After more than 80 years of development, the current aircraft has reached a very high level. In many countries, traveling by air has become a common practice. At present, the fastest flying plane (3R-7 1A in America) can reach 3529.56 kilometers per hour, which is 3.3 times the speed of sound. The maximum flying altitude is 37,650m (MIG-25 of the former Soviet Union recorded at 65,438+31day in August, 0977); The maximum distance of straight flight is 20 168.78 km, which is equivalent to more than half of the earth. The longest stay in the air is 64 days and 22 hours 19 minutes and 5 seconds ... but no matter what aircraft, it can't fly in a vacuum and can't get rid of the bondage of the earth's gravity. Therefore, human beings can't expect to walk out of the "cradle" of the earth by plane.

So can humans get out of the cradle? How can we get out of the cradle? Tsiolkovsky, a Russian middle school teacher, first pointed out this road. He was deaf because of illness at the age of 9, so he hardly attended any school. He completed some math and science courses in middle schools and universities by his own efforts. Then, he worked as a math teacher in a remote rural middle school and began to study the principles of balloons and airplanes. At the age of 4 1, he wrote a long article to explain his proposition-relying on the power of rockets for space navigation. After five years of twists and turns, this famous paper (Research on Space with Jet Tools) was officially published in 1903 (the year when Wright flew into the sky). Later, he published many important papers in succession and continued to demonstrate its possibility. He designed many rockets under extremely difficult conditions, and deduced the famous "Zion Nencof Formula" in rocket theory. He wrote more than 730 works (parts) in his life. He once suggested building a space navigation station with rockets, setting up an observatory on it and making it a springboard to other planets. He also said: "In the initial stage, an artificial earth satellite should be built first." How correct these views are, and they have been confirmed by practice. He is worthy of being a pioneer theorist in conquering the universe. Russians proudly called him "the father of space navigation" and built a monument for him. After his death, he took this famous saying as his epitaph: "The earth is the cradle of mankind, but people can't live in the cradle forever. At first, he will carefully walk out of the atmosphere and then conquer the solar system. "

But tsiolkovsky only stays in theoretical research (he has no money to do experiments). Humans want to fly out, and more importantly, do it! The real breakthrough should be attributed to American rocket engineer Goddard.

Goddard has been fascinated by science fiction since he was a child. 1899 years old 17 years old, he was deeply attracted by the British writer Wells' War of the Universe and decided to fly out of the earth and invite him to travel in space. He didn't stay in fantasy. After becoming an engineer, he began to design the actual rocket engine 19 14. He obtained two patents. Later, he went to Clark University to teach, and he was also going to put the rocket test into practice.

1926 In the early spring, he took his wife to menstruation's home in Massachusetts. My aunt has a big farm, which is used to launch rockets for him. March 16, the spring is chilly. In a piece of snow, he set up the world's first liquid fuel rocket, about 1.2 meters long and 15 cm in diameter. His wife deserves her heart. Before he lit the fire, she left him this historic and precious lens.

Goddard lit the rocket, which soared to the height of 12.3 meters, and landed in the snow 56 meters away after 2.5 seconds. Although the distance is not as long as a football field, it is the first page in the history of aerospace! Unfortunately, there was only his wife in the audience.

The later development is very comic. Goddard tried again and again, and the rocket got bigger and bigger. The news spread quickly, causing people's concern and discussion, but Goddard was ridiculed and criticized. The New York Times even published an editorial saying that he was a complete idiot because he wanted to fly to the moon, and his research was completely wrong from the beginning. What is even more exasperating is that someone even called the fire brigade and the police and ordered him not to conduct any more experiments on the grounds of safety. The American government does not support him either. Ironically, in order to use his more than 200 patents, the US government had to pay a huge sum of more than $6,543,800.

However, Goddard overcame all difficulties and continued his experiment. By the early 1930s, his rocket had risen to a height of 2.4 kilometers, and its flying speed had exceeded the speed of sound-at that time, no aircraft could reach half the speed of sound.

On the European continent, German scientist Aubert is not as good as tsiolkovsky in theory and behind Goddard in production, but he not only perfected the rocket theory, but also participated in the development of V-2 rocket, so later generations recognized him as one of the three founders of modern astronautics, just like the first two.