Who was Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovskoy? A modest teacher from Kaluga, who made people around him laugh with his eccentricities, loved to skate with the help of an umbrella, cut haircuts for children from all over the street on his porch and flew kites for them? This is all true, but the main thing is that he was a brilliant scientist. More than a hundred years ago, he invented a rocket that opened the way to the stars for people.