimized history, mentions Goddard and Oberth most important space theoretician in the Tsiolkovskii‘’s priority claim in the as founders and ignores the Russian. On world.13 west, but they also fostered a Goddard the other hand, Alexandre Ananoff, who This hero worship often took on cult in the United States—a transparent founded the post-war French astronauti- extreme forms under Stalinism: a short reaction to the Soviet one. Goddard had cal society and was influential in the biography by Arkadii Kosmodem’ianskii, died in 1945, and his reputation was

Q U E S T 19:4 2012 6 www.spacehistory101.com tended thereafter by his widow, Esther going back to the beginning of the Goddard’s memory, and did remember Goddard, and by his longtime supporter “.”16 his name from his youth, but there was and funder, the philanthropist Harry Hermann Oberth had no national more than a little political calculation in Guggenheim. He was certainly not for- cult behind him by comparison, as now- his behavior.17 gotten, but the topic of space travel did divided Germany was no longer a play- Von Braun, for one, does seem to not begin to acquire more public er in rocket development, and West have adopted the TGO interpretation as respectability until the 1950s, and the Germany’s small spaceflight movement his master narrative of the early years rocket engineers working on missile was not very influential in the astronau- before there was a clear consensus programs in the United States did not tics movement that revived in Europe among space advocates. In his failed know that much about him, in part around 1950. However, Oberth, the Project novel of 1948-1949, he because his work had virtually no only one of the three still alive (he died called his three “landing boats” for impact on their technology develop- in 1989), had Willy Ley and Wernher Mars the Oberth, the Goddard, and the ment, thanks to his penchant for secre- von Braun in his court, and as they rose Ziolkowsky (the German transliteration cy. But immediately in the wake of to prominence in the United States in of the Russian’s name). Of course, he Sputnik and the first U.S. in the 1950s as space popularizers, and in had the Oberth land first in the original 1958, the U.S. government, media, and von Braun’s case also as a major rocket novel, but in the only fictional part of it the public seized on Goddard as an engineer, they provided many direct published in his lifetime, in a popular American space hero. In 1959 the testimonials to his importance to theory magazine in 1960, he opportunistically Smithsonian posthumously awarded and to the foundation of the Weimar changed it to the Goddard!18 him its elite aeronautical honor, the movement. Simply Oberth’s association It may well have been von Braun with von Braun in the origins of the V- who cemented the TGO interpretation

Robert Esnault-Pelterie Hermann Ganswindt Walter Hohmann Credit: NASM Archives Credit: NASM Archives Credit: NASM Archives

Langley Medal, and acquired many 2 missile and Peenemünde was valida- in place in the 1960s. His influential artifacts from Mrs. Goddard. The just- tion in itself, and notably after von History of Rocketry and Spaceflight, created National Aeronautics and Space Braun became a U.S. and West German published in 1966 with Frederick I. Administration named its new space national hero in the wake of the launch Ordway III (Ordway in fact did the center outside Washington, DC, after of the first American satellite, Explorer writing, and a very busy von Braun him that same year, and the U.S. gov- I. Von Braun made many testimonials to merely reviewed his text) had the inter- ernment paid the Guggenheim Oberth as his boyhood hero and mentor pretation front and center. Chapter 3, Foundation one million dollars in 1960 (more hypothetical than real, as the two “Pioneers of Space Travel,” elevates the to settle a long-running suit regarding never spent more than a few weeks three to a plane much above anyone the violation of his patent rights by gov- together during von Braun’s youth). Of else. But it certainly did not begin with ernment-funded projects (Esther course, as Clary has acidly noted, von von Braun, as some earlier popular Goddard received 40 percent of the Braun also began calling Goddard his works in English from the late 1950s money as an annuity). Milton Lehman’s boyhood hero before American audi- and early 1960s seem to be heading in authorized biography followed in 1963, ences after Sputnik, and jumped on the that direction. For example, Martin but that only capped a wave of profiles bandwagon of the Goddard cult. This Caidin’s Rockets beyond the Earth by journalists and space popularizers was not really cynical, as he did honor (1952/54), singled out the “little-

