Mark Brake and Neil Hook 2007 Phys. Educ. 42 345 doi:10.1088/0031-9120/42/4/002
Mark Brake and Neil Hook
Show affiliationsThe launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957 was fuelled by science fiction as well as science fact. The field of early rocketry included the work of Russians Nikolai Rynin and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, American Robert Goddard, and German engineers Herman Oberth and Wernher Von Braun. All were directly inspired and influenced by early science fiction that heralded a space age decades ahead of time. The work of these pioneers led directly to the development of the technology needed to boost Sputnik skyward. After the launch of Sputnik, the context of the nuclear arms race opened the floodgates for a new wave of apocalyptic fiction.
Issue 4 (July 2007)
Received 8 May 2007
Mark Brake and Neil Hook 2007 Phys. Educ. 42 345
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