Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935) was a Russian inventor and rocket expert. A true visionary, pioneer and thinker, he is considered the father of cosmonautics and human space flight.

Tsiolkovsky's great purpose was not simply for humans to visit outer space, but for them to live there. He played a key role in the development of the Russian space programme. His most important work was concerned with the possibility of rocket flight into outer space. In his lifetime he published over 500 works about space travel and related subjects, including the design and construction of space rockets, steerable rocket engines, multi-stage boosters and life in space. He proposed the construction of artificial earth satellites, including manned space platforms to be used as way stations in interplanetary travel.

Tsiolkovsky was so far ahead of his time that the majority of his thinking developed before the first successful airplane flight.