Mike Gruntman From Astronautics to Cosmonautics ISBN-10:  1-4196-7085-5 ISBN-13:  978-1-4196-7085-5 84 pages with 24 photos Bibliography: 75 references     This book on Amazon.com Amazon's SEARCH INSIDE THE BOOK This book on GOOGLE/BOOK (offers preview of some pages)

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About the Book

Two pioneers of space exploration, Robert Esnault-Pelterie and Ary Sternfeld, introduced the words astronautics and cosmonautics, respectively, into the scientific language. The origin of the term astronautics is well documented. In contrast, the history of the word cosmonautics remains poorly known. Ary Sternfeld is also largely forgotten. The fiftieth anniversary of the breakthrough to space, celebrated in 2007, makes it especially appropriate to remember those visionaries who paved the way to cosmos. The book tells the stories of astronautics and cosmonautics and describes life journeys of space pioneers Robert Esnault-Pelterie and Ary Sternfeld.

About the Author

Mike Gruntman is professor of astronautics and professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Southern California (USC) and the founding director of the USC Astronautics Program focusing on degrees in space engineering. He was the founding Chairman (2004–2007) of the Astronautics and Space Technology Division in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.  Gruntman is actively involved in R&D programs in space science and space technology; he is co-investigator (Co-I) on two current NASA space missions. Dr. Gruntman has authored and co-authored more than 200 publications in the areas of astronautics, space physics, space technology, scientific instrumentation, space sensors, astronautical education, and rocket and space history. His book Blazing the Trail. The Early History of Spacecraft and Rocketry (published by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 2004) received the 2006 Luigi Napolitano Award from the International Academy of Astronautics.

Sputnik 1           Explorer 1          Vanguard 1

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Table of Contents (detailed)

Preface

1.    Astronautics Was the First  (Web version without photos and text boxes of this chapter)

Robert Esnault-Pelterie. Space pioneers. Astronaut in 19th century. Percy Greg. Aviation pioneer. Lecture of Esnault-Pelterie at the French Physical Society in 1912. Physical foundations of spaceflight. Article in Journal de Physique. Lecture of Esnault-Pelterie at the French Astronomical Society in 1927. Andre Louis-Hirsch. Fateful dinner in December 1927. Scientific luminaries. J.H. Rosny. Astronautics. REP-Hirsch Award. Committee on Astronautics to assure the highest standards of scientific quality. Hermann Oberth receives the first REP-Hirsch Award. Esnault-Pelterie publishes L'Astronautique. Astronautics in the English language. Esnault-Pelterie and Andre Hirsch.

Fig. 1.1. Pioneer aviator Robert Esnault-Pelterie.

Fig. 1.2. Robert Esnault-Pelterie, the fourth man in France to obtain the pilot’s license, invented the aileron and introduced a “joystick” for airplane control, four-bladed propeller, fan-shaped radial engine, safety belt, speed indicator, and numerous other now-standard devices.

Fig. 1.3. First meeting of the members of the Committee on Astronautics of the French Astronomical Society in 1928. Sitting, left to right: Robert Esnault-Pelterie and André Louis-Hirsch; standing, left to right: Henri Chrétien, J.H. Rosny the elder (Joseph Boex), Charles Maurain, Jean Perrin, Rodolphe Soreau, Gustave Ferrié, Joseph Bethenod, Eugène Fichot, and Émile Belot.

Fig. 1.4. Cover page of Robert Esnault-Pelterie’s L’Astronautique published in 1930.

Fig. 1.5. Robert Esnault-Pelterie with his book L’Astronautique, ca. 1950.

2.    Dreams about Space and Communism

Early years of Ary Sternfeld in Poland. Jagiellonian University in Krakow. Study of mechanical engineering in France. University of Nancy. Sorbonne. Thesis on spaceflight not approved. Sternfeld publishes first articles in L'Humanite. Engineer L. Rolin. Involvement in socialist movement. Gustava Erlich. Life in Paris. Promotion of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky. Desire to immigrate to the Soviet Union. Socialism score card. Robot design. Trip to Moscow in 1932. 

Fig. 2.1. Ary J. Sternfeld in France in 1932.

Fig. 2.2. Ary J. Sternfeld with his wife Gustava in Paris, France, in 1934.

