Biography Category
Name :
Robert Goddard
Date :
Views :
939
Category :
Birth Date :
05/10/1882
Birth Place :
Maple Hill, Worcester, Massachusetts.
Death Date :
10-Aug-45
Not Available
Robert Hutchings Goddard was born to tender and affectionate parents Nahum Danford and Fannie Louise Goddard on October 5, 1882 at Maple Hill, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA. Being the only surviving child of the couple (Richard, his younger brother was born and expired the same year, in 1894), Robert was brought up with love and affection.[br /]
[br /]
Nahum, his father owned a machine shop. In 1883, He moved out his family to Boston where Robert attended Mount Pleasant, Hugh O’Brien and English High Schools. At five, Robert’s curiosity and interest were aroused in reading books and magazines, particularly on science. He was enamored by the lives of scientists and their works/discoveries and inventions that led him later in life, to physically investigate certain phenomena of physics.[br /]
[br /]
In 1901, after recovering from a brief illness, Robert and his family moved back to Worcester where he passed from South High School in 1904. Armed with a degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1908, his ‘flight of life’ began during the years spent at the institute.[br /]
[br /]
His scientific and investigative mind began to analyze the possibilities of rocket flight. He was a product of the post–Civil War Industrial Revolution, something that had inflamed in him the excitement and adventurous spirit to explore and invent. With great personalities of those times at their creative best, Robert never lacked in inspiration that propelled him to achieve great heights in the field of rocketr
As a student he analyzed the possibilities of rocket flight. He was noticed when he fired a powder rocket in the basement of the physics building in Worcester Polytechnic Institute. When brought to the notice of the school authorities they evinced keen interest. They encouraged him to further experiment and conduct analysis of his rocket experiments.[br /]
[br /]
Now, Robert Goddard began his graduate studies at Clark University in the fall of 1908. He conducted static tests with small solid fuel rockets. At Clark University, his major area of concentration was in physics and minor was in mathematics. He taught physics at Clark University from 1909 to 1911. He finished his master’s degree in June 1910 with his thesis titled ‘Theory of Diffraction’. In 1911, he completed his doctorate from Clark University and his detailed discourse was titled ‘Current Rectification at Contacts of Dissimilar Solids’. After his doctorate he went on to become head of the Clark Physics department and director of its physical laboratories. He taught at Princeton from 1912 to 1913 and began to work seriously on rocket development by exploring mathematically the practicability of using rocket escape velocity for space flight. In 1912, he developed the detailed mathematical theory of rocket propulsion. In 1913, he contracted tuberculosis and was bedridden for a considerable amount of time, but the next year, 1914, was an important one for him as he was granted the first of his many rocket patents.[br /]
[br /]
After all this, Goddard was set to prove experimentally that a rocket could operate in space. He built a large closed loop evacuated test chamber and fired more than 50 small rockets in it, which readily lifted themselves in the vacuum. This was proof of his theories. By 1916, he reached the limit of his own resources and was in need of financial help. The Smithsonian Institution gave him a grant that enabled him to continue his work on solid propellant rockets and begin the development of liquid propellants. During World War I he developed and demonstrated the basic idea of a Bazooka-type weapon to the US Army.[br /]
[br /]
In June 1924, he married Esther Kisk who later became his photographer, lab assistant, secretary and confidante. By 1925, he had successfully fired a rocket motor, which lifted itself in its test frame. On March 16, 1926, Goddard launched the world’s first liquid–fueled rocket in Auburn, Massachusetts. On July 17, 1929, another liquid fueled rocket, which carried a payload of a small camera and barometer was launched. Thus, during his life Robert gave birth to a new era of controlled liquid-fueled rocketry. In the same year, he moved to less populated areas. He took leave of absence from Clark University and moved to Roswell, New Mexico. For the next 12 years he worked hard with devotion and patience. He constructed and flight tested many rockets and solved the nightmare of complicated technical problems. During World War II (1939-1945) he conducted research for the US Navy on rocket motors for jet assisted take off for aircraft.[br /]
[br /]
Goddard was a recluse. He consistently guarded his research, unwilling to share his work with other pioneers. His concept seemed validated but still he worked in isolation, without any engineering resources. He continued developing his rockets and built larger and faster rockets. But the actual realization of his dream fell to others who enjoyed military and national support. His influence on the development of rocket science is considerable but it might have been greater if he had not been neglected during his lifetime.[br /]
[br /]
As the war drew to a close, his health began to fail. He contracted a cold and his voice became husky. He was 63 years old when he died of throat cancer on August 14, 1945, at the University of Maryland Hospital in Baltimore. He was buried in Hope Cemetery, Worcester, MA.[br /]
[br /]
Goddard believed that his life had been a full one. He felt lucky that the dream that had come to him at the age of 17 had been fulfilled. Unfortunately, he never lived to see the age of space flight. Nevertheless, if there ever was a man who can be called the one who took the first step to make space travel possible, it is undoubtedly, Dr. Robert Hutchings Goddard.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Nahum, his father owned a machine shop. In 1883, He moved out his family to Boston where Robert attended Mount Pleasant, Hugh O’Brien and English High Schools. At five, Robert’s curiosity and interest were aroused in reading books and magazines, particularly on science. He was enamored by the lives of scientists and their works/discoveries and inventions that led him later in life, to physically investigate certain phenomena of physics.[br /]
[br /]
In 1901, after recovering from a brief illness, Robert and his family moved back to Worcester where he passed from South High School in 1904. Armed with a degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1908, his ‘flight of life’ began during the years spent at the institute.[br /]
[br /]
His scientific and investigative mind began to analyze the possibilities of rocket flight. He was a product of the post–Civil War Industrial Revolution, something that had inflamed in him the excitement and adventurous spirit to explore and invent. With great personalities of those times at their creative best, Robert never lacked in inspiration that propelled him to achieve great heights in the field of rocketr
As a student he analyzed the possibilities of rocket flight. He was noticed when he fired a powder rocket in the basement of the physics building in Worcester Polytechnic Institute. When brought to the notice of the school authorities they evinced keen interest. They encouraged him to further experiment and conduct analysis of his rocket experiments.[br /]
[br /]