Q U E S T 19:4 2012 7 www.spacehistory101.com known… Ziolkowsky” in two sen- Earth, William Burrows’ This New tion of credit for altering the world’s tences followed by paragraphs on Ocean, and Tom Crouch’s Aiming for perception of spaceflight’s feasibility. Goddard and Oberth. The Rocket the Stars.20 In terms of publication priority, Pioneers by Beryl Williams and Yet the consensus has not been Hermann Ganswindt made a speech in Samuel Epstein (1955/58) gave biogra- universal. Soviet rocket-engine design- 1891 in Berlin regarding his spaceship phical chapters to William Congreve er ’s 1987 reference idea and published it in 1899, but as his (British rocket developer during the work in Russian, names four founders, understanding of Newtonian physics Napoleonic Wars), , adding Esnault-Pelterie, as does a was faulty and his ideas rather primi- Konstantin “Ziolkovsky,” Robert recent American survey of early rocket tive, and his effect on the legitimization Goddard and Hermann Oberth, fol- history. A new French biography of the of space travel was nil in that time peri- lowed by chapters on the German and latter also unsurprisingly proposes that od, there seems to be no reason to American rocket societies and on he should be in the pantheon.21 change Ganswindt’s status as an inter- Peenemünde and the V-2. The 1958 edi- Moreover, there has been some disillu- esting but minor forerunner.23 No other tion is introduced by von Braun, who sionment in the United States and credible precursors have appeared quotes a New York Times editorial two Russia about the space-age cults of either, notably not Nikolai Kibal’chich, days after Sputnik that equated Goddard and Tsiolkovskii. At least who sketched out a rocket airplane, not “Newton and Kepler, Galileo and since the 1990s, American historians of a space vehicle, before his 1881 hang- Copernicus, Tsiolkovsky, Goddard and technology have pointed out Goddard’s ing (the Soviets later made propaganda Oberth.” In a 1961 book, British minimal practical impact on rocketry, out of his story too). Tsiolkovskii, as is Interplanetary Society founder Philip E. despite scoring a lot of firsts like the well known, published a pioneering if Cleator credited Tsiolkovskii as the liquid-fuel rocket. Muscovites that very obscure paper in 1903, and a more “first person to appreciate the potential- Tsiolkovskii biographer James extensive development of rocket theory ities of the rocket” (omitting Andrews encountered more recently in 1911-13, and had previewed many of Kibal’chich and Ganswindt entirely), have dismissed the visionary as yet his ideas for space travel in “stilted” then described more extensively the another “Soviet myth,” as have some science fiction novels he put out in careers of Goddard and Oberth. Russian editorialists in the 1893 and 1895.24 Bing’s Belgian Esnault-Pelterie he treated as an after- newspapers.22 patent of 1911 has some sophisticated thought.19 ideas, including staging and liquid pro- The above preliminary survey The Validity of the Interpretation pellants, but it is only a few pages long cannot establish conclusively when the All of the above considerations and has no mathematical apparatus at TGO interpretation became standard in lead me to my second question, is the all. The patent languished in obscurity western media and books, but it does TGO interpretation still defensible on until the 1920s.25 Esnault-Pelterie’s indicate that it likely has to be between the basis of the newest scholarship? It 1912 talk and resulting 1913 paper, 1957 and 1967, when the “space race” seems to me that there are three funda- Considerátions sur les resultants d’un was in full flower. Why did it emerge as mental criteria for judging the impor- allégement indéfini des moteurs the standard interpretation during that tance of an individual to proving that (“Considerations on the Results of the time and who did it benefit? The spaceflight was a scientific and techni- Indefinite Weight Reduction of answer to that question must remain cal possibility and spreading that idea Engines”), is certainly a pioneering somewhat speculative, but several rea- to the world: (1) publication priority; contribution, as it outlines the concept sons can be deduced. Not only did the (2) sophistication of the theoretical con- of rocket propulsion propelling a space historical contributions of the three tent and contribution to the fundamen- vehicle to the enormous velocities make it a plausible scheme to space his- tal theory and concepts of rocketry and required for spaceflight. He inspired the torians and journalists, it served a use- space travel; and (3) effectiveness in Italians Giulio Constanzi, who pub- ful purpose for the media and for gov- altering regional or world perceptions lished a summary in 1914, and Luigi ernments, that is, simplifying a compli- of the feasibility of the seemingly Gussalli, who did not publish until the cated history for popular consumption, absurd idea