1928 Russian Book by K. Tsiolkovsky, 1st Ed., Kaluga
“Earth is the cradle of humanity, but one cannot live in the cradle forever”
Taken from a letter written by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky in 1911

Russian-born scientist and mathematician Konstantin Tsiolkovsky is often referred to as the father of astronautics and human spaceflight. His visionary ideas for humanity’s future in space were far ahead of his time.

Tsiolkovsky was the first to determine that Earth’s escape velocity into orbit was 8 km/second, achievable using a multi-stage rocket fueled by liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. During his lifetime, he published over 500 works on space travel and related subjects, including science fiction novels.

Among his works are designs for space rockets, ideas for steerable rocket engines, multi-stage boosters, space stations, airlocks for exiting a spaceship into space, and closed-cycle biological systems to provide food and oxygen for space colonies. These are remarkable achievements, especially considering that many were written before the first airplane flight, and by a man who had to abandon formal education at the age of 10.