Now, Robert Goddard began his graduate studies at Clark University in the fall of 1908. He conducted static tests with small solid fuel rockets. At Clark University, his major area of concentration was in physics and minor was in mathematics. He taught physics at Clark University from 1909 to 1911. He finished his master’s degree in June 1910 with his thesis titled ‘Theory of Diffraction’. In 1911, he completed his doctorate from Clark University and his detailed discourse was titled ‘Current Rectification at Contacts of Dissimilar Solids’. After his doctorate he went on to become head of the Clark Physics department and director of its physical laboratories. He taught at Princeton from 1912 to 1913 and began to work seriously on rocket development by exploring mathematically the practicability of using rocket escape velocity for space flight. In 1912, he developed the detailed mathematical theory of rocket propulsion. In 1913, he contracted tuberculosis and was bedridden for a considerable amount of time, but the next year, 1914, was an important one for him as he was granted the first of his many rocket patents.[br /]
[br /]
After all this, Goddard was set to prove experimentally that a rocket could operate in space. He built a large closed loop evacuated test chamber and fired more than 50 small rockets in it, which readily lifted themselves in the vacuum. This was proof of his theories. By 1916, he reached the limit of his own resources and was in need of financial help. The Smithsonian Institution gave him a grant that enabled him to continue his work on solid propellant rockets and begin the development of liquid propellants. During World War I he developed and demonstrated the basic idea of a Bazooka-type weapon to the US Army.[br /]
[br /]
In June 1924, he married Esther Kisk who later became his photographer, lab assistant, secretary and confidante. By 1925, he had successfully fired a rocket motor, which lifted itself in its test frame. On March 16, 1926, Goddard launched the world’s first liquid–fueled rocket in Auburn, Massachusetts. On July 17, 1929, another liquid fueled rocket, which carried a payload of a small camera and barometer was launched. Thus, during his life Robert gave birth to a new era of controlled liquid-fueled rocketry. In the same year, he moved to less populated areas. He took leave of absence from Clark University and moved to Roswell, New Mexico. For the next 12 years he worked hard with devotion and patience. He constructed and flight tested many rockets and solved the nightmare of complicated technical problems. During World War II (1939-1945) he conducted research for the US Navy on rocket motors for jet assisted take off for aircraft.[br /]
[br /]
Goddard was a recluse. He consistently guarded his research, unwilling to share his work with other pioneers. His concept seemed validated but still he worked in isolation, without any engineering resources. He continued developing his rockets and built larger and faster rockets. But the actual realization of his dream fell to others who enjoyed military and national support. His influence on the development of rocket science is considerable but it might have been greater if he had not been neglected during his lifetime.[br /]
[br /]
As the war drew to a close, his health began to fail. He contracted a cold and his voice became husky. He was 63 years old when he died of throat cancer on August 14, 1945, at the University of Maryland Hospital in Baltimore. He was buried in Hope Cemetery, Worcester, MA.[br /]
[br /]
Goddard believed that his life had been a full one. He felt lucky that the dream that had come to him at the age of 17 had been fulfilled. Unfortunately, he never lived to see the age of space flight. Nevertheless, if there ever was a man who can be called the one who took the first step to make space travel possible, it is undoubtedly, Dr. Robert Hutchings Goddard.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
It was his flight to fancy that laid the foundation for the first flight into space. Robert Hutchings Goddard, the Father of Modern Rocketry, was an American expert of rocket research who is recognized as a remarkable experimenter as well as an engineering genius. [br /]
[br /]
We have seen Dennise Tito along with Russians in space. We have seen the landing on the moon " a small step, a giant leap for mankind", to quote Neil Armstrong, the first man to step on moon. We have had Alan Sheppard, Valentina Treschkova, and of course Yuri Gagarin in space.[br /]
[br /]
Guess what would have happened to all the above greats were it not for the rocket that propelled them into space?[br /]
[br /]
Here’s the story of the Rocket Man, who set his sights really high to ensure man's ascent to the heavens, enabling them to move into space, the final frontier.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
We have seen Dennise Tito along with Russians in space. We have seen the landing on the moon " a small step, a giant leap for mankind", to quote Neil Armstrong, the first man to step on moon. We have had Alan Sheppard, Valentina Treschkova, and of course Yuri Gagarin in space.[br /]
[br /]
Guess what would have happened to all the above greats were it not for the rocket that propelled them into space?[br /]
[br /]
Here’s the story of the Rocket Man, who set his sights really high to ensure man's ascent to the heavens, enabling them to move into space, the final frontier.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]October 5, 1882[/b] Born at Maple Hill, Worcester, Massachusetts.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1883[/b] Moved with family to Boston, Massachusetts.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1888-1898[/b] Attended Mount Pleasant, Hugh O’ Brien and English High Schools in Boston.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1889[/b] Began thinking about flight into outer space.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1898[/b] Moved with family to Maple Hill, Worcester.[br /]
[br /]
[b]October 19, 1899[/b] Climbs Cherry tree, resolves to pursue his dream of space flight. Anniversary Day of dedication to the development of a method of attaining great heights.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1899-1901[/b] Away from school because of illness.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1901-1904[/b] Student, South High School, Worcester.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1904-1908[/b] Student, Worcester Polytechnic Institute.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1908-1909[/b] Faculty, Department of Physics, W.P.I. and special student in Physics, Clark University.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1909[/b] In his study of fuels, determined that liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen would serve as an efficient source of propulsion, when properly combusted.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1909-1911[/b] Fellow in Physics, Clark University (A.M. 1910, Ph.D. 1911)[br /]
[br /]
[b]1911-1912[/b] Honorary Fellow in Physics, Clark University.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1912-1913[/b] Research instructor in Physics, Princeton University.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1913-1914[/b] Illness - tuberculosis[br /]
[br /]
[b]July 1914[/b] Granted two U.S. patents for rockets using solid fuel, liquid fuel, multiple propellant charges and multi-stage designs.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1914-1915[/b] Instructor in Physics, Clark College.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1915-1919[/b] Became Assistant Professor.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1915[/b] First to prove experimentally that a rocket will provide thrust in a vacuum.[br /]
[br /]
[b]January 5, 1917[/b] Received first financial assistance from the Smithsonian Institute.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1917-1918[/b] Developed the basis for the rocket weapon. Later known as Bazooka, done for the US.[br /]
