FIRST STEPS TOWARD SPACE - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

Preface
The fabric of the history of astronautics is woven of stories of individuals and
small groups who developed the technologies of rocketry while dreaming of space
flight. At least this was true until World War II. Since then, the complexity of
guided missiles and rocket-powered aircraft has required much larger enterprises.
Official recognition and financial support for such developments were difficult to
obtain. Progress was made largely through the personal initiative and dedicated
effort of idealists who were deeply convinced that one day man would travel
through space.
Because much of the detailed history of these technical developments from
1900-1939 has not been available in the published literature, the International
Academy of Astronautics of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF)
commenced sponsorship of a series of symposia of the history of rocketry and
astronautics. The first symposium was held at Belgrade in 1967. Subsequent symposia
have been held at New York (1968), Mar del Plata (1969), Constance (1970),
Brussels (1971), Vienna (1972), and Baku (1973). The proceedings of the first two
symposia on the history of rocketry and astronautics form the contents of this
volume of the series Smithsonian Annals of Flight.
The combination of memoirs and papers from the first and second symposia
make it possible to present in one volume new information on the work of leading
investigators of astronautics and their associates in the first third of the 20th century.
Thus, the student of the history of astronautics can study independent and
parallel efforts which led to the Space Age.
"Pre-1939 Memoirs of Astronautics" was the theme of the first IAA History
of Astronautics symposium, organized with the cooperation of the International
Union of the History and Philosophy of Science, and held on Tuesday, 26 September
1967, in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, during the XVIII Congress of the IAF. The
philosophy of the organizing committee was to invite living pioneers in astronautics
so that they might present memoirs. Of the 13 presentations, three were made
by the men themselves: O. Lutz, F. J. Malina, and E. A. Steinhoff. The other ten
authors were unable to come to Belgrade and their papers were read by other
speakers. These papers appeared in Iz istorii astronavtiki i raketnoi tekhniki:
Materially XVIII mezhdunarodnogo astronavticheskogo kongressa, Belgrad, 25-29
Sentyavrya 1967 [From the History of Rockets and Astronautics: Materials of the
18th International Astronautical Congress, Belgrade, 25-29 September 1967], published
in Moscow in 1970.
The second IAA History of Astronautics Symposium, "New Contributions to
the Historical Literature on Rocket Technology and Astronautics, 1909-1939,"
was held on Wednesday, 16 October 1968, in conjunction with the XIX Congress
of the IAF in New York. Of the 14 papers, three memoirs were presented by early
investigators: R. Engel, C. D. J. Generales, and S. Herrick.
For reference purposes, the papers have been arranged alphabetically by the
principal author's last name. The particular symposium at which a paper was
presented is indicated by either (1967) or (1968) following the author's name in
the table of contents.
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