Tsiolkovsky taught Russia to dream of cosmose

It can be said with certainty that largely thanks to ideas and the very figure of this founder of modern cosmonautics, Russia was the first in history to soar into outer space exactly half a century ago

An outstanding thinker, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, was the first modern scientist who spoke seriously about flying into space and began to make scientific calculations on this subject. And despite the fact that his works did not contain certain final concepts that could be relied on fundamentally, taking them as the starting point of modern research, they instilled in people the hope that this is the main meaning of modern scientific and technological achievements.


t so happened that the role of Tsiolkovsky in the development of cosmonautics was officially exaggerated, and the blame for this lies with the propagandists of the Soviet regime, who reshaped the whole story in such a way as they needed it. Although, on the other hand, the myth of Tsiolkovsky for domestic consumption attracted many people to the problems of astronautics, urging fellow citizens to be proud of their country.

People who worked in the space industry of the USSR were proud of the fact that they, like the great Tsiolkovsky, take their native country to the world leaders in the development of outer space. The myth of Tsiolkovsky is the case when, having given out what is wanted for reality, Russia could still "make a fairy tale happen."

Of course, the most significant scientific results were obtained by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in the development of the theory of rocket motion. Ideas about their application in space were expressed to them as far back as 1883, but he created the mathematically rigorous theory of jet propulsion later - in 1896. Only in 1903 the scientist was able to publish part of his famous article "Exploration of the World Spaces with Jet Devices", where he convincingly substantiated the real possibility of using them for the purposes of interplanetary communications. It was in this work and in its two continuations from 1911 and 1914. K.E. Tsiolkovsky laid the foundations of the theory of missiles and liquid rocket engine.

An analysis of the practical problem of rectilinear motion of the rocket led Tsiolkovsky to solve the problems of the mechanics of bodies of variable mass. It was he who first solved the problem of landing a spacecraft on the surface of planets, which lacked the atmosphere. In the late 1920s, the scientist formulated the theory of multistage rockets. Tsiolkovsky first proposed a solution to the problem of the motion of a rocket in an inhomogeneous gravitational field, considered the effect of the atmosphere on the flight of a rocket and calculated the necessary fuel reserves in order to overcome the resistance forces of the air envelope of our planet.

In 1868 the Tsiolkovsky family left for the city of Vyatka, and at the age of 12 Constantine entered the gymnasium, but he did not study, including because of poor hearing. In 1870 Tsiolkovsky's mother passed away, which made the boy even more locked up in himself. Three years after his admission for bad behavior and poor progress, he was expelled from the gymnasium. The future scientist took up self-education, and unlike gymnasium teachers, books-friends generously gave him knowledge and did not make "insane" reproaches. It was at this time that Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky began to get involved in scientific and technical creativity.


Already in some 2 years for his father became self-evident ability of his son, and the parent decided to send the boy to continue his education in Moscow. Here for three years he independently and with great success studied physics, chemistry, astronomy, higher mathematics and analytical geometry. At the age of 19, Tsiolkovsky returned to Vyatka with a lot of knowledge and even ideas. It was at this age that he became interested in aerodynamics.

In 1879, Tsiolkovsky created the first centrifugal machine in history (the predecessor of the present centrifuges) and conducted experiments with various animals on it. The scientist managed to increase the weight of the red cockroach three hundred times, and the weight of the chicken at ten, and without any harm for them.

The following year, Konstantin Eduardovich successfully passed the examinations for the title of teacher of the district school and moved to Borovsk on the appointment from the Ministry of Education to its very first state duty. In the same year, the scientist married Varvara Sokolova. The newlyweds began to live separately, and the young researcher continued his technical experiments. In the house at Tsiolkovsky thunder and bells rattled, electric lightning flashed and paper dolls danced with might and main.

At the same time, the scientist autonomously developed the kinetic theory of gases and sent the manuscript to the Russian Physico-Chemical Society in St. Petersburg. Soon he received a response from Dmitry Mendeleyev: the kinetic theory of gases, unfortunately, was discovered a quarter of a century ago. However, even this seemingly unpleasantness brought Tsiolkovsky recognition in the scientific world. In the Russian Physico-Chemical Society, the independence of Tsiolkovsky's developments was believed and included in the composition of this influential society.

In 1892 Tsiolkovsky moved to Kaluga in connection with the reassignment of the scientist in the service. At this time Tsiolkovsky wrote articles, as well as stories.

Five years later Konstantin Eduardovich created a wind tunnel (it was the second in Russia - the first was built 20 years ago by the St. Petersburg engineer Pashkevich with the goal of investigating the problems of ballistics). K.E. Tsiolkovsky became the first in the search for regularities of flight at low speeds. This scientist was one of the founders of experimental aerodynamics.

May 10, 1897 was important for the biography of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky event - he derived a formula that established the relationship between the speed of the rocket at any time, its mass, the mass of explosives and the rate of outflow of gases from the rocket nozzle. Having finished his mathematical notes, the scientist wrote the date very mechanically: May 10, 1897. Having written this date of calculations, Tsiolkovsky, without knowing it himself, consolidated his historical primacy in the scientific exploration of the cosmos. The catalyst for this ingenious formula, called the "Tsiolkovsky formula", was the jet propulsion scheme, which was proposed by the philosopher Nikolai Fedorov. Both Fedorov and Tsiolkovsky did not know then about a similar scheme of the revolutionary Nikolai Kibalchich, invented by him on the eve of execution.

In the first year of the 20th century, the Academy of Sciences decided to help Constantin Tsiolkovsky in aerodynamic experiments. Based on the experiments, the scientist derived a formula that linked the required engine power with the aerodynamic drag coefficient, and also with the lift factor.

All experiments eventually formed the basis for his "Exploration of the World Spaces with Jet Devices", the first part of which was published in 1903. In his pioneering work, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky fully proved the impossibility of reaching the outer space on a balloon or with the help of artillery, also established the relationship between the weight of fuel and the mass of rocket designs for overcoming earth gravitation, he expressed the idea of ​​an on-board orientation system on the Sun or other celestial bodies and analyzed the behavior Missiles outside the atmosphere, in an environment that is free of gravity. Unfortunately, neither compatriots nor foreign scientists appreciated his research.

Unfortunately, neither compatriots nor foreign scientists appreciated his research.In 1911, Tsiolkovsky published the second part of "The study of the world spaces by reactive devices." In it, the scientist calculated the work on overcoming the gravitational force of gravity, the speed of flight and time. However, this time Tsiolkovsky's work caused a wide resonance in the scientific world. Three years later Tsiolkovsky prints a supplement to this epoch-making work, which is considered the most important work of KE. Tsiolkovsky and consolidates his primacy in matters of space technology. 

Paradoxically, the socialist revolution of 1917 changed Tsiolkovsky's life for the better, and he himself gladly met political changes in the life of Russia. In 1921 the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR appointed Tsiolkovsky a personal pension.

Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky died on the 78th year of his life, on September 19, 1935. Tsiolkovsky's phenomenon had a moral impact on the first cosmonaut of the Earth, Yuri Gagarin, and S.P. Korolev, Yu.V. Kondratyuk, F.A. Zander and other engineers began to work on the embodiment of the main idea of ​​the scientist - they created a rocket for the "recipe" Tsiolkovsky. His works greatly contributed to the development of rocket and space technology in the Soviet Union and other countries.