en combined as a fuel for various rocket components, not the least of which are the three main engines of the Space Shuttle.
             In subsequent writings, Tsiolkovsky speculated on a multi-stage approach to spaceflight. He envisioned a fantastic "passenger rocket train of 2017" which employed 20 single-engine rocket stages, each of which carried its own fuel.
             This rocket was to be about 300 feet long and 12 feet wide, just a bit smaller than the actual Saturn V rockets used to carry men to the Moon. It would be built from three layers of metal incorporating quartz windows and an outer skin made of refractory material to protect the spacecraft from the intense heat of moving through the atmosphere.
             As each individual rocket stage consumed its fuel, it would be discarded to keep the overall weight of the vehicle as light as possible. Tsiolkovsky recognised that although this design was fanciful, it would actually require a tremendous amount of fuel for a rocket to reach escape velocity, and multiple stages would likely be needed.
             He had calculated that a single-stage rocket would have to carry four times its own weight in fuel to reach escape velocity, and that a multi-stage approach would be more efficient. Even at the turn of the 20th century, Tsiolkovsky was absolutely confident that the reaction principle would some day carry men into space.
             In 1919, Tsiolkovsky was elected to the Socialist Academy, which later became the USSR Academy of Science. Between 1925 and 1932 he wrote about 60 works on aeronautics, astronomy, mechanics, physics and philosophy. He died on September 19, 1935.
             His book "Na Lune" (On The Moon) was published in 1935. It contained prophetic speculation on spaceflight, as well as offered descriptions on the types of rockets and vehicles necessary for the task.
             Although practical strides in rocketry were being made at this time in other parts of the world, Tsiolkovsky never saw his designs materia...