To The Stars By Rocket.

The collection holds both the first printing and the revised second edition, distinguishable by their colophons and contents.

The unmarked, earlier copy (36 illustrations, 1 ruble) was submitted for typesetting 21 December 1933 and approved for printing 25 February 1934; it opens with a chapter on high-altitude flight and closes with an account of the Soviet stratosphere balloon's ascent to 19,000 meters. The copy marked “2-е издание, дополненное” (2nd edition, expanded; 37 illustrations, 75 kopecks) was submitted 1 June 1934 and approved for printing 16 July 1934; it adds a new opening chapter on the atmosphere's two tiers and swaps the stratosphere-balloon chapter for one on Konstantin Tsiolkovsky as the “founder of space-faring,” with an updated reading list.

Both editions include a chapter on Nikolai Kibalchich, the Narodnaya Volya revolutionary executed in 1881 for his role in assassinating Alexander II, who sketched a gunpowder-propelled flying machine while awaiting execution and asked, unsuccessfully, to have it reviewed by scientists.