July 23, 2009 [B]: Biography of Robert Goddard

[Agent-G]

I found this story to be really interesting, and hope some of you do to.

Robert Goddard was the inventor of the modern rocket. In 1899 he was 17 and climbed up a cherry tree to prune it. While up there he thought about how wonderful it would be to create a device which could go to Mars. When he decended the tree, he knew it was his goal to do just that.

Robert Goddard also created rocket research and developed the mathematical theories of rocket propulsion.

In 1920, the Smithsonian published his original paper, "A Method for Reaching Extreme Altitudes," in which he included a small section stressing that rockets could be used to send payloads to the Moon exploding a load of flash powder there to mark its arrival. The bulk of his scientific report to the Smithsonian was a dry explanation of how he used the $5000 grant in his research. Yet, the press picked up Goddard's scientific proposal about a rocket flight to the moon and erected a journalistic controversy concerning the feasibility of such a thing. Much ridicule came Goddard's way. And he reached firm convictions about the virtues of the press corps which he held for the rest of his life.

He responded to a reporter's question by stating, "Every vision is a joke until the first man accomplishes it; once realized, it becomes commonplace."

Goddard died on Aug. 10, 1945, holding 214 patents in rocketry but having received little attention for his propulsion research. When American rocket scientists began to earnestly prepare for space exploration, they discovered it was almost impossible to build a rocket or launch a satellite without acknowledging the work of Goddard.

Now known as the father of modern rocketry, Goddard's significant achievements in rocket propulsion have contributed immensely to the scientific exploration of space. Goddard didn't live to see the age of space flight, but his foundation of rocket research became the fundamental principles of rocket propulsion.

A day after Apollo 11 set off for the Moon, in July of 1969, the New York Times printed a correction to its 1920 editorial section, stating 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."

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., a major space science laboratory, was named in his honor.

link: http://space.about.com/od/biographie...ertgoddard.htm