[br /]
[b]November 1918[/b] Fired several rocket devices for representatives of the U.S. Signal Corps, Air Corps, Army ordinance and other assorted guests at the Aberdeen proving grounds.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1919[/b] Published A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes in Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, vol. 71, No. 2, a basic mathematical theory, which underlined rocket propulsion.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1920-1923[/b] Part time consultant on solid-propellant rocket weapons for U.S. Government at Indian Head, Maryland.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1920-1925[/b]
First to develop a rocket motor using liquid propellants.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1923-1943[/b] Director of Physical Laboratories, Clark University.[br /]
[br /]
[b]June 21, 1924[/b] Married Esther Christine Kisk.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1925[/b] Static test at Clark University, liquid propellant rocket lifted its own weight for the first time.[br /]
[br /]
[b]March 16, 1926[/b] Tested the world's first successful liquid fueled rocket in Auburn, Massachusetts.[br /]
[br /]
[b]July 17, 1929[/b] Launched a small 11-foot rocket, which carried a small camera, barometer, thermometer, which were recovered after the flight.[br /]
[br /]
[b]November 23, 1929[/b] First meeting with Charles A. Lindbergh.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1930 July 10, 1932[/b] First two-year grant from Daniel Guggenheim, began conducting full time rocket research at Roswell, New Mexico.[br /]
[br /]
[b]December 30, 1930[/b] Fired an 11-feet liquid fueled rocket to a height of 2,000 feet at a speed of 550 miles per hour.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1932[/b] Developed gyro stabilization apparatus for rockets.[br /]
Used deflector vanes in the blast of the rocket motor as a method of stabilizing and guiding rockets.[br /]
[br /]
[b]April 19, 1932[/b] First Goddard rocket with gyroscopically controlled vanes was fired.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1932-1934[/b] Taught at Clark University and continued research financed by Smithsonian Institute and The Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Foundation.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1935[/b] ‘A’ series rocket tests – 14-test series; rockets at this stage wire about 15 feet long.[br /]
[br /]
[b]March 8, 1935[/b] First to launch a liquid propellant rockets, which attained a speed greater than that of sound (700 mph).[br /]
[br /]
[b]March 16, 1936[/b] Publication of ‘Liquid Propellant Rocket Development’, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1936-1938[/b] ‘L’ series rocket tests (30-test series, rockets were about 18-feet long).[br /]
[br /]
[b]March 27, 1937[/b] One of his rockets fly higher than 9,000 feet.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1938-1941[/b] ‘P’ series rocket tests (this 36-test series represents his last flight rockets. They averaged about 22-feet in length).[br /]
[br /]
[b]1938[/b] Began to develop high-speed fuel pumps for better outfit of liquid fueled rockets.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1942-1945[/b] Director of Research, Navy Department, Bureau of Aeronautics developing jet assisted take off and variable--- – thrust liquid – propellant rockets, at Roswell, NM and Annapolis, MD.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1944-1945[/b] Director, American Rocket Society.[br /]
[br /]
[b]June 2, 1945[/b] Received an honorary Doctor of Science degree, Clark University.[br /]
[br /]
[b]August 10, 1945[/b] Died at the University of Maryland Hospital in Baltimore. Buried in Hope Cemetery, Worcester, MA.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]1883[/b] Moved with family to Boston, Massachusetts.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1888-1898[/b] Attended Mount Pleasant, Hugh O’ Brien and English High Schools in Boston.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1889[/b] Began thinking about flight into outer space.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1898[/b] Moved with family to Maple Hill, Worcester.[br /]
[br /]
[b]October 19, 1899[/b] Climbs Cherry tree, resolves to pursue his dream of space flight. Anniversary Day of dedication to the development of a method of attaining great heights.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1899-1901[/b] Away from school because of illness.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1901-1904[/b] Student, South High School, Worcester.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1904-1908[/b] Student, Worcester Polytechnic Institute.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1908-1909[/b] Faculty, Department of Physics, W.P.I. and special student in Physics, Clark University.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1909[/b] In his study of fuels, determined that liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen would serve as an efficient source of propulsion, when properly combusted.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1909-1911[/b] Fellow in Physics, Clark University (A.M. 1910, Ph.D. 1911)[br /]
[br /]
[b]1911-1912[/b] Honorary Fellow in Physics, Clark University.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1912-1913[/b] Research instructor in Physics, Princeton University.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1913-1914[/b] Illness - tuberculosis[br /]
[br /]
[b]July 1914[/b] Granted two U.S. patents for rockets using solid fuel, liquid fuel, multiple propellant charges and multi-stage designs.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1914-1915[/b] Instructor in Physics, Clark College.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1915-1919[/b] Became Assistant Professor.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1915[/b] First to prove experimentally that a rocket will provide thrust in a vacuum.[br /]
[br /]
[b]January 5, 1917[/b] Received first financial assistance from the Smithsonian Institute.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1917-1918[/b] Developed the basis for the rocket weapon. Later known as Bazooka, done for the US.[br /]
[br /]
[b]November 1918[/b] Fired several rocket devices for representatives of the U.S. Signal Corps, Air Corps, Army ordinance and other assorted guests at the Aberdeen proving grounds.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1919[/b] Published A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes in Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, vol. 71, No. 2, a basic mathematical theory, which underlined rocket propulsion.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1920-1923[/b] Part time consultant on solid-propellant rocket weapons for U.S. Government at Indian Head, Maryland.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1920-1925[/b]
First to develop a rocket motor using liquid propellants.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1923-1943[/b] Director of Physical Laboratories, Clark University.[br /]
[br /]
[b]June 21, 1924[/b] Married Esther Christine Kisk.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1925[/b] Static test at Clark University, liquid propellant rocket lifted its own weight for the first time.[br /]
[br /]
[b]March 16, 1926[/b] Tested the world's first successful liquid fueled rocket in Auburn, Massachusetts.[br /]
[br /]
[b]July 17, 1929[/b] Launched a small 11-foot rocket, which carried a small camera, barometer, thermometer, which were recovered after the flight.[br /]
[br /]
