Konstantin Eduardovich
Tsiolkovsky
1857-1935
Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky was a Russian scientist and inventor, the founder of cosmonautics and the theory of space exploration. He is the author of dozens of works on rocket dynamics, aeronautics and cosmonautics. He is the author of ideas about a space elevator and trains moving on an air cushion. He lived in Moscow and studied higher mathematics in his youth. He became a teacher of geometry and arithmetic in one of the Kaluga schools since 1879. Нe published the book «Dreams of the Earth and the Sky», in which he expressed his views on possible problems of cosmonautics in 1895. Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky wrote his most important work on the exploration of outer space a year later. The monument in memory of Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky was opened on the seventh anniversary of the successful launch of the Soviet artificial Earth satellite on November 4, 1964. The monument is a rocket taking off into the sky and leaving behind a silver plume, which is lined with polished titanium plates. The entire high-rise part of the monument is a unique structure with a height of 100 meters at an angle of inclination of 77 degrees; its weight is 250 tons. The location of the monument is such that it can be seen from any point of VDNH. The train with the rocket is mounted on a stylobate lined with polished granite. There are multi-figure bronze high reliefs depicting Soviet people of all professions who participated in the long history of space exploration. The texts of TASS reports on the most important stages of the development of the Universe are also reproduced on the stylobate. In front of the monument there is a monument to the founder of cosmonautics Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky, which completes the Cosmonauts Alley. The statue, made of a light gray granite block, captures the image of an inspired scientist, carried away by the audacious dream of flying into space, which has come true today. A commemorative inscription on the pedestal is «Tsiolkovsky is the founder of cosmonautics».
Sculptor: A.P. Faidysh-Krandievsky
Architects: A.N. Kolchin, M.O. Barsch
Materials: granite, polished titanium, bronze
Year of creation: 1964
Address: 111 Mira Ave., Moscow
