Astronautique, science internationale
Conférence faite au Palais de la Découverte le 31 janvier 1953
Lecture delivered by Alexandre Ananoff at the Palais de la Découverte on 31 January 1953 and published in 1954 in the "Conférences du Palais de la Découverte" series (Series A, no. 190). The argument is twofold: first, a brief history of astronautics as an inherently international science from Tsiolkovsky (1903) to von Braun's 1952 orbital-station projects; second, a personal, document-backed account of the institutional obstacles encountered in France between 1928 and 1953, Esnault-Pelterie's discouragement, successive refusals from the Société astronomique de France, the postal administration, the Defence Ministry, and Ananoff's self-funded organisation of the First International Astronautical Congress (Sorbonne, 1950). Several archival pieces are reproduced verbatim, including ministerial correspondence and Tsiolkovsky's testament addressed to Stalin.