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Article: Space Program
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
- Author:
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SPACE PROGRAM
SPACE PROGRAM.
In the late nineteenth century, fiction writers like Jules Verne and H. G. Wells published novels focusing on space travel in various forms. Although fictitious, these stories would spark the imaginations of several of the early rocket scientists, whose endeavors would ultimately make real the ability for machines to travel through space.
Early Space Pioneers
Several space pioneers soon began distinguishing themselves and giving direction to the new field. Among them, Russian teacher Konstantin Tsiolkowsky (1857
–
1935) sketched a rocket system in 1903 that was based on an 1883 paper "Modifying the Force of Gravity." He perfected his rocket system ...