[b]November 23, 1929[/b] First meeting with Charles A. Lindbergh.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1930 July 10, 1932[/b] First two-year grant from Daniel Guggenheim, began conducting full time rocket research at Roswell, New Mexico.[br /]
[br /]
[b]December 30, 1930[/b] Fired an 11-feet liquid fueled rocket to a height of 2,000 feet at a speed of 550 miles per hour.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1932[/b] Developed gyro stabilization apparatus for rockets.[br /]
Used deflector vanes in the blast of the rocket motor as a method of stabilizing and guiding rockets.[br /]
[br /]
[b]April 19, 1932[/b] First Goddard rocket with gyroscopically controlled vanes was fired.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1932-1934[/b] Taught at Clark University and continued research financed by Smithsonian Institute and The Daniel and Florence Guggenheim Foundation.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1935[/b] ‘A’ series rocket tests – 14-test series; rockets at this stage wire about 15 feet long.[br /]
[br /]
[b]March 8, 1935[/b] First to launch a liquid propellant rockets, which attained a speed greater than that of sound (700 mph).[br /]
[br /]
[b]March 16, 1936[/b] Publication of ‘Liquid Propellant Rocket Development’, Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1936-1938[/b] ‘L’ series rocket tests (30-test series, rockets were about 18-feet long).[br /]
[br /]
[b]March 27, 1937[/b] One of his rockets fly higher than 9,000 feet.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1938-1941[/b] ‘P’ series rocket tests (this 36-test series represents his last flight rockets. They averaged about 22-feet in length).[br /]
[br /]
[b]1938[/b] Began to develop high-speed fuel pumps for better outfit of liquid fueled rockets.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1942-1945[/b] Director of Research, Navy Department, Bureau of Aeronautics developing jet assisted take off and variable--- – thrust liquid – propellant rockets, at Roswell, NM and Annapolis, MD.[br /]
[br /]
[b]1944-1945[/b] Director, American Rocket Society.[br /]
[br /]
[b]June 2, 1945[/b] Received an honorary Doctor of Science degree, Clark University.[br /]
[br /]
[b]August 10, 1945[/b] Died at the University of Maryland Hospital in Baltimore. Buried in Hope Cemetery, Worcester, MA.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]His Publication[/b][br /]
[br /]
Dr. Goddard is credited as the first American to publish the theory underlying rocket propulsion and space flight. He did this in his best known publication A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes, which was published by the Smithsonian Institute in 1919 and which laid the foundation for the present day development of jet propulsion and rockets. His work contains the complete mathematical formulation of rocket design and space flight. In the report, Goddard also noted the possibility of a rocket reaching the moon. Towards the end of the article, Goddard began to hint at his thoughts for the future by detailing his plans for launching a small, unmanned rocket that would be sent to moon where it would strike the surface and explode its payload of flash powder so that observers with telescopes could see where the rocket had landed.[br /]
[br /]
Progress on all of Goddard’s work was published in Liquid Propellant Rocket Development, by the Smithsonian in 1936.[br /]
[br /]
Goddard wrote an article "That Moon Rocket Proposition : Refutation of Some Popular Fallacies" that was published in the February 26, 1921 issue of the Scientific American.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Patents[/b][br /]
[br /]
The patents granted to Dr. Goddard covers most of the components used today in liquid fuel rockets. He is credited with 214 patents, of which 131 were filed after his death.[br /]
[br /]
In June 1960, Mrs. Goddard and Guggenheim Foundation were given a $ 1,000,000 settlement – at that time the largest patent settlement that the government had ever given. This settlement was based mainly on three patents -[br /]
[br /]
1. Number 2,395,113 which is a "method for feeding combustion liquids to rocket apparatus", which utilized turbines, pumps and a gas generator.[br /]
2. Number 2,397,657 which is a "control mechanism for a rocket apparatus". It dealt with using an outside starting device.[br /]
3. Number 2,397,659 which is a "control mechanism for a rocket apparatus". It dealt with self-starting devices for intermittent operation and seals for fuel pumps.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Goddard’s "Cherry Tree Vision"[/b][br /]
[br /]
On October 19, 1899 at an age of 17, Goddard placed a ladder against a cherry tree in the family orchard and climbed it to trim its dead branches but instead began day dreaming. As he looked towards the field in the East, he imagined how wonderful it would be to make some device which had the possibility of ascending to Mars and how it would appear on a small scale, if sent up from the grass at his feet. Something strange happened to him at this time. He later thought that his imagination was fired by the H. G. Wells space-fiction novel War of the Worlds. Goddard realized the whole purpose of his life. He was a different man when he descended the tree and existence at last seemed purposive to him.[br /]
[br /]
Goddard never talked much about what happened to him up on the tree on October 19. But he celebrated October 19 as a holiday for the rest of his life. October 19 became "Anniversary Day", noted in his diary as his personal holiday. It was on this day that he had formed an idea of making something that would go higher than anything had ever gone before.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Traveling In 1950[/b][br /]
[br /]
Goddard had a daring mind. He was always inspired by science fiction reading. His fascination with space flight and the means of attaining it continued into his college years at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. In an assigned theme – Traveling in 1950, he was roused with an interest in the "fastest possible travel for living bodies on the earth’s surface" and projected a plan for travel inside a steel vacuum tube in which cars were suspended and driven by the attraction and repulsion of electromagnets. He described a railroad system between Boston and New York in which the trains traveled in a vacuum under the pull of an electromagnetic field and completed their trip in 10 minutes. This was Goddard’s ‘Traveling in 1950’. Alas, even in 1990 the ride between the two cities still took four hours.[br /]
[br /]
[b]The Times Article[/b][br /]
[br /]
When Goddard noted the possibility of a rocket reaching the moon in his report "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes", a number of newspaper articles were published. One of these was the New York Times article on January 12, 1920, titled "Aim to Reach Moon with New Rocket". The next day The Times printed an editorial that said that Dr. Goddard "seems to lack the knowledge ladled out daily in high school" because he thought that rocket thrust would be effective beyond the earth’s atmosphere. The paper explained that space travel was impossible since without atmosphere to push against, a rocket could not move even an inch. He was ridiculed for his impossible mission. The editor did not realize that the rocket exhaust would be acting against the inner walls of the rocket itself, which would create the required reaction. There was a big dispute about this possibility and many people thought that he was foolish for suggesting such an impossible thing.[br /]
[br /]
Goddard responded to this criticism with a statement that was released to the Associated Press. To one reporter’s question, he responded "every vision is a joke until the first man accomplishes it; once realized, it becomes commonplace".
