Early spaceflight scientists

Gaetano_Crocco

Gaetano Arturo Crocco (26 October 1877 – 19 January 1968) was an Italian scientist and aeronautics pioneer, the founder of the Italian Rocket Society, and went on to become Italy's leading space scientist. He was born in Naples.
In 1927, Crocco began working with solid-propellant rockets and, in 1929, designed and built the first liquid-propellant rocket motors in Italy. He began work with monopropellants (fuel and oxidizer combined in one chemical liquid) in 1932, making him one of the first researchers in this field.
As head of the School of Aeronautics of the University of Rome, he performed research on flight mechanics, structural design, and high-altitude flight in addition to his work in rocket propulsion.
Because of his early efforts in aeronautics, Italian satellites were launched starting in the 1960s.
The San Marco programme was a cooperative effort of NASA and the Italian Space Commission, with NASA providing launch vehicles, use of its facilities, and training of Italian personnel.

Giulio_Costanzi

Giulio Cesare Costanzi (25 April 1875 in Contigliano, Italy – 28 August 1965 in Rome, Italy), was an officer of the ITAF Engineers Corps and a pioneer of space studies in Italy. In 1914, he wrote a paper on space navigation that is regarded as the first Italian contribution to space flights on record.

Karel_Bossart

Karel Jan Bossart (February 9, 1904 – August 3, 1975) was an innovative rocket designer and creator of the Atlas ICBM. His achievements rank alongside those of Wernher von Braun and Sergei Korolev. But as most of his work was for the United States Air Force and was therefore classified, his achievements are not widely known.