We remember Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, born in 1857, for his theoretical work on thermal-shielded, gyroscope-steered, multistage rocket “trains,” a topic on which he first published in 1903, and for the Tsiolkovsky rocket equation, which describes the way an object can move using rocket thrust. […] Scientists and engineers influenced by Cosmist thought played leading roles in Soviet research. Ivan Yefremov created a new subfield of paleontology, Sergei Korolev and Valentin Glushko designed satellites and rocket engines for the Soviet space program, and Leonid Krasin directed the preservation of Lenin’s body in anticipation of his revival.
When Yuri Gagarin became the first man to go to space, the Soviet media reported that upon reaching orbit he “saw no God up here.” But this quip actually originated from the Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev; Gagarin himself was a baptized Christian, and once publicly suggested the restoration of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.
This meant that the Cosmist project had no self-defense mechanisms against its own appropriation for Soviet political goals. It was not unique in this way: those prophets who undertake the creation of new technological and philosophical paradigms may get to enjoy fame and even paid positions for their work if they are fortunate, but they are usually not driven by material incentives. Tsiolkovsky was famously irascible and Fyodorov was reluctant to get published at all, even shying away from the salons and admiration of famous intellectuals to focus instead on his library and theorizing the retrieval of past human beings like books. This meant that much of their influence was posthumous and passed through a Soviet filter.
The bastardization of Cosmism into atheist Soviet ideology makes clear that the most successful ideological projects must have both a radical impetus and a viable route for political implementation. Ideologies that lack the latter become vulnerable to recuperation into existing power structures. The ideologies that govern history are implemented by states, not the visionaries who conceive them.