Laurence E. Manning
From The Space Library
 Laurence E. Manning (ca. 1935) | |
| Birth Name | Laurence E. Manning |
|---|---|
| Birth Place | New Brunswick Canada |
| Occupation | Engineer, Author |
| Nationality | Canada, United States of America |
| Notable Works | Co-founder, American Rocket Society |
Laurence E. Manning was born in New Brunswick and had served around the end of World War I as a second lieutenant in the as-yet not fully fledged Canadian Air Force. In the late 1920s he grew interested in science fiction and began a part-time career as a writer of short stories. His fiction appeared in Wonder Stories, one of the all-science fiction magazines published in New York by Hugo Gernsback. On April 4th 1930 Manning was invited to the first meeting of what would become the American Interplanetary Society; a fore-runner of today's American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the spawning ground for one of America's preeminent rocket manufacturers, Reaction Motors Inc.
Also on hand, for that evening of discussion on West 22nd street in New York, were Charles P. Mason, Adolph L. Fierst, Nathan Schachner, Warren Fitzgerald, Fletcher Pratt, William Lemkin, David Lasser, Charles W. van Devander, and the hosts for the evening G. Edward Pendray and his wife Lee Gregory Pendray. Almost all of this small group would write science fiction for Gernsback, but they would soon turn their hands to more practical work; the construction of liquid fuelled rockets.
In April 1933 Manning became President of the AIS and was involved in the implementation of regenerative cooling on their early engines. A month into his presidency he constructed their launching stand at his house on Staten Island and acquired a launch site nearby for the group to use. He also presided the following spring when the AIS changed its name to the American Rocket Society (ARS).
All through 1934 he was part of a committee which included John Shesta, Carl Ahrens and Alfred Best for Experimental Rocket #4 which subsequently became the first "really successful launch" of a liquid fuelled rocket by the ARS.
Manning was a keen horticulturalist and was Vice President of the Kelsey Nursery Service of New York.
Manning was later given a medal by U.S.Vice President Lyndon Johnson and made an honorary lifetime member of the AIAA.