of spaceflight. I do not 1920s, but Esnault-Pelterie’s paper and legitimating both sides of the space think that chronological priority in seems to have been little noticed else- race, including the ex-Germans now so terms of private thinking is meaningful, where. Victor Coissac’s 1916 book La prominent in the United States. It also because in the absence of dated notes it conquìte de l’espace (“The Conquest of proved useful in the disciplinary forma- amounts to nothing but an unsupported Space”) was not only non-mathematical tion of the international astronautical claim, and even if there is documentary and scientifically flawed, it also was engineering community by providing a proof, the effect of such notes and apparently unread.26 At the beginning multinational pantheon of founding thinking on the world is nil until they of 1920 came Goddard’s work and in fathers. Many standard histories of are transformed into some public form. mid-1923, Oberth’s, with the effects spaceflight published since have used Of course, such material is inherently already described. Walter Hohmann’s that interpretation, including Walter interesting to historians and biogra- Die Erreichbarkeit der Himmelskörper McDougall’s …The Heavens and the phers, but it does not bear on the ques- (“The Attainability of the Heavenly Q U E S T 19:4 2012 8 www.spacehistory101.com Yurii Kondratyuk Willy Ley Herman (Potocnik) Noordung Credit: NASM Archives Credit: NASM Archives Credit: NASM Archives

Bodies”) appeared in 1925, followed by would provide the energy needed for including robotic spacecraft, ion a long list of theorists emboldened pri- spaceflight. When news of the Goddard propulsion, solar power, solar sailing, marily by Oberth and Tsiolkovskii, Moon flap reached him in spring 1920, and human , but none notably the Austrians Guido von he thought it a hoax, and it took the of that was published in his lifetime and Pirquet and Hermann Noordung (pseu- exchange of letters between the two of little since. He went on to his pioneer- donym for Potocnik), and the Soviets them before Esnault-Pelterie fully ing rocket experiments, leading to the Fridrikh Tsander and Yurii Kondratiuk, understood the implications of first liquid-propellant launch until 1926, all of whom published in the late 1920s Goddard’s work, namely that human but did not publish that fact until 1936, and early 1930s. spaceflight was feasible with staging when the Smithsonian, his main funder When it comes to theoretical and chemical propellants. His next from 1917 to 1929, extracted another sophistication of their contributions, the work on theory was not until 1927, a report out of him. One can only con- list narrows quickly to the well-known long paper in which he developed the clude that he would have contributed names. Tsiolkovskii worked out most of mathematical equations much more even more to spaceflight theory, rocket the fundamental discoveries early on: thoroughly and discussed some of the theory, and the credibility of space trav- the mathematical theory of rocket flight practical challenges of space travel. It el, if only he had not been so obsessed (requiring an extension of Newtonian was apparently developed before he with keeping the substance of his ideas dynamics to account for variable mass became aware of Oberth and the secret.28 as propellants are expended), high-ener- Germans in 1927/28.27 Of all the first space travel works, gy liquid-propellants (notably liquid Goddard’s Method develops the Oberth’s Die Rakete is the most com- hydrogen and oxygen), rocket motor basic rocket equations, discusses his prehensive. It includes a very extensive and spacecraft design, and fundamental experiments proving the Newtonian law elaboration of the mathematical theory concepts for survival in space and that rockets would work in a vacuum, of rocket flight and propulsion, discuss- return to Earth. He did not develop the and outlines the advantages of staging, es practical ideas for a sounding rocket theory of staging until quite late, the but is very restrained on future space- and a larger vehicle, elaborates the mid-1920s. Following his rediscovery flight ideas, due to his fear of ridicule medical challenges of human space- in the USSR in 1924, he published sev- and secretiveness about his ideas. The flight and discusses advanced concepts. eral more books. advantages of liquid propellants, In an appendix, he notes that he only Esnault-Pelterie’s short 1913 notably hydrogen/oxygen, are men- discovered Goddard’s Method in 1922, paper was much more limited. He did tioned only in an endnote and nothing is during the typesetting of his book. In work out the basic rocket equations and said about . His most 1928/29 he expanded his book into a velocities needed for escape and a adventurous section is his description of much longer one, Wege zur Moon mission, but missed staging and his idea of hitting the night side of the Raumschiffahrt (“Ways to Space underestimated the usable energy of Moon with a multi-stage, solid-propel- Travel”), with much more elaboration high specific-impulse liquid-hydro- lant rocket loaded with flash powder, of the advanced spaceflight ideas that gen/oxygen propellants. He thus specu- the proposal that accidentally set off the had been discussed in central Europe in lated that only atomic processes, such press frenzy. In fact his private notes the intervening years.29 as the radioactive decay of radium, reveal many very advanced concepts, Among the important publica-

