Today in Technology History
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March 16
Seventy-five years ago today, Robert Goddard stood in a snowy field in Massachusetts and launched the age of modern rocketry.
Goddard (1882-1945) did not actually invent rockets; they had been used for hundreds of years for fireworks and weapons. Goddard himself had conducted military research, and helped develop the bazooka rocket weapon.
But his ambitions were loftier. A science fiction fan, Goddard imagined that rockets might someday leave Earth's atmosphere. They might even be used for travel in outer space.
Public skepticism was severe, but Goddard's main challenges were technical. Conventional rockets used gunpowder for fuel, which gave them plenty of power but made them difficult to control. What was needed was a more sophisticated rocket, one with liquid fuel that could be turned on and off for control.
Goddard stands beside his rocket. Click to enlarge. On this date in 1926 Goddard launched the world's first successful liquid-fuel rocket. The rocket was a very small contraption connected to tanks with gasoline and liquid oxygen, and sitting atop a frame 10 feet tall. It screeched into the air for a few seconds, reaching an altitude of about 40 feet and crashing down about 200 feet from its launch site. Goddard wrote in his diary that the rocket "looked magical as it rose."
For Goddard, that magical moment was proof of the merit of his ideas. Today, missiles and spacecraft launched on giant liquid-propelled rockets rarely grab our attention, but imagine the wonder of standing in that field as a tiny rocket changed the world before your eyes.
Related links:
Click here to read Goddard's diary entry describing the launch.
Click here to read a brief biography of Goddard, from the Web site of the Goddard Space Flight Center.
Click here to read some technical details of the rocket launch 75 years ago.
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