3.    REP-Hirsch Encouragement Award

Writing the manuscript in Lodz. Difficult conditions. "Initiation a la Cosmonautique." First, second, and third cosmic velocities. Manuscript submitted for REP-Hirsch Award. Presentations at the meetings of the French Academy of Sciences (Paris). Orbit estimation. Approaching the central body. Sternfeld orbit transfer. Meeting Alexandre Ananoff. REP-Hirsch Encouragement Award. Cosmonautique. 

Fig. 3.1. Cover of the manuscript “Initiation à la Cosmonautique” first published as frontispiece in a Russian translation of the manuscript in 1937.  

4.    Cosmonautics

Arrival to the Soviet Union in 1935. Joining Moscow's Jet Propulsion Scientific Research Institute RNII. Soviet citizen. Changing name from A.J. Sternfeld to A.A. Shternfeld. Georgii Langemak translates the manuscript. Vvedenie v Kosmonavtiku (Introduction to Cosmonautics) published. Term cosmonautics firmly established.  Objections of Yakov Perel'man. Zvezdoplavanie. First Cosmic Velocity (First Spaceflight Velocity). Competition between astronautics and cosmonautics. General Nikolai Kamanin and first Soviet cosmonauts. Cosmonautics Day established. Pilot-Cosmonaut of the USSR. 

Fig. 4.1. Cover of Sternfeld’s book “Vvedenie v Kosmonavtiku” (“Introduction to Cosmonautics”), 1937 (Shternfel’d 1937).

Fig. 4.2. Cover page of Sternfeld’s “Vvedenie v Kosmonavtiku” (Shternfel’d 1937).

Fig. 4.3 Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR establishing the Cosmonautics Day.

5.    Socialism Bites Back

Sternfeld kicked out from RNII. Never allowed work on rocketry and spaceflight. Political purges in the Soviet Union. Arrests and executions of Soviet rocketeers. Georgii Langemak and Valentin Glushko. German and Soviet rocketeers. Life catastrophe. Letter to Joseph Stalin. Pitiful practitioners ... do not understand the guidance of the classics of Marxism. High-risk category. Georgii Langemak on the Stalin's list. Politburo orders executions. Nonexistent for authorities. Article in Soviet Academy - Doklady. Help from sister Ada and Michal Kalecki. Anti-Semitism in Europe. Pravda of the Communist Party. Rootless cosmopolitans. Anti-Semitic campaign in full swing. Doctors' plot. Lev Gonor of NII-88 persecuted. Accusations by Nikolai Chernyshev. Admiration of foreign authorities of spaceflight. Russian military rockets in the first half of the 10th century. Not indispensable as Sergei Lavochkin or Mikhail Gurevich. Crashing blow. Miraculous survival.

Fig. 5.1. Cover of one of the first Soviet technical books on rocketry “Rockets. Their Design and Applications,” 1935, published by RNII’s Georgii E. Langemak and Valentin P. Glushko.

Fig. 5.2. Ary Sternfeld in Moscow on 11 January 1941.

Fig. 5.3. Georgii E. Langemak, 1898–1938, joined the Gas Dynamic Laboratory (GDL) in Leningrad in 1928. GDL evolved into a major state-sponsored effort in military rocketry. The Laboratory had almost two hundred employees in 1933, when absorbed by the newly formed RNII. Langemak became first the head of the Leningrad branch and later deputy director of RNII.

Fig. 5.4. Cover of the folder with the signatures of Politburo members approving Category 1 (execution) for the list that included the translator of Sternfeld’s book G. Langemak.

Fig. 5.5. Ary Sternfeld in his home office in Moscow, 12 December 1959. After loosing his job in RNII in 1937, he was never permitted to join the research and development effort in rocketry and spaceflight. Sternfeld remained confined to his home office, writing about space.

6.    In the Spotlight

"Interplanetary Travel" and "Artificial Satellites." Sputnik. Underestimation of the effect on public. Special issue of Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk on space in September 1957. Sternfeld propelled into spotlight. Popularity of books by Sternfeld; numerous translations. Honoris causa doctor degree from University of Nancy. Galabert Prize. Controversial prize – Ananoff quits. Life never easy for Ary Sternfeld. Great Soviet Encyclopedia. Aleksandr Prokhorov orders to include Sternfeld's name. Valentin Glushko recognizes Sternfeld. The first book about Ary Sternfeld in 1987. Hostility and indifference of the Soviet authorities after the death of Ary Sternfeld. Tombstone with Sternfeld transfer at Novodevichiye Cemetery.