Q U E S T 19:4 2012 9 www.spacehistory101.com tions sparked by Oberth’s book was that is up to 90 percent propellants by ers like , Willy Ley, Nikolai Walter Hohmann’s Die Erreichbarkeit weight at liftoff). He wrote a number of Rynin, and Iakov Perel’man, who I in 1925, yet another independent deri- other manuscripts on theories of space- have not considered in this section, as vation of rocket theory. Hohmann’s flight, but these were not published in they essentially built on the work of the work went back to at least 1914, but he the USSR until after his death in 1933. theorists. The question thus boils down hesitated to publish anything until after In the last years of his life Tsander also to who of the other had a major public the appearance of Oberth’s book, which played a key role in launching liquid- impact? Certainly Esnault-Pelterie was influenced him considerably in that he propellant rocketry in his country.31 important to sustaining what activity earlier had assumed only traditional Like Tsander, Yurii Kondratiuk did exist in France, although it was solid propellants were possible. labored for years in isolation and often weak, and in convincing some in Hohmann’s most notable contributions poverty before publishing his book on France and Italy of the feasibility of are in celestial mechanics and in studies space travel, in his case in 1929. Part of spaceflight. Hohmann’s work was theo- of reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere the delay in publishing was because he retically important but incomprehensi- and on landing on other celestial bod- was laying low after the revolution. His ble to the public and he did not much ies, especially his theory of interplane- real name was Aleksandr Shargei and participate in the movement, perhaps tary minimum-energy trajectories, he had been politically active as an anti- because he was fully occupied in his sometimes called Hohmann transfer Bolshevik; to protect himself he respectable occupation of city architect in his honor. The celestial assumed the name of a dead man. In the of . Tsander’s contributions in the mechanics of travel to the planets was assessment of Asif Siddiqi, his book were especially notable. further developed by the Austrian was among the most complete and He was an indefatigable promoter of Guido von Pirquet, who published a comprehensive examinations of space- spaceflight and played a central role in multi-part series in the journal of the flight, and he notably came up with the the Moscow GIRD rocket group and German spaceflight society in 1928- idea of having a mother ship and a sep- the origins of liquid-fuel rocketry in the 1929. One last contributor from central arate lander, such as was later used in USSR. Kondratiuk, however, was not Europe should be noted, the Slovenian- the (lunar- ren- very important or visible, probably Austrian Herman Noordung (whose dezvous). However, according to because he was hiding his true identity. real last name was Potocnik). His Das Siddiqi, the book was little noticed in The net result of the above con- Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums his lifetime, and it was only after World siderations of all three factors (publica- (“The Problem of Space Travel”) is War II that the Soviet Union increasing- tion priority, theoretical contributions, fundamentally a popular work for the ly picked out Tsander and Kondratiuk and social impact) is, as I said at the public, but is noteworthy for develop- as founders not far below Tsiolkovskii outset, that the TGO interpretation ing the idea of a much in rank.32 remains essentially defensible, in my more than in earlier works, as well as So much for my survey of theo- opinion, although certainly not inar- for his choice of geostationary orbit.30 retical contributions. My third criterion guable. The three deserve pride of place Finally, two more Soviet theorists for judging the importance of early due to the combined effects of their made significant contributions: spaceflight advocates is effectiveness in early and sophisticated contributions Fridrikh Tsander and Yurii Kondratiuk, altering regional or world perceptions and their impact on the growth of both of whom started long