Goddard Transports Early Rocket
Date: 1 Jan 1932
Robert Goddard tows his rocket to the launching tower behind a Model A Ford truck near Roswell, N.M. in the early 1930s. Goddard has been recognized as the "Father of American Rocketry" and as one of three pioneers in the theoretical exploration of space.
Robert Hutchings Goddard was born in Worcester, Mass., on 15 October 1882. He was a theoretical scientist as well as a practical engineer. His dream was the conquest of the upper atmosphere and ultimately space through the use of rocket propulsion. Goddard, who died in 1945, was probably as responsible for the dawning of the Space Age as the Wright Brothers were for the begining of the Air Age. Yet his work attracted little serious attention during his lifetime.
When the United States began to prepare for the conquest of space in the 1950's, American rocket scientists began to recognize the debt owed to the New England professor. They discovered that it was virtually impossible to construct a rocket or launch a satellite without acknowledging the work of Goddard. This great legacy was covered by more than 200 patents, many of which were issued after his death.