Fig. 6.1. Covers of Sternfeld’s books “Iskusstvennye Sputniki Zemli” (“Artificial Satellites of the Earth”), 1956 (75,000 copies) and “Ot Iskusstvennykh Sputnikov k Mezhplanetnym Poletam” (“From Artificial Satellites to Interplanetary Travel”), 1957 (100,000 copies).

Fig. 6.2. Ary Sternfeld in his home office in Moscow in late 1960s.

Fig. 6.3. Soviet space pioneer and leading rocket engine designer Valentin P. Glushko (right) congratulates Ary Sternfeld with his 60th birthday at the special celebration meeting at the Institute of History of Natural Sciences and Technology of the USSRAcademy of Sciences in Moscow, May 1965.

Fig. 6.4. Tombstone at the Novodevichiye Cemetery in Moscow. The inscription reads “Ari Shternfel’d, a Pioneer of Cosmonautics.” One can see the engraved trajectory — Sternfeld transfer — to reach a point near the central body.

7.    In His Adopted Homeland

Changes in the adopted homeland of Ary Sternfeld. Archives of Sternfeld in Polytechnic Museum in Moscow. Maya Shternfeld. Home study room of Sternfeld in the Polytechnic Museum. Commemoration 100th anniversary of Sternfeld. History – a sensitive matter in Russia. Sternfeld Museum in Pytalovo in Russian hinterland. Elvira Sternfeld. High relief of Ary Sternfeld in Kiriat Ekron (Qiryat Eqron), Israel. Sternfeld observatory and planetarium in Lodz, Poland. Everything repeats itself again ... Forgotten again. Commemorative plaque on the NASA's New Horizons mission to Pluto.

Fig. 7.1. The author of this book in the Polytechnic Museum, Moscow (May 2006), next to the reconstructed home study of Ary Sternfeld with most of the items authentic.

Fig. 7.3. High relief of Ary Sternfeld cast in bronze by Michel Milberger in the municipal library of Kiriat Ekron, Israel.

Fig. 7.4. Brass plaque (3"5") commemorating pioneers of spaceflight mechanics on the New Horizons mission to Pluto.

Index

A

A-4 ballistic missile 12
Académie des Sciences. See French Academy of Sciences
Academy of Sciences, USSR 40, 54, 55, 57, 63
Across the Zodiac 2
Ada, sister of Ary J. Sternfeld 45, 55
American Interplanetary Society 13
American Rocket Society 13, 26
Ananoff, Alexandre 13, 23, 54
anti-Semitism 28, 39, 44, 45, 46, 48
archives of Ary J. Sternfeld 59
archives, President of the USSR (Russia) 42
Astronaut 2
astronaut vii, 1, 2, 9, 35
astronautical velocities 33
astronautical velocity. See cosmic velocities
astronautics vii, 1, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 21, 29, 32, 33, 35
Astronautics, American Interplanetary Society 13
Astronautics, American Rocket Society 26
astronautique 5, 21, 29. See also astronautics
Astronomical Council, USSR Academy of Sciences 54
author of this book 32, 43, 60

B

Baikonur 62
Baillaud, Jules 7
Barré, Jean Jacques 54
Belot, Émile 5, 7
Berman-Sternfeld, Elvira viii
Bethenod, Joseph 5, 7
Bing, André 7
Boex, Joseph Henri Honoré 9
Boex, Séraphim Justin François 9
Bolshevo 47
Brezhnev, Leonid I. 34
Brun, Edmond A. 54
Bykovsky, Valerii F. 35

