Nikolai Kibalchich (1850, Chernihiv (Ukraine) - April 3, 1881) was a pioneer of rocketry, revolutionary and a terrorist.
Kibalchich was an explosives expert with an engineering degree from St. Peterburg who worked on early forms of rocketry. He was arrested for possessing a piece of anti-tsarist propaganda and was sentenced to exile in Siberia. The experience greatly enraged Kibalchich and upon his release he joined the radical revolutionary movement Narodnaya Volya and put his explosives expertise to use for them.
In 1881, some of his grenades were used in the assassination of Tsar Alexander II, and Kibalchich was arrested and sentenced to death together with other conspirators. During his 17-day wait to be executed, Khibalchich sketched a design for a rocket carrying humans into space propelled by a solid-fuel engine. The idea had been put forth by other Russians (such as Tretesky, Sokovnin and Teleshev), but Kibalchich became the most known. Kibalchich sketched a hollow metal cylinder with a hole at the bottom. The rocket engine was attached to a platform, which would allow steering the craft by adjusting the direction of thrust of the engine.
On March 31, 1881, (days before his execution) Kibalchich officially requested an evaluation of his proposal from the minister of internal affairs. It was not until a year later, however, (March 26, 1882) that the head of the gendarmes decided to satisfy Kibalchich's appeal.
Kibalchich's report was placed into the archives, where it remained until 1917. In 1918, Nikolai Rynin reviewed Kibalchich's ideas in Byloye magazine.
A crater on the Moon is named after Kibalchich.