before they of the feasibility of spaceflight. I will spaceflight societies and public under- had heard of Tsiolkovskii, in 1908 and not belabor this point as I have dis- standing. If there is a contender to be in 1916 respectively. Tsander, a Latvian of cussed several aspects of it already. The the same class as the three, it would be Baltic German background, published impact of Goddard and Oberth’s books Esnault-Pelterie, but as I have argued his first work in 1924 and his book is clear—the world’s perceptions were above, in theoretical contributions and finally, after years of delay due to finan- changed and a significant movement impact, he does not quite measure up to cial problems and bureaucratic inertia arose in the German-speaking world Tsiolkovskii, Goddard, and Oberth. in the state-owned publishing house, in out of Oberth’s publication. Nonetheless, it behooves spaceflight 1932. There is much that is original and Tsiolkovskii was rediscovered in the historians, popularizers, and museum interesting in Tsander’s work, but he USSR as a byproduct, and his work curators to avoid the simplistic version was obsessed with an idea that seems, contributed much to the flourishing of of the TGO interpretation, which has in hindsight, completely impractical the Soviet movement after 1924, which often appeared in print—one in which from engineering considerations: a in terms of total productivity of publi- the three are put on a pedestal far above space plane that would ascend to the cations, organizational activity and any of the others.33 Such a formulation upper atmosphere with air-breathing practical rocket experimentation at least flattens out the contributions of the propulsion, then melt down large parts equaled the combined efforts of the three, as if they were all the same, of its structure and burn them as propel- German-speaking countries. Much of obscures the contributions of the other lant, thereby reducing the problem of that activity in Europe was sustained by theorists, and diminishes the role of the mass ratio (the need to have a rocket enthusiasts, organizers, and populariz- early popularizers, who often played an

Q U E S T 19:4 2012 10 www.spacehistory101.com Iakov Perel’man Nikolai Rynin Fridrikh Tsander Credit: NASM Archives Credit: NASM Archives Credit: NASM Archives essential role in translating the work of Rocketry (College Station: Texas A&M 3 A half century ago, the great sociolo- the others into an understandable form University Press, 2009); Clary, see above, gist of science Robert K. Merton noted for the public and technically less adept n. 1; J. D. Hunley, “The Enigma of Robert the common phenomenon of simultane- enthusiasts. The rise of the idea that H. Goddard,” Technology and Culture 36 ous or parallel discoveries: “Priorities in space travel was scientifically and tech- (April 1995), 327-50; Frank H. Winter, Scientific Discovery: A Chapter in the "The Silent Revolution: How R.H. Goddard Sociology of Science,” American nically feasible was a complex social Helped Start the Space Age," in History of Sociological Review 22 (December process, and much credit does redound Rocketry and : Proceedings 1957), 635-59, and “Singletons and to others, whatever their fundamental of the Thirty-Eighth History Symposium of Multiples in Scientific Discovery: A contributions. the International Academy of Chapter in the Sociology of Science,” Astronautics, Vancouver, British Proceedings of the American Columbia, Canada, 2004, edited by Å. Philosophical Society 105 (Oct. 1961), About the Author Ingemar Skoog, (San Diego: Univelt, Inc., 470-86. In the history of technology, the Michael J. Neufeld is a curator at the 2011), 3-54, also to appear in another literature is even older. Hermione Giffard, National Air and Space Museum. He is form as “The Impact of Robert H. in “The Development and Production of author of The Rocket and the Reich Goddard” (draft article courtesy of Frank Turbojet Aero-Engines in Britain, Germany (1995) and Von Braun: Dreamer of Winter). Oberth has only been reconsid- and the United States, 1936-1945” (PhD ered in passing in the literature regarding Diss., Imperial College London, 2011), Space, Engineer of War (2007) and a the Weimar space movement and his role 24, notes a 1922 paper by sociologists number of other works. in the . See for example my William Ogburn and Dorothy Thomas “The Excluded: Hermann Oberth and about the frequency of parallel invention. in the Third Reich,” Quest 5 Notes (1996), 22-27; also published in History 4 See above, n. 2. Winter’s article has 1 Asif Siddiqi, “Deep Impact: Robert of Rocketry and Astronautics: appeared in a popular version: “The Goddard and the Soviet ‘Space Fad’ of Proceedings of the Twenty-Eighth and Misunderstood Professor,” Air & Space the 1920s,” History and Technology 20 Twenty-Ninth History Symposia of the