MONSTER ROCKETS

In the 1930s rocket motors, and especially those using liquid propellants, saw rapid development. In Russia the work of a deaf schoolteacher, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, formed the basis for various experiments with rockets. He laid down the theory of rocket flight and derived the most important mathematical formula used in rocket design: the Tsiolkovsky Equation a. k.a. the Rocket Equation. In 1903, the same year as the Wright brother’s first powered flight, this visionary man had already invented the method of ‘staging’, whereby a series of rockets are stacked on top of one another and discarded once their tanks run dry, in order that the remainder of the vehicle can fly on without their now useless empty weight; a method that has been applied to all the world’s space launchers starting with the one which placed Sputnik into orbit in 1957.

Under the Russian Tsar’s regime Tsiolkovsky never enjoyed any government support, but after the 1917 Revolution the Soviets saw in him a perfect example of the working class genius, and in 1919 he was even made Member of the prestigious Academy of Sciences. Apart from pure rockets, Tsiolkovsky also considered rocket propelled planes. Around 1930 he developed a fourteen-point plan to conquer space. The first step would be to build a low-altitude rocket plane that could fly to a height of about 5 km (3 miles). Step two would be a similar plane, but with higher thrust and shorter wings to limit the air drag at the higher velocities it would attain. Next a rocket plane capable of climbing to an altitude of 12 km (8 miles), equipped with a pressurized cabin, would be required. The subsequent steps would involve wingless rockets that could get into space, space suits, orbital stations, and even colonies on asteroids. Tsiolkovsky died in 1935 without personally building any rockets, but he
inspired a number of young Russian rocket experimenters who, in the 1930s, began to build small experimental rockets based on liquid propellants. As a testimony to his vision, Tsiolkovsky’s most famous words can be found on his grave: “The Earth is the cradle of mankind, but one cannot stay in the cradle forever.”

In parallel, but on the other side of the ocean, the reclusive American Robert H. Goddard was designing, building and launching a series of ever larger rockets. By 1918 he had already constructed and flown a solid propellant rocket that was 1.70 meters (5.1 feet) in length and weighed 20 kg (44 pounds). In 1919 he published a now famous report called ‘A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes’, in which he described how a rocket could reach the Moon and signal its arrival by use of flash powder that ignited at impact. However, in spite of their scientifically sound basis,