Dreams of Earth and Sky

The immediacy, almost childlike, distinguished Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky from others. Due to his deafness, he found himself alone with his thoughts early on, measuring life and the world by his own standards, defining the boundaries between the real and the imagined differently. And he erased them. As the ideal dreamer, the air—and flight—captivated him more than any other element. From this passion, diagrams of airships, projects for spacecraft for existence beyond Earth, and ultimately riding on a sailchair of his own design and on skates ("with an umbrella!") on the Oka ice were born. The fantasies and calculations associated with this perhaps brought their author fame. However, no less attention deserves the philosophy of this universal man. Considering poverty a blessing, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky desired nothing for himself and was as much a disinterested person as he was a dreamer. He invariably looked ahead—with optimism—and dedicated every invention to the humanity of the present and the future. Under this cover, biographical notes of K. E. Tsiolkovsky and his philosophical reflections are united.