Smithsonian (April/May 2008), 56-59. (June 2004), 97-113, quote on 97; David International Academy of Astronautics, Clary, Rocket Man: Robert H. Goddard ed. by Donald C. Elder and Christophe 5 Max Valier, Raketenfahrt (: R. and the Birth of the Space Age (New York: Rothmund (San Diego: Univelt, Inc., Oldenbourg, 1930), 186. Willy Ley men- Hyperion, 2003), 255. Tsiolkovskii’s 2001), 209-222. Oberth remains a diffi- tions the Goddard rumors in his October name has usually been transliterated as cult biographical subject because his 1926 introduction to his popularization of Tsiolkovsky in English. I am using the best papers remain in control of the family. As Oberth, Die Fahrt ins Weltall (Leipzig: current transliteration of Russian Cyrillic for Tsiolkovskii, the bizarre and repulsive Hachmeister & Thal, 1926). For as given by Siddiqi and by Andrews (see n. dimensions of his “cosmist” philosophy, Goddard’s impact on the early Soviet 2). which underpinned his interest in space movement, see Siddiqi, “Deep Impact,” travel, are discussed in Michael cited above, n. 1. 2 Asif A. Siddiqi, The Red Rocket’s Hagemeister, “The Conquest of Space Glare: Spaceflight and the Soviet and the Bliss of the Atoms: Konstantin 6 Frank H. Winter, Prelude to the Space Imagination 1857-1957 (Cambridge and Tsiolkovskii,” in Soviet Space Culture: Age: The Rocket Societies, 1924-1940 New York: Cambridge University Press, Cosmic Enthusiasm in Socialist Societies, (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution 2010); James T. Andrews, Red Cosmos: K. edited by Eva Maurer, et al. (London/New Press, 1983); Alexander Geppert, “Space E. Tsiolkovskii, Grandfather of Soviet York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), 27-41. Personae: Cosmopolitan Networks of

Q U E S T 19:4 2012 11 www.spacehistory101.com Peripheral Knowledge, 1927-1957,” 12 Hans K. Kaiser, Kleine Raketenkunde Neufeld, 14 March 2011. Journal of Modern European History 6 (Stuttgart: Mundus, 1949), 33-54; Arthur (2008), 262-85. C. Clarke, The Exploration of Space (New 15 Heinz Gartmann, The Men Behind the York: Harper Brothers, 1951), 17-18, 183; Space Rockets (London: Weidenfeld and 7 Otto Willi Gail, Mit Raketenkraft ins Alexandre Ananoff, L’Astronautique Nicolson, 1955). See also Williams and Weltall (Stuttgart: K. Thienemann, 1928); (Paris, Arthème Fayard, 1950), translated Epstein, The Rocket Pioneers, cited Willy Ley, Grundriss einer Geschichte der as Astronautics (Washington, DC: NASA, below. Rakete (Leipzig: Hachmeister & Thal, 1969), NASA-TTF.2,220. I also surveyed 1932); A. B. Scherschevsky [German two early postwar Ananoff pamphlets: 16 Clary, Rocket Man, chap. 12; Milton transliteration of name], Die Rakete für Navigation Interplanetaire (Paris: Éditions Lehman, Robert H. Goddard: Pioneer of Fahrt und Flug (Berlin: C. E. Volkmann, Elzévir, 1946) and Des premières fusées (New York: Da Capo, 1929); Robert Esnault-Pelterie, au V-2 (Paris: Éditions Elzévir, 1947), but 1988) (originally published as This High L’Astronautique (Paris: A. Lahure, 1930); the first does not cover the history of Man). David Lasser, The Conquest of Space spaceflight ideas, and the second only (1931; reprinted Burlington, Canada: discusses practical rocket development— 17 Clary, Rocket Man, 249, 252. Apogee Books, 2002); Charles A. Philp, Goddard and Oberth come up, but not Stratosphere and Rocket Flight Tsiolkovskii. 18 The novel is not to be confused with (Astronautics), 2nd ed. (London: Sir Isaac its mathematical appendix, which was Pitman & Sons, 1935); P.E. Cleator, 13 Siddiqi, The Red Rocket’s Glare, 66- published separately in German and Rockets Through Space (London: George 73, 296-301. Andrews also provides English versions as The Mars Project in Allen & Unwin, 1936). much detail on the Tsiolkovskii cult later 1952 and 1953, respectively. Only in his life (he died in 1935) in Red recently was the novel published as 8 Nikolai Rynin, Interplanetary Flight Cosmos, but Siddiqi’s account in The Red Project Mars (Burlington, Canada: Apogee and Communications, 9 vols. (Jerusalem: Rocket’s Glare corrects some of the Science Fiction, 2006); von Braun Israel Program for Scientific Translations, assertions about T.’s later career that “Contact Mars” manuscript for This Week, 1970-71), notably vol. 4, p. 160. Another Andrews makes based on earlier Soviet 1960, in U.S. Space and Rocket Center interesting case is the “World’s First sources. Siddiqi finds, based on extensive archives, Wernher von Braun Papers, file Exhibition of Models of Interplanetary primary research, that the hero cult start- 201-18, more correspondence in 218-1. Apparatus, Mechanisms, Instruments ed much later, in 1932, and that post- For the saga of the various versions of the and Historical Materials” in Moscow in World War II Soviet claims of support to T. Mars Project see my Von Braun: Dreamer 1927. It too devoted special attention to a from immediately after the Revolution are of Space, Engineer of War (New York: larger list of theorists, several of them not based in fact. Andrews’ strength is in Alfred A Knopf, 2007), 240-47, 251-53, now obscure: Siddiqi, Red Rocket’s Glare, the Imperial Russian part of T.’s life 262-63. 