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Credit: Esther Goddard,
Courtesy
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Explanation:
Robert H. Goddard, one
of the founding fathers of modern rocketry, was
born in Worcester Massachusetts in 1882.
As a 16 year old, Goddard read H.G. Wells' science fiction classic
"War Of The Worlds" and dreamed of space flight.
By 1926 he had designed, built, and launched
the world's first liquid
fuel rocket.
During his career he was ridiculed by the press
for suggesting that rockets could be flown to
the Moon, but he kept up his experiments
in rocketry supported in part by the
Smithsonian Institution and championed by
Charles Lindbergh.
Pictured above in 1937 in the
desert near Roswell, New Mexico, Goddard
examines a nose cone and parachute from one of his test rockets.
Widely recognized as a gifted experimenter and engineering genius, his
rockets were many years ahead of their time.
He died in 1945 holding over 200 patents in rocket technology.
A liquid fuel rocket constructed on principles developed by Goddard
landed humans on the Moon in 1969.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: rocket - Robert Goddard
Publications with words: rocket - Robert Goddard
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