C

Central Committee, Communist Party, Soviet Union 35, 47, 48
characteristic spaceflight velocities 23. See also cosmic velocities
Charbonnier 7
Chernyshev, Nikolai G. 47, 48
Chkalov Central Aero Club 33
Chrétien, Henri 5, 7
Columbus 11
Committee on Astronautics 5, 7, 25
communism 15, 16, 18, 19, 59
Communist Party, USSR 33, 39, 45
Comptes rendus 23
concentration camp 18
cosmic velocities 21, 22, 23, 32, 33
cosmic velocity, first 32
cosmonaut vii, 35, 36
cosmonautics vii, 5, 10, 15, 21, 26, 29, 32, 33, 35, 37, 39, 60
Cosmonautics Day 34, 35, 36
cosmonautique 5, 21, 26, 29. See also cosmonautics
crater, Lunar 62

D

Day of Cosmonautics. See Cosmonautics Day
Deslandres, Henri-Alexandre 7
Doklady (Reports), Academy of Sciences, USSR 45
Donetsk 44

E

Efimov, P.I. 35
Egorov, Nikolai P. 61
Eisenhower , Dwight D. 51
emigration to the Soviet Union 19, 27
Energomash, NPO viii, 55, 57
Erlich, Gustava 16, 17, 21
Esclangon, Ernest 5, 7, 25
Esclangon, Felix 23
Esnault-Pelterie, Robert vii, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7,8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, 23, 24, 25, 47

F

Fabry, Charles 5
Ferrié, Gustave 4, 5, 7
Fichot, Eugène 5, 6, 7
first cosmic velocity. See cosmic velocities
Franka, sister of Ary Sternfeld 16
French Academy of Sciences 1, 23, 24, 25
French Astronautical Society 54
French Astronomical Society 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 12, 24, 25, 47
French Communist Party 16, 19
French Physical Society 2, 4

G

Gagarin, Yurii A. 35, 36, 54
Galabert Prize 54
Gas Dynamical Laboratory (GDL) 42, 47
Gaumont, Léon 7
Georgadze, Mikhail P. 34
Glenn, John 54
Glushko, Valentin P. 27, 38, 39, 55, 57, 60
Goddard, Robert H. 11, 13, 17
Golikov, F.I. 35
Gonor, Lev R. 46
Gorbachev, Mikhail S. 58
Great Soviet Encyclopedia 55
Greg, Percy 2
Grigoryan, Gurgen G. viii, 60
Gröttrup, Helmut 39
Gruntman, Mike. See author of this book
Gurevich, Mikhail I. 48
Gustava, wife of Ary J. Sternfeld. See Erlich, Gustava

H

Hiller, Ch. 21, 22
Hirsch, André 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 12, 13, 23, 25, 47
Hohmann, Walter 17
honoris causa doctor degree 54
Humanité 17, 18. See also L’Humanité

I

Initiation à la Cosmonautique 21, 29. See also Introduction to Cosmonautics
International Astronautical Congress 13, 23, 54
International Astronautical Federation 13, 54
Introduction to Cosmonautics 15, 21, 22, 26, 29, 30, 31, 38, 39, 40, 42, 43, 47

J

Jagiellonian University 15
Jet Propulsion Scientific Research Institute, RNII 27, 29, 37, 38, 39, 40, 42, 43, 46, 47, 55
Journal de Physique 3, 11
Jupiter 11

K

Kaganovich, Lazar' M. 43
Kalecki, Michal 45. See also Ada, sister of Ary
Kamanin, Nikolai P. 35
Keldysh, Mstislav V. 55
Khimki 55
Khrushchev, Nikita S. 35
Kibal’chich, Nikolai I. 47
Kiriat Ekron, Israel 62
Kleimenov, Ivan T. 38, 42, 43
Korolev, Sergei P. 27, 38, 43, 46
kosmonavt 57
kosmonavtika vii, 57. See also cosmonautics
Krakow 15

L

La (Lavochkin) fighter planes 48
Lambert, A. 7
Langemak, Georgii E. 29, 38, 39, 42, 43
Langevin, Paul 23
L’Astronautique 8, 12
Lavochkin, Sergei A. 48
Leibenson, Leonid S. 45
L’Humanité. See Humanité. 
Lodz 15, 16, 21
Lorin, René 17
Louis-Hirsch, André. See Hirsch, André
Lubeck, fortress of 13

M

Manned Spaceflight Control Center 47
Mars vii, 3, 9, 11
Masevich, Alla G. 54
Maurain, Charles 5, 7
MiG (Mikoyan-Gurevich) airplanes 48
Mileberger, Michel 62
Ministry of Heavy Industry, USSR 19
Molotov, Vaycheslav M. 43, 44
Moon vii, 3, 29, 35, 62
Morozova, Stella G. viii
Moscow 18, 19, 21, 46, 47

