There are various theories and technologies that play a crucial role in our exploration of space. Among them, ‘swing-by’ and ‘lunar exploration method’ are particularly noteworthy. Behind the influence of these fundamental concepts on human space exploration, there lies the story of a genius scientist unknown to many. His name is Yuri Kondratyuk. Despite his extraordinary life, he maintained his passion for human space exploration to the end, and his efforts continue to have a significant impact on today’s space science. In this post, we will learn about his amazing story and the lessons he left behind.
Who Was Aleksandr Shargei, the Scientist?
Most of us are already aware of the fact that the ‘Apollo Program’, which the United States successfully carried out in 1969, sent the first human to the moon. However, even more astonishing is that this plan was already designed 50 years prior, when neither artificial satellites nor rockets existed. The genius behind this was none other than Aleksandr Shargei of the Russian Empire.
Shargei was born on June 21, 1897, in Poltava, which was part of the Russian Empire at the time. His father was a professor of mathematics at Kyiv Polytechnic, and his mother was a teacher who taught French. In this environment, Shargei was greatly influenced by his father and developed an interest in mathematics and physics from a young age. However, when Shargei was 5 years old, his mother was arrested by the emperor’s secret police after participating in a political rally opposing the Russian Empire. As a result, his mother was sent to a mental hospital, and Shargei began to live with his grandmother. Despite this, he always held his father’s textbooks on mathematics and physics and managed to enter the top engineering university of the Russian Empire, Saint Petersburg Technological University, through self-study.
However, not long after he entered university, World War I broke out. At this time, Shargei was commissioned as an officer in the 6th Army of the Russian Empire. Despite his mother opposing the Russian Empire’s emperor, the reason why he decided to become a soldier of the emperor is not recorded. But what’s more important is that he continued to study mathematics and physics even on the battlefield. He was especially known for his passion for space. He imagined humans directly exploring the moon even amidst gunfire.
Through this, he conceived all the plans of the ‘Apollo Mission’ on the battlefield. This is a very astonishing thing. About 50 years before the Apollo mission began, Shargei had already completed the plan in his head. It was when the concept of a rocket was just in its infancy and humans had not yet explored space. In such a situation, we can say that Shargei was born too early in time. He was an unfortunate genius sent to the world by a mistake of God 50 years early.
However, his life after the war ended was hellish. He was considered an anti-government person by the Bolshevik government of Vladimir Lenin because he was an officer of the Russian Empire’s army. As a result, he could not find a job and had to go to a labor camp if caught by the government. In this situation, he planned to escape to Poland. However, he was caught by the border defense. Nevertheless,
The Changes in Space Science Brought by Scientist Shargei’s Efforts
When he reappeared in the world, he was no longer known as Alexandr Sharagei but as Yuri Kondratyuk. He laundered his identity using the identity of a dead man who had no counter-revolutionary forces. Reborn as Yuri Kondratyuk, he self-published the book ‘Conquest of Interplanetary Space’ that he wrote during World War I. This book contained two very important concepts.
First is the swing-by. The swing-by is a method of navigating to a destination by entering the gravity of a celestial body and then escaping with tremendous speed. This gravitational assist is now a very commonly used method of space exploration. This concept was first proposed by Yuri Kondratyuk.
The second important concept is the method for humans to go to the moon. This was explained in detail earlier. It’s amazing that he wrote this book on the battlefield. But what’s even more impressive is that he wrote this book with a single-minded passion for exploring the stars, even in the extreme environment of the battlefield.
In the late 1920s, he was forced to labor at a place called Sharashka by the Soviet government. This place was a prison exclusively for intellectuals where scientists and engineers were gathered to undertake national projects. He was assigned to a wind power project where he met Sergey Korolev. Sergey Korolev would later become the responsible engineer for the Soviet space rocket project.
However, he ultimately refused Sergey Korolev’s proposal. The reason was that he had laundered his identity by stealing the name of a dead man. If this fact was discovered by the Soviet government, he would be executed immediately.
Eventually, he died during the war. Although he had a genius intellect, he was sacrificed due to political circumstances, suffered through war, and was finally imprisoned. He lived an unfair life, but his passion for space had a great influence on mankind.
About 20 years later, John Cornelius Houbolt participated in the Apollo program, researching ways to land a rocket on the moon. He advocated for the realization of the idea proposed by Yuri Kondratyuk. Thanks to this, Apollo 12 succeeded in manned lunar exploration and all crew members safely returned to become the heroes of humanity.
After the successful mission of Apollo 11, Armstrong visited the birthplace of Kondratyuk in Ukraine. He paid his respects to Kondratyuk with the utmost courtesy and asked the leaders of the Soviet Union to honor his name.
Yuri Kondratyuk was a genius who first devised the swing-by and lunar exploration method. His passion for space continues to have a big impact on space science today. He left us with this lesson: “No matter how harsh the environment, if you do not let go of your passionate field and devote yourself to the end, you can definitely achieve a brilliant achievement.”