Today ’s aerospace engineers got where they are by standing on the shoulder of heavyweight … plus some weirdos . Read on for some of the many way people thought we ’d be able-bodied to journey across the universe .
1. PSYCHIC TRAVEL
In the other 20th century , two upper - class Victorian Spiritualists play regularly in a London sign , where they reportedly used astral acoustic projection to travel to Mercury , Venus , Mars , Jupiter , and Saturn . They essay to shoot the breeze the Sun , but were blocked by “ an unbearable light ” and heart palpitations — or so their excuse went , anyway .
2. SPACE CANNON
Jules Verne may not have meant his notional 1865 novelFrom the Earth to the Moonto be choose literally , but it was . physicist gave serious thoughtfulness to the absurdly long space shank used by his characters to launch themselves to the Moon . The wildly successful book inspire generations of children , some of whom would go on to become outstanding inventor , physicists , and engineers .
3. ROCKET PROPULSION // KONSTANTIN TSIOLKOVSKY
Three humankind hold the title of “ Father of Rocketry ” ( and two of them , Russia ’s Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and Romania ’s Hermann Oberth , attribute their interest in space to read Verne ’s rule book as children ) . Tsiolkovsky develop the Tsiolkovsky Formula , a garden rocket par , which still serves as the foundation for most of the study spacecraft engineers do today . Tsiolkovsky was a big worshiper in the need to explore beyond the Earth ’s atmosphere . “ Earth is the cradle of humanity , ” he once said , “ but one can not continue in the rocker constantly . ”
4. ROCKET PROPULSION // HERMANN OBERTH
Hermann Oberth ’s personal commission : “ To make available for animation every berth where life sentence is possible . To make inhabitable all worlds as yet uninhabitable , and all life purposeful . ” Oberth struggled to be taken seriously until 1929 , when he published a detailed text explaining precisely how a rocket would be able to leave Earth ’s atmosphere . Oberth experience a patent of invention for his purpose and launch his first rocket in 1931 .
5. ROCKET PROPULSION // ROBERT H. GODDARD
The American Father of Rocketry , Robert H. Goddard , is accredit with the institution of the first rocket to swear on liquid fuel . Experts compare this inaugural 1926 flight to the Wright Brothers ’ succeeder in Kitty Hawk , North Carolina , in terms of the event ’s historic import .
6. SPACE ELEVATOR
roquette man Konstantin Tsiolkovsky also envisioned a massive space lift . Inspired by the Eiffel Tower , Tsiolkovsky proposed an orbiting “ Celestial Castle ” connected to a very tall tower on Earth . Absurd though it may sound , the space lift concept is still being kick around today , as a potential option for space shuttles .
7. SPACE BALLOON
The thirties were a foolhardy time , when we pretty much did whatever we could think of without a thought to base hit ( roller coaster without lap bars , anyone ? ) . One such project was the outer space balloon — or space balloon , we should say , since , unsurprisingly , the first one was a bust . Aimed for Earth ’s in high spirits standard atmosphere , the metallic element balloons weigh more than 600 pounds apiece . fill with He and stuffed with scientific equipment , camera , two pilots , and wind tear for light ballast , the second balloon ascended more than 13 mile into the sky .
8. SPACE STATION
The idea of a blank place was first proposed in the mid-1860s , but it was n’t seriously view until 1929 . An Austrian engineer wrote an full book on the possible engineering job associated with place locomotion . The book as a whole was a wonder , but it was its part on the realities of building a space station that made its source famous .
We ’ve add up a long way from the day of the space shank . chatter here for a sneaker peep at what the next 100 old age might have in store for would - be space travelers .