N

Nancy, University of 15, 54
Narovlyanskii, Naum S. 62, 63
Nauka, publishing house 57
Nazarov, German 55
Nelyubov, Grigorii G. 35
New Horizons, mission to Pluto 63, 64
New York Times 12
NII-4, Scientific Research Institute N.4 47
NII-88, Scientific Research Institute N.88 46, 47
Nikolaev, Andrian G. 35
Nobel Prize 5
Novodevichiye Cemetery 56, 58

O

Oberth, Hermann 10, 11, 17, 23, 24

P

Paris 15, 17, 18, 23
patronymic 28
Peenemünde 12
Perel’man, Yakov I. 32, 33
Perrin, Jean Baptiste 5, 7, 23, 25
persecution 18
pilot-cosmonaut 36
Pluto 63
Pobedonostsev, Yurii A. 38
Podlipki 46
Polish Communist Party 16
Polish Section, French Communist Party 16
Politburo, Communist Party, USSR 42, 43, 44
Polytechnic Museum, Moscow viii, 59, 60, 62
Popovich, Pavel R. 35
Poskrebyshev, Alexander 44
Pravda 33, 34, 45
Presidium, Supreme Soviet, USSR 34, 35, 36. See also Supreme Soviet, USSR
Prix REP-Hirsch 10. See also REP-Hirsch Award
Prokhorov, Aleksandr M. 55
Pskov 61
Pytalovo 61

R

ramjet 17
REP 1.     See also Esnault-Pelterie, Robert
REP-Hirsch Award 6, 7, 10, 12, 23, 25, 29, 47
REP-Hirsch Encouragement Award 10, 21, 25, 27, 32, 40, 47
Riedel, Klaus 39
RNII 39, 42. See also Jet Propulsion Scientific Research Institute, RNII
robot, designed by Ary Sternfeld 18, 19
rockets 1
Rolin, L. 17
rootless cosmopolitans 45
Rosny, J.H., aînée 9. See also Boex, Joseph Henri Honoré
Rosny, J.H., the elder 5, 6, 7, 9, 10. See also Rosny, J.H., aînée
Rytov, A.G. 35

S

Shternfeld, Maya A. viii, 41, 44, 59
Shternfel’d Museum of Cosmonautics, Pytalovo 61
sideration 5
Sieradz 15, 28
social engineering 18
socialism 18, 19, 27, 37, 38, 39, 43, 59
Société astronomique de France 4. See also French Astronomical Society
Societé française de Physique 2. See also French Physical Society
Sorbonne University 4, 15, 16
Soreau, Rodolphe 5, 7
spiski, Stalin’s 43
Sputnik 33, 37, 51, 52
Stalin, Iosif (Joseph) 40, 41, 43, 44, 46
Stalino 44
Stalin’s spiski 43. See also spiski, Stalin’s
Sternfeld, Elvira A. 59, 62
Sternfeld transfer 21, 22, 24, 56, 58
Supreme Soviet, USSR 18
Suslov, Mikhail A. 48

T

Tikhonravov, Mikhail K. 27, 38
Titov, German S. 35
Tsander, Fridrikh A. 27
Tsiolkovsky, Konstantin E. 17, 18, 33, 40, 47, 48, 49
TsNIIMash 47
Tukhachevsky, Mikhail 27, 37
Tunguska event of 1908 48

U

U.S. Senate 18
University of Nancy. See Nancy, University of
Urbain, Georges 7

V

V-2 ballistic missile 12
Valier, Max 11
Venus 3, 9, 11
Verne, Jules 1, 11
Vershinin, Konstantin A. 35, 36
von Braun, Wernher 12, 39
von Hoefft, Franz 11
Voroshilov, Kliment E. 43
Vvedenie v Kosmonavtiku. See Introduction to Cosmonautics

W

World War I 4
World War II 10, 13, 44, 45, 48

Y

Yangel’, Mikhail K. 47

Z

Zhdanov, Andrei A. 43
Zhemchuzhina, Paulina 44
zvezdolet (starship) 33
zvezdoplavanie 32, 33

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