SummaryThe idea of rockets is not a new one to mankind. The Chinese used them many centuries ago. In 1812 Francis Scott Key wrote, in our national anthem, of rockets' red glare. When Robert Goddard began his work on rockets in 1912, however, rockets were being used for basically only two purposes: as signals, and as devices whereby passengers could be saved from a sinking ship. There were several reasons for this. Rockets were almost impossible to steer and had a tendency to explode and, therefore, were considered of little use to anyone. Goddard, a professor of science at a university in New England, felt that rockets could have many uses, and he wrote several articles to this effect. When Goddard's articles appeared, many people and newspapermen began to pester him for more information. They imagined that he had invented a rocket that could travel through space. Goddard soon tired of their interference and went to Roswell, New Mexico, where he could continue his research in peace. He worked for many years with fuels and a gyrostabilizer. In May, 1935, Goddard launched a rocket which reached a height of 7,250 feet at a speed of 550 miles an hour. When the United States went to war in 1911, Goddard's rockets were used as weapons. It wasn't until then that Goddard's work began to be appreciated. Today his rockets are on display at a museum in New York. When he died in 1945, Professor Robert Goddard had become known as the Father of American Rocketry.
Script Excerpts
On a very cold day in the month of March 1926 at Auburn, Massachusetts, a slender man accompanied by a few assistants opened a valve on a rocket and they moved away from it rapidly. A second later there was a sharp explosion, flames shot from the rear of the rocket as it hovered above the ground for a moment. Then there was a tremendous whooshing noise, huge billows of smoke and steam hid the slender man and his assistants. All eyes were on the rocket as it began to rise into the air. For exactly two and a half seconds the rocket sped through he air. Then it thudded into the soft earth. The rocket had traveled 185 feet at a speed of 50 miles per hour. The slender man was named Robert Goddard; he had just carried out an experiment in rocketry. What makes this so unusual is that at this time in 1926 he was the only American working on rockets, and what also makes Robert Goddard a special person is that, working by himself with little help or money, his experiments once were years ahead of anyone else's. Across the Atlantic Ocean many German scientists were hard at work on this very young science of rocketry. These German scientists would have given anything to have known what Goddard had discovered. Rockets were not unknown at this time, far from it. For many years people had enjoyed watching the colorful rockets that we still see on the 4th of July. Rockets had been in use for many years. We know that the Chinese used them many centuries ago, and of course you remember the line from the Star Spangled Banner "the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air." When Francis Scott Key wrote the words to our national anthem, he had seen the rockets' red glare over Ft. McHenry in 1812. The British Army had been using rockets for many years as a weapon. Then what was so unusual about Goddard and his rockets? It is simply that while everyone had decided that rockets were of very little value, Goddard not only saw how useful they could be but he also helped make them into instruments like those which recently sent a payload crashing into the moon.
When Goddard began his work on rockets a little more than fifty years ago, rockets were used for only two purposes. Because they burn so brightly, they were sent up into the air as signals, and a rope attached to a rocket could be sent flying over a sinking ship. Passengers could grab the rope and be pulled to safety, but really these were the only uses. Why? A rocket works a little bit like a balloon. Did you ever blow a balloon up and then let it fly around the room? If you have, you've seen how the balloon flies in every direction. A rocket is only a hollow tube closed at one end and open at the other. The rocket is filled with some kind of fuel that burns very rapidly. As the burning flames shoot out of the end of the rocket, it pushes the rocket forward at a very rapid rate of speed. The trouble was that fifty years ago rockets had a tendency to explode. If anyone was around and got too close he was often badly burned or killed. There was one more problem. Rockets could not be steered very well.
Before Goddard began working on rockets, most of them were steered by putting a very long wooden pole under each rocket. This pole acted in the same way as feathers on an arrow; it guided the rocket through he air and kept it on course. But the wooden pole was not a very good guide. Rockets had a tendency to fly way off course and go just in the direction you didn't want them to go. For these reasons rockets were simply regarded as dangerous and uncontrollable and of little use to anyone. IN 1912 when Robert Goddard began work on rockets he saw it could have many uses. He wrote an article about using rockets to gather information many miles up in the sky. Goddard, like many European scientists, also believed that some day rockets would be used in the exploration of space.
When Goddard's article appeared, people reacted in two ways. The average person thought that Goddard was crazy; man had been wanting to fly though space for years, and nearly everyone believe that this was impossible. These people thought that Goddard must be a dreamer, but some people read Goddard's article and immediately imagined that he had invented a rocket that could travel in space. The newspapermen and curious visitors began pestering Goddard for more information. Some writers even invented wild stories that were completely false. But Robert Goddard, who was a professor of science at a university in New England, did not want to be bothered with newspapermen or with those who were just interested in thrills. He was a scientist who believed that his work should produce only reliable information about rockets. He was not interested in being famous. So Goddard simply disappeared; he left his university and went to Roswell in New Mexico. In the white sands of the desert he has space to perform his experiments, and in New Mexico he was able to be alone. For many years no one knew where Goddard was or what he was doing, but the slender, quiet, dedicated scientist was hard at work.
Goddard built a rocket for launching station at Roswell, New Mexico. For a number of years, with very little money and unknown by almost everyone, Goddard performed hundreds of experiments. First he had to deal with the problem of rocket fuel. Rockets had burnt a dry powder, a mixture of three or four chemicals, but this powder was dangerous. Goddard decided that it would be much better to burn a liquid fuel, so he patiently experimented with different kinds of fuel. Finally he decided that a mixture of gasoline and liquid oxygen was just the thing, but here too there were many problems. Gasoline is very explosive and liquid oxygen is not only extremely cold but it evaporates quickly. But finally Goddard designed a rocket that would burn these two chemicals rapidly and without exploding. He used a complicated combination of pumps, valves and tubes. He tested this mixture and found out that it worked. Then there was a problem of steering the rocket. He tried many different things but none of them worked just right. Finally in the early 1930's he designed a rocket with what he called a gyrostabilizer. This rocket looked very much like the ones you see now-a long, slim, tapered steel projectile that looked like a huge spear point. With the help of the gyrostabilizer and a carefully designed shape, Goddard had developed a rocket that could be steered. His two major problems had been solved.
In March and May of 1935 Goddard launched one of his rockets. Amazingly it reached the height of 7,250 feet at a speed of 550 miles an hour. Nothing man had ever invented had gone that high or fast. Robert Goddard had ushered in the space age in this country. But because he was so quiet and disliked publicity, few people knew about these developments. When the United States went to war in 1941, we needed rockets to use as weapons. IT wasn't until then that Goddard's work began to be appreciated. Today his rockets are on display at a museum in New York and a rocket launching and experimental station has been named after him. When he died in 1945, Professor Goddard had become known as the father of American rocketry. (Feldhusen, 1988)
on the web
Time 100: Scientists and Thinkers - Robert Goddard
http://www.time.com/time/time100/scientist/profile/goddard.html
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Page on Goddard
http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/gsfc/service/gallery/fact_sheets/general/goddard/goddard.htm
More about Goddard's Work from NASA
http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Sgoddard.htm
Clark University Library Archives
http://www2.clarku.edu/offices/library/archives/Goddard.htm
Worcester Polytech Archives
http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Library/Archives/Goddard/