On July 17, 1969 there was "A Correction" in the New York Times to the editorial of 1920. It was published three days before man’s first walk on the moon and it stated that "it is now definitely established that a rocket can function in a vacuum as well as in an atmosphere. The Times regrets the error."[br /]
[br /]
[b]First Rocket Experiment[/b][br /]
[br /]
In 1915, as an assistant professor at Clark University in Worcester, Goddard began experiments on the efficiency of rockets. He bought some commercial rockets and measured their thrust using a ballistic pendulum. The rocket was fired, and the height to which the pendulum rose provided a measure of the total momentum imparted to it. The momentum given to the pendulum in one direction was equal to the momentum (mv) imparted to the rocket’s gas jet and that momentum determined the length and height of its swing. By weighing the rocket before and after firing, Goddard derived the mass (m) of the ejected gases and from that deduced velocity (v). For a one pound Corton Ship rocket, he found that v was about 1000 ft / sec.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Funds[/b][br /]
[br /]
During his early studies, Goddard funded his rocket experiments from his own pay and from the money provided by Clark University. Later the secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, Charles G. Abbot responded to Goddard’s appeal for financial support and modestly financed his tests. However, the funds coming from these sources were inadequate. Fortunately, Charles A. Lindbergh was interested in rocketry and was influential in obtaining finance for Dr. Goddard. Goddard had confided in Lindbergh that if he were to give $ 25,000 a year for four years, he could accomplish in 48 months something that otherwise might take a lifetime. Lindbergh was sufficiently impressed to persuade Daniel Guggenheim, a philanthropist to award Goddard a grant of $ 50,000. From 1930 to mid 1945, the Guggenheim fund for the promotion of Aeronautics financed the work on a scale that made Goddard set up an experiment station in a lonely spot near Roswell, New Mexico. The grant made possible small shop and crew and experimental flights in the open spaces of the American Southwest at Roswell. Goddard spent most of his remaining days to build larger rockets and developed many of his ideas that are now standard in rocketry.[br /]
[br /]
[b]…and he launched them[/b][br /]
[br /]
Robert Goddard had launched 35 liquid propelled rockets successfully. There were around 23 additional flight tests in which the rocket did not lift off. He was very optimistic and determined. On commenting about failures he would often use the phrase like ‘valuable negative information’. Out of the above flight tests, 10 were attempted in Auburn, Massachusetts and four took off. He did not attempt any flight during his work at Fort Devans, Massachusetts. In Roswell, New Mexico, he attempted 48 flights, of which 31 lifted off.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Recognition Not Easy[/b][br /]
[br /]
Although Goddard’s experiment with solid and liquid-propellant fuels between 1909 and 1945 led to the development of powerful boosters for missiles and spacecraft, his achievements in the field of rocketry were not fully appreciated until after his death. The United States Government never really became interested in his work. This lack of interest was coupled by the fact that Goddard preferred to work in isolation.[br /]
[br /]
He kept most of the technical details of his inventions a secret and thus missed the chance of having full influence of his real abilities. At the same time, he was not good at integrating his inventions into a workable system because of which his own rockets failed to reach the high altitudes he sought.[br /]
[br /]
[b]German Recognition[/b][br /]
[br /]
Goddard did all his work in the United States, yet many of his ideas were recognized around the world. Scientists in Germany took Goddard’s plan from various journals and used his ideas to help build the V-2 rocket that was used in World War II. When German rocket experts were brought to America after the war and questioned about rocketry, they were amazed and asked why American officials did not inquire of Goddard, from whom they had learned virtually all they knew.[br /]
[br /]
Perhaps the greatest tribute to Goddard was paid by Wernher von Braun when questioned shortly after the war. "Don’t you know about your own rocket pioneer?" he asked. "Dr. Goddard was ahead of us all."[br /]
[br /]
[b]Bazooka[/b][br /]
[br /]
During World War I, Goddard developed designs of small military rockets to be launched from a lightweight hand launcher. These rockets proved successful under tests by the U.S. Army. It was perfected as the World War II weapon known as the Bazooka. The United States government became interested in Goddard’s work during World War II and financed him to design small rockets to help navy planes take off from carriers.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Goddard Rocket and Space Museum[/b][br /]
[br /]
During one discussion, Mrs. Goddard generously offered to make the fabulous collection of Goddard memorabilia available to the Roswell Museum under the condition that the important historical collection is properly housed and displayed. The Goddard missile and rocket collection was formally offered to this museum on May 6, 1858. The same day the city council authorized the enlargement of the museum to provide the requested display space. NASA presented the Museum with a scale replica of his first successful liquid-fueled rocket.[br /]
[br /]
Along with the workshop reconstruction the Robert H. Goddard Planetarium was constructed at the west end of the Museum and Art Center.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Mrs. Goddard[/b][br /]
[br /]
