De la Bombe Atomique a l'Astronautique.

atomic space travel

First edition of this rare pamphlet, presentation copy inscribed by the author on the title page, 'Pour Pierre Dibos, Affecteuex hommage de R. Esnault-Pelterie, Juillet 1949'. With a few small corrections to the text in the author's hand.

French aircraft designer Robert Esnault-Pelterie (1881-1957) was responsible for the Vickers R.E.P. Type Monoplane and a number of advances in engines and flight control systems. A leader in the rocketry movement, by 1913 he had already proposed nuclear powered interplanetary travel. 'In 1930, he published a book, L'Astronautique, which essentially recognized all the problems faced by designers of rockets and most of the possible solutions - the book not only defined the field, but the book's title gave it a name: astronautics' (Ashworth, Scientists of the Day, Linda Hall Library, November 17, 2007).

The present talk was given at the Société des arts de Genève on November 29, 1946, and in it Esnault-Pelterie returns to the idea of nuclear-powered space flight, discussing problems such as temperature control and reaction moderation, and proposing voyages to Venus, Mars, and Mercury.

First edition; 14-page pamphlet, wire-stitched (21 x 14 cm); a few ink corrections in the text, contents tanned; original buff wrappers printed in black, wrappers tanned, very good condition.