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/font> Amazon.com Amazon's SEARCH INSIDE THE BOOK   Book preview

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Books on history of rocketry and space

Space:  From Firecrackers to Interstellar Flight (webcast)

Mike Gruntman
From Astronautics to Cosmonautics, 2007

Preface - this web site

Chapter 1. Astronautics Was the First

Chapter 2. Dreams about Space and Communism

Chapter 3. REP-Hirsch Encouragement Award

Chapter 4. Cosmonautics

Chapter 5. Socialism Bites Back

Chapter 6. In the Spotlight

Chapter 7. In His Adopted Homeland

Appendix: Bibliography

Index

Preface

Astronauts and cosmonauts routinely travel in space. They orbit the Earth and live and work at the International Space Station. Men landed on the Moon and plan reaching Mars. The field of science and engineering dealing with spaceflight describes itself by two different words: astronautics and cosmonautics. The United States and Western Europe commonly use the word astronautics. In contrast, the Russian language relies today almost exclusively on the word kosmonavtika (cosmonautics).

Both these two words originated from the French language — l‘astronautique and la cosmonautique. Two pioneers of space exploration, Robert Esnault-Pelterie and Ary J. Sternfeld, introduced the words into the scientific language under very different circumstances. (The spelling of the name A.J. Sternfeld changed during his lifetime to A.A. Shternfel’d. For consistency, I use the original spelling — Ary J. Sternfeld — in the text, while his name in references and in quotes is spelled as in the sources.)

The origin of the term astronautics is well documented. In contrast, the history of the word cosmonautics remains poorly known. Ary Sternfeld, a space pioneer who introduced the latter word in 1930s, is also largely forgotten.

The year 2007 marks the 50th anniversary of the breakthrough to space. This event makes it especially appropriate to remember those visionaries who paved the way to cosmos. The stories of introduction of the words of science astronautics and cosmonautics are linked in many ways however and should be told together. So, we begin with a story of astronautics. Then, the book concentrates on an unusual life journey of Ary J. Sternfeld and on cosmonautics.

Acknowledgments. Several individuals and organizations helped me in preparation of this publication. I am especially grateful to Maya A. Shternfel’d, Polytechnic Museum, Moscow, Russia; Elvira Berman-Sternfeld, Kiriat Ekron (Qiryat Eqron), Israel; Gurgen G. Grigoryan and Stella G. Morozova, Polytechnic Museum, Moscow, Russia; Naum S. Narovlyanskii, Zvenigorod, Russia; Vladimir Sudakov, NPO Energomash, Khimki, Russia; Aleksandr V. Glushko, Zvezdnyi Gorodok, Russia; Centre National d’Études Spatiales, France; Bruce Bradley, Linda Hall Library, Kansas City, Missouri; Robert Farquhar, Burke, Virginia; and Bob Brodsky, Redondo Beach, California.

The opinions expressed in this book are solely mine and not necessarily shared by the individuals and organizations that helped in the preparation of the book. Needless to say, I take the responsibility for all errors.