Thursday, December 13, 2018

L'Astronautique - Robert Esnault-Pelterie


We just learned about the Tsiolkovsky rocket equation.

Another part of rocket history is the book L'Astronautique by Robert Esnault-Pelterie.

Robert was a French scientist who was studying airplanes.
He made his own "REP" airplanes not long after the Wright Brothers in America made their first flight.

A while later he got very interested in space travel using rockets, and wrote some books and papers about using atomic power for jets.

He later worked with other scientists in France to try and make rockets using liquid rocket fuel, and worked so hard that one time after an explosion he lost three fingers from his right hand!

The vectored thrust that we learned about, where the nozzle is moved to steer a rocket was first invented by him.

(from: wikipedia - robert esnault-pelterie)


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