Mrs. Goddard was her husband's constant companion in rocket research. After his death she became the principal interpreter of her husband’s work. For the period between his death in 1945 and her own in 1982, her papers recognize the historic research conducted by her husband. She sold the Mescalero Ranch in Roswell and began transcribing his notes to establish the importance of his work.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Dr. Goddard is credited as the first American to publish the theory underlying rocket propulsion and space flight. He did this in his best known publication A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes, which was published by the Smithsonian Institute in 1919 and which laid the foundation for the present day development of jet propulsion and rockets. His work contains the complete mathematical formulation of rocket design and space flight. In the report, Goddard also noted the possibility of a rocket reaching the moon. Towards the end of the article, Goddard began to hint at his thoughts for the future by detailing his plans for launching a small, unmanned rocket that would be sent to moon where it would strike the surface and explode its payload of flash powder so that observers with telescopes could see where the rocket had landed.[br /]
[br /]
Progress on all of Goddard’s work was published in Liquid Propellant Rocket Development, by the Smithsonian in 1936.[br /]
[br /]
Goddard wrote an article "That Moon Rocket Proposition : Refutation of Some Popular Fallacies" that was published in the February 26, 1921 issue of the Scientific American.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Patents[/b][br /]
[br /]
The patents granted to Dr. Goddard covers most of the components used today in liquid fuel rockets. He is credited with 214 patents, of which 131 were filed after his death.[br /]
[br /]
In June 1960, Mrs. Goddard and Guggenheim Foundation were given a $ 1,000,000 settlement – at that time the largest patent settlement that the government had ever given. This settlement was based mainly on three patents -[br /]
[br /]
1. Number 2,395,113 which is a "method for feeding combustion liquids to rocket apparatus", which utilized turbines, pumps and a gas generator.[br /]
2. Number 2,397,657 which is a "control mechanism for a rocket apparatus". It dealt with using an outside starting device.[br /]
3. Number 2,397,659 which is a "control mechanism for a rocket apparatus". It dealt with self-starting devices for intermittent operation and seals for fuel pumps.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Goddard’s "Cherry Tree Vision"[/b][br /]
[br /]
On October 19, 1899 at an age of 17, Goddard placed a ladder against a cherry tree in the family orchard and climbed it to trim its dead branches but instead began day dreaming. As he looked towards the field in the East, he imagined how wonderful it would be to make some device which had the possibility of ascending to Mars and how it would appear on a small scale, if sent up from the grass at his feet. Something strange happened to him at this time. He later thought that his imagination was fired by the H. G. Wells space-fiction novel War of the Worlds. Goddard realized the whole purpose of his life. He was a different man when he descended the tree and existence at last seemed purposive to him.[br /]
[br /]
Goddard never talked much about what happened to him up on the tree on October 19. But he celebrated October 19 as a holiday for the rest of his life. October 19 became "Anniversary Day", noted in his diary as his personal holiday. It was on this day that he had formed an idea of making something that would go higher than anything had ever gone before.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Traveling In 1950[/b][br /]
[br /]
Goddard had a daring mind. He was always inspired by science fiction reading. His fascination with space flight and the means of attaining it continued into his college years at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. In an assigned theme – Traveling in 1950, he was roused with an interest in the "fastest possible travel for living bodies on the earth’s surface" and projected a plan for travel inside a steel vacuum tube in which cars were suspended and driven by the attraction and repulsion of electromagnets. He described a railroad system between Boston and New York in which the trains traveled in a vacuum under the pull of an electromagnetic field and completed their trip in 10 minutes. This was Goddard’s ‘Traveling in 1950’. Alas, even in 1990 the ride between the two cities still took four hours.[br /]
[br /]
[b]The Times Article[/b][br /]
[br /]
When Goddard noted the possibility of a rocket reaching the moon in his report "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes", a number of newspaper articles were published. One of these was the New York Times article on January 12, 1920, titled "Aim to Reach Moon with New Rocket". The next day The Times printed an editorial that said that Dr. Goddard "seems to lack the knowledge ladled out daily in high school" because he thought that rocket thrust would be effective beyond the earth’s atmosphere. The paper explained that space travel was impossible since without atmosphere to push against, a rocket could not move even an inch. He was ridiculed for his impossible mission. The editor did not realize that the rocket exhaust would be acting against the inner walls of the rocket itself, which would create the required reaction. There was a big dispute about this possibility and many people thought that he was foolish for suggesting such an impossible thing.[br /]
[br /]
Goddard responded to this criticism with a statement that was released to the Associated Press. To one reporter’s question, he responded "every vision is a joke until the first man accomplishes it; once realized, it becomes commonplace".