93-96, and John Elder, “The 1927 (which was most of it) and his relationship Moscow Exhibition of Interplanetary to science popularization. 19 Wernher von Braun and Frederick I. Machines and Mechanisms,” unpub- Ordway III, History of Rocketry and Space lished collection of materials provided to 14 A. A. Kosmodemiansky [translitera- Travel (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, me by the author. tion as given in the publication—transliter- 1966), chap. 3; Martin Caidin, Rockets ation in text from Siddiqi], Konstantin Beyond the Earth, 2nd edition (New York: 9 Siddiqi e-mail to Neufeld, 14 March Tsiolkovsky: 1857-1935 (n.p.: General McBride, 1954), 44-45; Beryl Williams 2011. I much appreciate his willingness Editorial Board for Foreign Publications, and Samuel Epstein, The Rocket to survey this work, as I do not read Nauka Publishers, 1985), 98-99; Pioneers: On the Road to Space (New Russian. “Interplanetary Communications—Large York: Julian Messner, 1958); “Stride into Soviet Encyclopedia” in F. J. Krieger, ed., Space,” New York Times, 6 Oct. 1957.; 10 Willy Ley, Rockets: The Future of Behind the Sputniks: A Survey of Soviet P.E. Cleator, An Introduction to Space Travel Beyond the Stratosphere, 1st ed. Space Science (Washington, D.C.: Public Travel (New York: Putnam, 1961), 102-07. (New York: Viking, 1944), and Rockets, Affairs, 1958), 28-34; G. V. Petrovich, Von Braun published an article in the New Missiles and Space Travel (New York: ed., Soviet Encyclopedia of Spaceflight York Times for which reaffirms Viking, 1951), both chaps. 4 and 5. Ley, in (Moscow: , 1969). Petrovich gives a the trinity and then discusses relative a German article in the early fifties, simi- small paragraph biographical entry each lesser lights like Esnault-Pelterie and larly puts Ganswindt first: “Geschichte to Goddard, Oberth, and Esnault-Pelterie, Hohmann: “Pioneers of a New Age,” New des Raumfahrtgedankens,” in Heinz a long paragraph to Kondratiuk and three York Times, 17 July 1969. A British exam- Gartmann, ed., Raumfahrtforschung to Tsander, and two pages to Tsiolkovskii. ple is Patrick Moore’s Space (Amer. ed.; (Munich: R. Oldenbourg, 1952), 10. Neither encyclopedia claims intellectual Garden City, NY: Natural History Press, Ganswindt gets one paragraph, the same property theft. According to Siddiqi, Soviet 1969), which is not as clear as von Braun as Tsiolkovskii. histories in the seventies and eighties are and Ordway, but devotes disproportionate more even-handed, with a marked ten- emphasis to TGO. 11 G. Edward Pendray, The Coming Age dency towards four founders: of Rocket Power (New York and London: “Tsiolkovskii, Esnault-Pelterie, Goddard, 20 Walter A. McDougall, …the Heavens Harper and Brothers, 1945); Herbert S. and Oberth, with adjunct members and the Earth: A Political History of the Zim, Rockets and Jets (New York: Tsander, Kondratiuk, Hohmann, Space Age (New York: Basic, 1985), 20; Harcourt, Brace, 1945), Noordung and others.” Siddiqi e-mail to William E. Burrows, This New Ocean: The Q U E S T 19:4 2012 12 www.spacehistory101.com Story of the Space Age (New York: Interplanetary Flight and recluse, but really was only trying to Random House, 1998), chap. 2; Tom D. Communications, VIII:6-15, 19-85. The defend his reputation. He was extraordi- Crouch, Aiming for the Stars: The full version of the original paper before narily stingy with giving out any details of Dreamers and Doers of the Space Age the cuts imposed by the journal editor is his rocket experiments and advanced (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution given as an appendix to Lise Bosset, thinking. Press, 1999). Another recent example is “Robert Esnault-Pelterie: Space Pioneer,” Chris Gainor, To A Distant Day: The Rocket in First Steps Towards Space: 29 Hermann Oberth, Die Rakete zu den Pioneers (Lincoln and London: University Proceedings of the First and Second Planetenräume (1923; Feucht: Uni- of Nebraska Press, 2008). Andrews, Red Symposia on the International Academy Verlag, 1960), and Wege zur Cosmos, 98-99, notes the interpretation’s of Astronautics…, edited by Frederick C. Raumschiffahrt (Munich: R. Oldenbourg, ubiquity in U.S. popular media such as Durant III and George S. James (San 1929). LIFE magazine. Diego: Univelt, Inc., 1985), 5-31. For Constanzi, see Antonio Eula, “Guilio 30 Hohmann’s work is translated into 21 Siddiqi e-mail to Neufeld, 14 March Constanzi: Italian Space Pioneer,” in the English in Rynin, Interplanetary Flight and 2011; Mike Gruntman, Blazing