Auktion168-02-Philatelie_Flug&Zeppelinpost

17
INTERNATIONALE AUKTION 168
Italian Airmail History |
lot # 3015
Experimental Shipyard of Vigna
di Valle, 3 October 1908; flight of
the first Italian Military Airship,
designed by Arturo Crocco and
Ottavio Ricaldoni
On this occasion Crocco, now in his eighties, presented his memoir entitled "One year exploratory tour Earth Mars Venus Earth",
which hypothesized the exploitation of the gravitational fields of Mars and Venus to reduce interplanetary travel time. His study
proved important, and was a first contribution to the famous “gravity assist” or “swing-by” manoeuvre, which NASA began to
use on some interplanetary missions in the 1960s. Here, the gravitational force of a planet was exploited through a close transit,
properly calculated, which served to relaunch a space probe to the next destination: it was a boost of energy that allowed the spacecraft
to explore the solar system in more depth.
On 31 October 1908, Crocco made
a round trip from Vigna di Valle to
Rome, covering 80 km in about 1:30
minutes and its airship became the
first aircraft to fly over the capital,
at 500 meters above sea level,
making a great impression.
lot # 3015
The study remained famous, and Americans referred to it as the Crocco
Mission and Crocco's Multi-planet Trajectory. For Crocco, this was his
last, but once again relevant, contribution to the nascent field of space
science.
The name of Gaetano Arturo Crocco, almost unknown in our schools, is
inscribed in the Space Hall of Fame in Alamogordo, New Mexico. Crocco
is one of the very few Italians, together with Enrico Fermi, for whom this
honour has been reserved.
Commemorative stamp to celebrate the event issued by Poste Italiane.
Postcard with special cancellation of the 7th International
Astronautics Congress. Coll. U. Cavallaro