Exploring the Unknown - NASA's History Office

Konstantin E. Tsiolkovskiy (1857–1935) became enthralled with the possibilities of interplanetary travel as a boy
and, at age fourteen, started independent study using books from his father’s library on natural science and
mathematics. He also developed a passion for invention, and he constructed balloons, propelled carriages, and
other instruments. To further his education, his parents sent him to Moscow to pursue technical studies. In 1878,
he became a teacher of mathematics in a school north of Moscow. Tsiolkovskiy first started writing on space in
1898, when he submitted for publication to the Russian journal, Nauchnoye Obozreniye (Science Review), a work
based on years of calculations that laid out many of the principles of modern spaceflight. The article,
“Investigating Space with Rocket Devices,” presented years of calculations that laid out many of the principles of
modern spaceflight and opened the door to future writings on the subject. In it, Tsiolkovskiy described in depth
the use of rockets for launching orbital spaceships. There followed a series of increasingly sophisticated studies
on the technical aspects of spaceflight. In the 1920s and 1930s, he proved especially productive, publishing ten
major works, elucidating the nature of bodies in orbit, developing scientific principles behind reaction vehicles,
designing orbital space stations, and promoting interplanetary travel. He also furthered studies on many principles
commonly used in rockets today: specific impulse to gauge engine performance, multistage boosters, fuel
mixtures such as liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, the problems and possibilities inherent in microgravity, the
promise of solar power, and spacesuits for extravehicular activity. Significantly, he never had the resources—nor
perhaps the inclination—to experiment with rockets himself. After the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 and the creation
of the Soviet Union, Tsiolkovskiy was formally recognized for his accomplishments in the theory of spaceflight.
Among other honors, in 1921 he received a lifetime pension from the state that allowed him to retire from
teaching at the age of sixty-four. Thereafter, he devoted full time to developing his spaceflight theories studies.
His theoretical work greatly influenced later rocketeers both in his native land and throughout Europe. While
less well known during his lifetime in the United States, Tsiolkovskiy’s work enjoyed broad study in the 1950s and
1960s, when Americans sought to understand how the Soviet Union had accomplished such unexpected success
in its early spaceflight efforts. See “Tsiolkovskiy, K.E.,” biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection.
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James E. Webb (1906–1992) was NASA’s administrator between 1961 and 1968. Previously, he had been an aide
to a congressman in New Deal Washington, an aide to Washington lawyer Max O. Gardner, and a business executive
with the Sperry Corporation and the Kerr-McGee Oil Company. He had also been director of the Bureau
of the Budget between 1946 and 1950 and under secretary of state from 1950 to 1952. See W. Henry Lambright,
Powering Apollo: James E. Webb of NASA (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995).
Caspar W. Weinberger (1917– ), longtime Republican government official, was a senior member of the Nixon,
Ford, and Reagan administrations. For Nixon and Ford, he was deputy director (1970–1972) and director
(1972–1976) of the Office of Management and Budget. In this capacity, he had a leading role in shaping the
direction of NASA’s major effort of the 1970s, the development of a reusable Space Shuttle. For Reagan, he
served as secretary of defense, in which he oversaw the use of the Shuttle in the early 1980s for the launching of
classified Department of Defense payloads into orbit. See “Weinberger, Caspar W(illard),” Current Biography
1973, pp. 428–30.
Edward C. Welsh (1909–1990) had a long career in various private and public enterprises. He had served as legislative
assistant to Democratic Senator Stuart Symington of Missouri from 1953 to 1961, and he was the executive
secretary of the National Aeronautics and Space Council through the 1960s. See “Welsh, E.C.,” biographical
file, NASA Historical Reference Collection.
Harry Wexler (1911–1962) worked for the U.S. Weather Bureau from 1934 until his death. He was one of the
first scientists to envision using satellites for meteorological purposes and was known as the father of the TIROS
satellite. From 1955 to 1958, he was also the chief scientist for the U.S. expedition to Antarctica for the
International Geophysical Year. In 1961, he was a lead negotiator for the United States in drafting plans for joint
U.S.-Soviet Union use of meteorological satellites. He received a Ph.D. in meteorology from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in 1939. See “Wexler, Harry,” biographical file, NASA Historical Reference Collection.
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