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Esnault-Petrie
Robert Albert Charles Esnault-Peltrie French Engineer. Born 1881. Died 6 December 1957. Pioneering spaceflight theoretician.

Personal: Male. Born in France.

French rocketry and spaceflight pioneer. A leading advocate of space travel, his speeches and writings created only limited enthusiasm for rocketry in France prior to World War II.

Esnault-Peltrie Chronology

5 June 1927 - VfR established.. Johannes Winkler forms the first society for space travel in Breslau. The Society for Space Travel (Verein fuer Raumschiffahrt), is better known by its abbreviation 'VfR'. From the three people that attended the first meeting, it would grow to 500 members within the year, including most of the European space pioneers - Oberth, Hohmann, von Hoefft, von Pirquet, Rynin, and Esnault-Petrie.

8 June 1927 - Esnault-Pelterie lecture. Robert Esnault-Pelterie delivers a groundbreaking lecture on space travel at the Societe Astronomique in Paris. It would be published in book form a year later. One audience member is Jean-Claude Barre, a military engineer who is inspired to begin development of rockets in France.
1 February 1928 - International Astronautics Prize. Robert Esnault-Peltrie and banker Andre Hirsch establish an International Astronautics Prize of 5000 Francs to be awarded annually for the best scientific, theoretical or experimental work in rocketry and space travel. The prize is discontinued after its value is wiped out in the financial crisis of the early 1930's.
During 1930 - Esnault-Pelterie publishes L'Astronautique. This will be the standard work on rocketry and interplanetary flight in French for twenty years.
25 September 1931 - Initial French rocket experiments. Robert Esnault-Pelterie and Jean-Claude Barre begins experiments iwth liquid propellant rocket engines under funding from the Department of War. Only three weeks later Esnault-Pelterie loses the fingers of his left hand in an explosion in the laboratory. Nevertheless he and Barre persevere.
Bibliography:

  • Ley, Willy, Rockets Missiles and Men in Space, Viking Press, New York, 1968.
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