VII. Are we alone in the Universe? (ufo) ufo (Visiting the aliens)

A lot of people say that they have seen UFOs. Other people say they have been inside them. Not all of these stories are true; some of them are probably dreams, some stories of meetings with aliens sound true – although we can never be sure.

UFOs sell newspapers, and many newspapermen want to use UFOs in their stories. Because of this, some people have taken hoax photographs of UFOs to sell. Many scientists think that all UFOs are hoaxes. Certainly there have been some very clever hoaxes in the last fifty years.

It’s easy to make a photograph of a UFO. You need a small model of a spaceship. You photograph this one, and then take another photograph of the place where you want people to see the UFO. There are many photographs of UFOs taken by a man called George Adamski. Many people now believe that these are hoaxes.

There are also photographs of aliens. Many of these are probably hoaxes as well. Sometimes people see strange things in the sky, and they think that they are UFOs. When experts look carefully at them they sometimes discover that they are airplanes, balloons or even meteors.

Other photographs of UFOs look like flying sauces, but are probably just birds. Sometimes people have taken a photograph of a building or of something in the sky. When they look at the photograph later, they see a UFO. Often, this is a reflection of light in the lens of the camera. There are even photographs taken on the moon which show UFOs. These are probably just reflections, although some people think that they are aliens watching the spacemen.

Most experts think that most UFO stories are not real; but there are still a few stories which are very difficult to explain.

VIII. Outstanding Russian scientists and designers (Korolev, Tsiolkovsky, Feoktistov, Konstantinov, Kibalchich, Sikorsky, etc.) – на выбор любого!!! Tsiolkovsky, Konstantin Eduardovich

He studied the effects of air friction and surface area on the speed of the air current over a streamlined body. The Academy ofSciences learned of his work and granted him modest financial aid of 470 rubles, with which he built a larger wind tunnel. Tsiolkovsky then compared the feasibility of dirigibles and airplanes, which led him to develop advanced aircraft designs.

While investigating aerodynamics, however, Tsiolkovsky began to devote more attention to space problems. In 1895 his book Gryozy o zemle i nebe (Dreams of Earth and Sky) was published, and in 1896 he published an article on communication with inhabitants of other planets. That same year he also began to write his largest and most serious work on astronautics, “Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices,” which dealt with theoretical problems of using rocket engines in space, including heat transfer, a navigating mechanism, heating resulting from air friction, and maintenance of fuel supply.

The first 15 years of the 20th century undoubtedly were the saddest time of Tsiolkovsky's life. In 1902 his son Ignaty committed suicide. In 1908 a flood of the Oka River inundated his home and destroyed many of his accumulated scientific materials. The Academy of Sciences did not recognize the value of his aerodynamic experiments, and, in 1914, at the Aeronautics Congress in St. Petersburg, his models of an all-metal dirigible met with complete indifference.

In the final 18 years of his life, Tsiolkovsky continued his research, with the support of the Soviet state, on a wide variety of scientific problems. His contributions on stratospheric exploration and interplanetary flight were particularly noteworthy and played a significant role in contemporary astronautics. In 1919 Tsiolkovsky was elected to the Socialist Academy (later the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R.). On Nov. 9, 1921, the council of the People's Commissars granted him a pension for life in recognition of his services in education and aviation.