the Trail: same volume, 71-73, but it is apparent Communications, VIII:183-262; Guido The Early History of Spacecraft and that the author does not know that the von Pirquet, “Fahrtrouten,” Die Rakete 2 Rocketry (Reston, VA: American Institute Constanzi article is just a summary of the (1928), 67-74, 93-94, 107-09, 117-21, of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 2004); REP 1913 paper. On Gussalli, see 134-40, 155-59, 169-71, 183-90 and 3 Félix Torres and Jacques Villain, Robert Giovanni Caprara, Diana Motta Rubagotti (1929), 9-13, 40-42, 58-59; Hermann Esnault-Pelterie; du Ciel aux étoiles, le and Franco Ragni, Luigi Gussalli: Noordung, The Problem of Space Travel: genie solitaire (n.p.: éditions confluences, Pioneere dello spazio/Space Pioneer The Rocket Motor (Washington, DC: NASA 2007). (n.p.: Agencia Spatiale Italiana and History Office, 1995). Fondazione Civilità Bresciana, n.d. 22 Andrews, Red Cosmos, xii, 10. The (2002)), a bilingual Italian/English edition 31 Tsander’s work is gathered in the skepticism about Goddard is best cap- with both biographical pieces and the translated Soviet book, F. A. Tsander, tured in Hunley’s “The Enigma of Robert subject’s publications in both languages. Problems of Flight by Jet Propulsion: H. Goddard,” cited above, n. 2. Despite It is apparent from these papers that Interplanetary (Jerusalem: Israel the space-age cult, the idea was not new. Gussalli largely pursued marginal techni- Program for Scientific Translations, The famous aerodynamicist Theodore von cal ideas for space travel that do not have 1964); Siddiqi, Red Rocket’s Glare, 114- Kármán asserted Goddard’s minimal much historical importance. On Coissac, 21, 136-43; Siddiqi e-mail message to impact on rocketry in his autobiography, see Jacques Villain, Frank H. Winter and Neufeld, 21 January 2011. The Wind and Beyond, quoted in Hunley, Frederick I. Ordway III, “Victor Coissac: A 340-41. Forgotten Astronautical Pioneer and 32 Siddiqi e-mail message to Neufeld, 21 Contemporary of , January 2011. Kondratiuk sent Rynin an 23 For the most recent, detailed exami- Robert H. Goddard and Robert Esnault- autobiographical sketch, printed in nation of Ganswindt, see Daniel Brandau, Pelterie,” in History of Rocketry and Interplanetary Flight and “German Rocket and Space Travel Astronautics: Proceedings of the Thirty- Communications, VIII: 327-31, albeit Enthusiasm, 1890s to 1930s,” M.Phil. Fifth History Symposium of the without revealing his true name. dissertation, Cambridge University, 2009, International Academy of Astronautics, chap. 2 (copy courtesy of Daniel ed. by Christophe Rothmund (San Diego: 33 On a personal note, I had to confront Brandau). See also Friedwart Winterberg, Univelt, Inc., 2010), 15-35. this issue directly during the formulation “Hermann Ganswindt und seine of the Rocket Pioneers section of the new Gedanken zur Weltraumfahrt im Jahre 27 See previous note for REP’s publica- Pioneers of Flight gallery at the National 1891,” Astronautik 10 (1973), 127-40. tions. Frank Winter comments on Esnault- Air and Space Museum, opened Pelterie’s 1920 correspondence with November 2010. Considerations of space 24 On the novels, see Siddiqi, Red Goddard in “The Impact of Robert H. forced us (myself and my colleague Rocket’s Glare, 22-23. For Tsiolkovskii Goddard” (draft article). Cathleen Lewis) to reduce the number of generally see this book and Andrews, Red labels, with the result that many biogra- Cosmos, and for Kibalchich, see the lat- 28 Both the 1919 and 1936 publications phies of the pioneers had to be sent to a ter, 5-6. are reproduced in Robert H. Goddard, computer interactive, and the main labels Rockets (New York: American Rocket focused on TGO, with some briefer discus- 25 A copy of the Bing patent can be Society, 1946). I owe my comments on sion of the popularizers. This experience found in the André Bing biographical file, Goddard’s private notes to Frank Winter, helped to clarify my thinking that the TGO National Air and Space Museum Archives, who has been researching Goddard for interpretation is still defensible. Washington, D.C., thanks to the work of some time. On the secrecy issue, I agree Nonetheless, we attempted to save at Frank Winter. Excerpts were published in with the traditional interpretation of his least some of the complexity through the “Document pour server à l’histoire de behavior, rather than Clary’s. Clary, labels and the biographical computer l’astronautique,” L’Astronef, no. 1 Rocket Man, 107-08, 199-200, 259, interactive. (September 1950), copy in same file. notes all the attempts Goddard made in the twenties to correct the record and 26 Translations of Esnault-Pelterie’s explain his ideas, and thus calls him a 1913 and 1927 papers are in Rynin, ed., “publicity hound” (259). Goddard was no

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