On July 17, 1969 there was "A Correction" in the New York Times to the editorial of 1920. It was published three days before man’s first walk on the moon and it stated that "it is now definitely established that a rocket can function in a vacuum as well as in an atmosphere. The Times regrets the error."[br /]
[br /]
[b]First Rocket Experiment[/b][br /]
[br /]
In 1915, as an assistant professor at Clark University in Worcester, Goddard began experiments on the efficiency of rockets. He bought some commercial rockets and measured their thrust using a ballistic pendulum. The rocket was fired, and the height to which the pendulum rose provided a measure of the total momentum imparted to it. The momentum given to the pendulum in one direction was equal to the momentum (mv) imparted to the rocket’s gas jet and that momentum determined the length and height of its swing. By weighing the rocket before and after firing, Goddard derived the mass (m) of the ejected gases and from that deduced velocity (v). For a one pound Corton Ship rocket, he found that v was about 1000 ft / sec.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Funds[/b][br /]
[br /]
During his early studies, Goddard funded his rocket experiments from his own pay and from the money provided by Clark University. Later the secretary of the Smithsonian Institute, Charles G. Abbot responded to Goddard’s appeal for financial support and modestly financed his tests. However, the funds coming from these sources were inadequate. Fortunately, Charles A. Lindbergh was interested in rocketry and was influential in obtaining finance for Dr. Goddard. Goddard had confided in Lindbergh that if he were to give $ 25,000 a year for four years, he could accomplish in 48 months something that otherwise might take a lifetime. Lindbergh was sufficiently impressed to persuade Daniel Guggenheim, a philanthropist to award Goddard a grant of $ 50,000. From 1930 to mid 1945, the Guggenheim fund for the promotion of Aeronautics financed the work on a scale that made Goddard set up an experiment station in a lonely spot near Roswell, New Mexico. The grant made possible small shop and crew and experimental flights in the open spaces of the American Southwest at Roswell. Goddard spent most of his remaining days to build larger rockets and developed many of his ideas that are now standard in rocketry.[br /]
[br /]
[b]…and he launched them[/b][br /]
[br /]
Robert Goddard had launched 35 liquid propelled rockets successfully. There were around 23 additional flight tests in which the rocket did not lift off. He was very optimistic and determined. On commenting about failures he would often use the phrase like ‘valuable negative information’. Out of the above flight tests, 10 were attempted in Auburn, Massachusetts and four took off. He did not attempt any flight during his work at Fort Devans, Massachusetts. In Roswell, New Mexico, he attempted 48 flights, of which 31 lifted off.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Recognition Not Easy[/b][br /]
[br /]
Although Goddard’s experiment with solid and liquid-propellant fuels between 1909 and 1945 led to the development of powerful boosters for missiles and spacecraft, his achievements in the field of rocketry were not fully appreciated until after his death. The United States Government never really became interested in his work. This lack of interest was coupled by the fact that Goddard preferred to work in isolation.[br /]
[br /]
He kept most of the technical details of his inventions a secret and thus missed the chance of having full influence of his real abilities. At the same time, he was not good at integrating his inventions into a workable system because of which his own rockets failed to reach the high altitudes he sought.[br /]
[br /]
[b]German Recognition[/b][br /]
[br /]
Goddard did all his work in the United States, yet many of his ideas were recognized around the world. Scientists in Germany took Goddard’s plan from various journals and used his ideas to help build the V-2 rocket that was used in World War II. When German rocket experts were brought to America after the war and questioned about rocketry, they were amazed and asked why American officials did not inquire of Goddard, from whom they had learned virtually all they knew.[br /]
[br /]
Perhaps the greatest tribute to Goddard was paid by Wernher von Braun when questioned shortly after the war. "Don’t you know about your own rocket pioneer?" he asked. "Dr. Goddard was ahead of us all."[br /]
[br /]
[b]Bazooka[/b][br /]
[br /]
During World War I, Goddard developed designs of small military rockets to be launched from a lightweight hand launcher. These rockets proved successful under tests by the U.S. Army. It was perfected as the World War II weapon known as the Bazooka. The United States government became interested in Goddard’s work during World War II and financed him to design small rockets to help navy planes take off from carriers.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Goddard Rocket and Space Museum[/b][br /]
[br /]
During one discussion, Mrs. Goddard generously offered to make the fabulous collection of Goddard memorabilia available to the Roswell Museum under the condition that the important historical collection is properly housed and displayed. The Goddard missile and rocket collection was formally offered to this museum on May 6, 1858. The same day the city council authorized the enlargement of the museum to provide the requested display space. NASA presented the Museum with a scale replica of his first successful liquid-fueled rocket.[br /]
[br /]
Along with the workshop reconstruction the Robert H. Goddard Planetarium was constructed at the west end of the Museum and Art Center.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Mrs. Goddard[/b][br /]
[br /]
Mrs. Goddard was her husband's constant companion in rocket research. After his death she became the principal interpreter of her husband’s work. For the period between his death in 1945 and her own in 1982, her papers recognize the historic research conducted by her husband. She sold the Mescalero Ranch in Roswell and began transcribing his notes to establish the importance of his work.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
"It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow."[br /]
[br /]
[b]- In June 1904 at his high school reunion.[/b][br /]
[br /]
"The years forever fashion new dreams when old ones go. God pity a one-dream man."[br /]
[br /]
"How many more years I shall be able to work on the problem I do not know; I hope, as long as I live. There can be no thoughts of finishing, for ‘aiming at the stars’ both literally and figuratively, is a problem to occupy generations, so that no matter how much progress one makes, there is always the thrill of just beginning."[br /]
[br /]
[b]- In a 1932 letter to H.G. Wells.[/b][br /]
[br /]
"I feel we are going to enter a new era, it is just a matter of imagination how far we can go with rockets. I think it is fair to say 'you haven’t seen anything yet'."[br /]
[br /]
[b]- Few moments before he passed away.[/b][br /]
[br /]
"As I looked towards the fields in the east, I imagined how wonderful it would be to make something that could rise to the planet Mars. I imagined how this thing, in a small size, would look if sent up from the ground at my feet. I was a different boy when I came down from that tree. For at last, my life seemed to have some purpose."[br /]
[br /]
[b]- Goddard’s day dream when he climbed into an old cherry tree to prune its dead branches.[/b][br /]
[br /]
"Every vision is a joke, until the first man accomplishes it."[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]- In June 1904 at his high school reunion.[/b][br /]
[br /]
"The years forever fashion new dreams when old ones go. God pity a one-dream man."[br /]
[br /]
"How many more years I shall be able to work on the problem I do not know; I hope, as long as I live. There can be no thoughts of finishing, for ‘aiming at the stars’ both literally and figuratively, is a problem to occupy generations, so that no matter how much progress one makes, there is always the thrill of just beginning."[br /]
[br /]
[b]- In a 1932 letter to H.G. Wells.[/b][br /]
[br /]
"I feel we are going to enter a new era, it is just a matter of imagination how far we can go with rockets. I think it is fair to say 'you haven’t seen anything yet'."[br /]
[br /]
[b]- Few moments before he passed away.[/b][br /]
[br /]
"As I looked towards the fields in the east, I imagined how wonderful it would be to make something that could rise to the planet Mars. I imagined how this thing, in a small size, would look if sent up from the ground at my feet. I was a different boy when I came down from that tree. For at last, my life seemed to have some purpose."[br /]
[br /]
[b]- Goddard’s day dream when he climbed into an old cherry tree to prune its dead branches.[/b][br /]
[br /]
"Every vision is a joke, until the first man accomplishes it."[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
