Posted on 06/19/2020 7:57:59 PM PDT by Perseverando
The "Father of Modern Rocketry" was American scientist Robert H. Goddard .
He ushered in the "Space Age" by creating the world's first liquid-fueled rocket.
Goddard was born in 1882 and raised Episcopalian.
He wrote of a pivotal moment when he was 17-years-old, after having read H.G. Wells' 1897 science-fiction novel War of the Worlds:
"On the afternoon of October 19, 1899, I climbed a tall cherry tree and, armed with a saw which I still have, and a hatchet, started to trim the dead limbs from the cherry tree.
... It was one of the quiet, colorful afternoons of sheer beauty which we have in October in New England, and as I looked towards ... the east, I imagined how wonderful it would be to make some device which had even the possibility of ascending to Mars.
I was a different boy when I descended the tree from when I ascended for existence at last seemed very purposive ..."
He continued:
"The dream would not down ... for even though I reasoned with myself that the thing was impossible, there was something inside which simply would not stop working."
In 1919, he published a ground-breaking work titled "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes," where a rocket would be guided by a gyroscope connected to steerable thrust to provide three-axis control.
In 1924, he married Esther Christine Kisk at St. John's Episcopal Church in Worcester, Massachusetts. She faithfully assisted him as his secretary, recording his research and applying for patents.
Goddard's team launched 34 different rockets between 1926 and 1941, setting records of 550 miles an hour and an altitude of 1.6 miles.
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A truly great, God honoring American “rocket man”!
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”
The Goddard Space Museum is in Roswell New Mexico. Kind of ironic that Roswell is known for aliens. The museum was free the last time we went. My husband enjoyed criticizing the welding on the early rockets. The attached art museum has great Southwest art and lots of Spanish and Early Native American artifacts.
That would make Dr. Goddard the world's first Science Denier - a person fully knowledgeable in important science, but ridiculed by a political press that has zero understanding of it. It is truly a shame that NASA's GISS, the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, is now the worlds most prominent purveyor of Global Warming Fake Science, This has resulted in even more ignorant claims of Science Deniers spewing from the NY Times now a century later. NASA's GISS needs to be cleansed of its Fake Science acolytes, and go back to researching real Space Science.
Great article. Thank you.
I sent it to my son who is an Astronautical Engineer and works at Goddard Space Flight Center.
His story was similar to that of Robert Goddard. Kind of.
His inspiration was actually Buzz Lightyear. When he was five he decided he wanted to build rockets at NASA. October Sky and The Right Stuff solidified his decision.
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