Prologue
Amongst the bitter winters of Siberia, a young boy sought refuge within the pages of science fiction. He, the fifth of eighteen children born into an impoverished Polish immigrant family, had his life forever altered when Scarlet Fever robbed him of his hearing at the age of ten. Although isolated and now suspended from the local school, his father recognized his insatiable thirst for knowledge and arranged access to textbooks from mathematics to mechanics from the local library.
Locked in a silent world, he continued to find solace in books through adolescence and young adulthood. Through the fictional novels of Jules Verne, he found inspiration to begin to question what it would take to design a space vehicle. After a few years as a math teacher, he pursued his passion and curiosity and began to write science fiction novels, tending to focus on the technical challenges of space travel. His fervor prompted him to transition from writing fiction to publishing groundbreaking theories on space flight and interplanetary travel, becoming a renowned scientist.
In 1897, at the age of 40, he unveiled an equation that revolutionized space exploration. This equation illustrated the delicate balance between fuel and payload, proving how a device launched at a certain velocity could achieve Earth orbit.
Today, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky’s Rocket Equation remains a cornerstone of space science, allowing our rockets to propel into the vast expanse of space.
Nikolina Kovalenko, “Untold Moontale”. Available on Stall Three Studio.
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