Goddard was the first scientist who realized the potentialities of missiles and space flight and contributed directly in bringing them to practical realization. His talent in creative sciences and practical engineering brought him wide acclaim. He received many awards and honors.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] On September 16, 1959, the 80th Congress authorized the issuance of a gold medal in the honor of Dr. Goddard. [br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] The Langley Medal in 1960.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] The Daniel Guggenheim Medal in 1964.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] National Space Hall of Fame Award, 1966.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] The Aviation Hall of Fame, 1966.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] In memory of this brilliant scientist, a major space science laboratory, NASA’s Goddard space flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland was established on May 1, 1959.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Goddard’s Technical Achievements[/b][br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] A solid fuel projectile launched from a tube, which was developed into the Bazooka during World War II.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] A ‘resonance chamber’ motor for an air-breathing rocket.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Methods of using inflowing fuel to cool the combustion chamber and nozzle.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Ways of handling and using cryogenic propellants.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Pressurization of fuel tanks by an inert gas to push the fuels in the chamber.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] The pressure regulators for above.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Centrifugal high-pressure pumps for fuel feeding.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Seals for above pumps.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Movable vanes to steer a rocket by redirecting exhaust gases.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Gyroscopically controlled stabilization system using above vanes.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Variable–thrust rocket motors.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Methods of measuring rocket thrust and other parameters.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Various igniting systems.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Remote-control methods for rocket launches.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Goddard’s Historic First[/b][br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] First to explore mathematically the practicality of using rocket propulsion to reach high altitudes.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] First to prove that a rocket needs no air to push against and will work in a vacuum.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] First to include a barometer and camera in a rocket flight.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] First to use vanes in the rocket motor blast for guidance.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] First to develop gyro control apparatus for rocket flight.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] First to receive US patent in idea of multistage rocket.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] First to successfully launch a rocket with a motor pivoted on gimbals under the influence of a gyro mechanism.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] First to conceive of the multi-stage rocket.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] First to invent the prototype of the Bazooka.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] First to fire a liquid fuel rocket that traveled faster than the speed of sound.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] First to develop the turbo-pumps for a liquid propellant rocket.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Goddard’s research efforts included work on solar energy, vacuum tubes, railroad transportation, and radio tube oscillators.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] A liquid fuel rocket constructed on the principles developed by Goddard helped man land on the moon in 1969.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] He was director of research for two years of the Bureau of Aeronautics of the US Department of the Navy during World War II. For the last two years of his life, he served as consulting engineer for the Curtiss–Wright Corporation.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Goddard is also responsible for the procurement, development and verification and testing of the geo-stationary operational environmental satellite.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] On September 16, 1959, the 80th Congress authorized the issuance of a gold medal in the honor of Dr. Goddard. [br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] The Langley Medal in 1960.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] The Daniel Guggenheim Medal in 1964.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] National Space Hall of Fame Award, 1966.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] The Aviation Hall of Fame, 1966.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] In memory of this brilliant scientist, a major space science laboratory, NASA’s Goddard space flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland was established on May 1, 1959.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Goddard’s Technical Achievements[/b][br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] A solid fuel projectile launched from a tube, which was developed into the Bazooka during World War II.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] A ‘resonance chamber’ motor for an air-breathing rocket.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Methods of using inflowing fuel to cool the combustion chamber and nozzle.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Ways of handling and using cryogenic propellants.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Pressurization of fuel tanks by an inert gas to push the fuels in the chamber.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] The pressure regulators for above.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Centrifugal high-pressure pumps for fuel feeding.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Seals for above pumps.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Movable vanes to steer a rocket by redirecting exhaust gases.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Gyroscopically controlled stabilization system using above vanes.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Variable–thrust rocket motors.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Methods of measuring rocket thrust and other parameters.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Various igniting systems.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Remote-control methods for rocket launches.[br /]
[br /]
[b]Goddard’s Historic First[/b][br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] First to explore mathematically the practicality of using rocket propulsion to reach high altitudes.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] First to prove that a rocket needs no air to push against and will work in a vacuum.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] First to include a barometer and camera in a rocket flight.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] First to use vanes in the rocket motor blast for guidance.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] First to develop gyro control apparatus for rocket flight.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] First to receive US patent in idea of multistage rocket.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] First to successfully launch a rocket with a motor pivoted on gimbals under the influence of a gyro mechanism.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] First to conceive of the multi-stage rocket.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] First to invent the prototype of the Bazooka.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] First to fire a liquid fuel rocket that traveled faster than the speed of sound.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] First to develop the turbo-pumps for a liquid propellant rocket.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Goddard’s research efforts included work on solar energy, vacuum tubes, railroad transportation, and radio tube oscillators.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] A liquid fuel rocket constructed on the principles developed by Goddard helped man land on the moon in 1969.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] He was director of research for two years of the Bureau of Aeronautics of the US Department of the Navy during World War II. For the last two years of his life, he served as consulting engineer for the Curtiss–Wright Corporation.[br /]
[br /]
[b]•[/b] Goddard is also responsible for the procurement, development and verification and testing of the geo-stationary operational environmental satellite.[br /]
[br /]
[br /]
