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For other people with the name Robert Goddard, see Robert Goddard (disambiguation).

Robert Goddard

Born	(1882-10-05)October 5, 1882^[1] Worcester, Massachusetts, U.S.
Died	August 10, 1945(1945-08-10) (aged 62)^[1] Baltimore, Maryland, U.S
Education	\n Worcester Polytechnic Institute \n Clark University \n
Occupation(s)	Professor, aerospace engineer, physicist, inventor
Known for	First liquid-fueled rocket
Spouse	\n Esther Christine Kisk \n (m. 1924⁠–⁠1945)
Awards	\n Congressional Gold Medal (1959) \n Langley Gold Medal (1960) \n Daniel Guggenheim Medal (1964) \n
Signature

Robert Hutchings Goddard (October 5, 1882 \u2013 August 10, 1945)^[1] was an American engineer, professor, physicist, and inventor who is credited with creating and building the world's first liquid-fueled rocket, which was successfully launched on March 16, 1926.^[2] By 1915 his pioneering work had dramatically improved the efficiency of the solid-fueled rocket, signaling the era of the modern rocket and innovation. He and his team launched 34 rockets between 1926 and 1941, achieving altitudes as high as 2.6 km (1.6 mi) and speeds as fast as 885 km/h (550 mph).^[3] \n

Goddard's work as both theorist and engineer anticipated many of the developments that would make spaceflight possible.^[4] He has been called the man who ushered in the Space Age.^[5]^: xiii Two of Goddard's 214 patented inventions, a multi-stage rocket (1914), and a liquid-fuel rocket (1914), were important milestones toward spaceflight.^[6] His 1919 monograph A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes is considered one of the classic texts of 20th-century rocket science.^[7]^[8] Goddard successfully pioneered modern methods such as two-axis control (gyroscopes and steerable thrust) to allow rockets to control their flight effectively.\n

Although his work in the field was revolutionary, Goddard received little public or financial support for his research and development work.^[9]^: 92, 93 He was a shy person, and rocket research was not considered a suitable pursuit for a physics professor.^[10]^: 12 The press and other scientists ridiculed his theories of spaceflight. As a result, he became protective of his privacy and his work.\n

Years after his death, at the dawn of the Space Age, Goddard came to be recognized as one of the founding fathers of modern rocketry, along with Robert Esnault-Pelterie, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and Hermann Oberth.^[11]^[12]^[13] He not only recognized early on the potential of rockets for atmospheric research, ballistic missiles and space travel but also was the first to scientifically study, design, construct and fly the precursory rockets needed to eventually implement those ideas.^[14]\n

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center was named in Goddard's honor in 1959. He was also inducted into the International Aerospace Hall of Fame and National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1966, and the International Space Hall of Fame in 1976.^[15]\n

\n\n

Date	Type	Altitude in feet	Altitude in meters	Flight duration	Notes\n
March 16, 1926	Goddard 1	41	12.5	2.5 s	first liquid rocket launch\n
April 3, 1926	Goddard 1	49	15	4.2 s	record altitude\n
December 26, 1928	Goddard 3	16	5	unknown	\n
July 17, 1929	Goddard 3	90	27	5.5 s	record altitude\n
December 30, 1930	Goddard 4	2,000	610	unknown	record altitude\n
September 29, 1931	Goddard 4	180	55	9.6 s	\n
October 13, 1931	Goddard 4	1,700	520	unknown	\n
October 27, 1931	Goddard 4	1,330	410	unknown	\n
April 19, 1932	-	135	41	5 s	\n
February 16, 1935	A series	650	200	unknown	\n
March 8, 1935	A series	1,000	300	12 s	\n
March 28, 1935	A series	4,800	1,460	20 s	record altitude\n
May 31, 1935	A series	7,500	2,300	unknown	record altitude\n
June 25, 1935	A series	120	37	10 s	\n
July 12, 1935	A series	6,600	2,000	14 s	\n
October 29, 1935	A series	4,000	1,220	12 s	\n
July 31, 1936	L series, Section A	200	60	5 s	\n
October 3, 1936	L-A	200	60	5 s	\n
November 7, 1936	L-A	200	60	unknown	4 thrust chambers\n
December 18, 1936	L series, Section B	3	1	unknown	Veered horizontally immediately after launch\n
February 1, 1937	L-B	1,870	570	20.5 s	\n
February 27, 1937	L-B	1,500	460	20 s	\n
March 26, 1937	L-B	8,000-9,000^[4]^: 340	2,500\u20132,700	22.3 s	Highest altitude achieved\n
April 22, 1937	L-B	6,560	2,000	21.5 s	\n
May 19, 1937	L-B	3,250	990	29.5 s	\n
July 28, 1937	L-series, Section C	2,055	630	28 s	Movable tail\n steering\n \n
August 26, 1937	L-C	2,000	600	unknown	Movable tail\n
November 24, 1937	L-C	100	30	unknown	\n
March 6, 1938	L-C	525	160	unknown	\n
March 17, 1938	L-C	2,170	660	15 s	\n
April 20, 1938	L-C	4,215	1,260	25.3 s	\n
May 26, 1938	L-C	140	40	unknown	\n
August 9, 1938	L-C	4,920 (visual) 3,294 (barograph)	1,500 1,000	unknown	\n
August 9, 1940	P-series, Section C	300	90	unknown	\n
May 8, 1941	P-C	250	80	unknown	\n

v t e Time 100: The Most Important People of the 20th Century
Leaders & revolutionaries	\n David Ben-Gurion \n Winston Churchill \n Mahatma Gandhi \n Mikhail Gorbachev \n Adolf Hitler \n Ho Chi Minh \n Pope John Paul II \n Ruhollah Khomeini \n Martin Luther King Jr. \n Vladimir Lenin \n Nelson Mandela \n Mao Zedong \n Ronald Reagan \n Eleanor Roosevelt \n Franklin D. Roosevelt \n Theodore Roosevelt \n Margaret Sanger \n Margaret Thatcher \n Unknown Tiananmen Square rebel \n Lech Wa\u0142\u0119sa \n
Artists & entertainers	\n Louis Armstrong \n Lucille Ball \n The Beatles \n Marlon Brando \n Coco Chanel \n Charlie Chaplin \n Le Corbusier \n Bob Dylan \n T. S. Eliot \n Aretha Franklin \n Martha Graham \n Jim Henson \n James Joyce \n Pablo Picasso \n Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein \n Bart Simpson \n Frank Sinatra \n Steven Spielberg \n Igor Stravinsky \n Oprah Winfrey \n
Builders & titans	\n Stephen Bechtel Sr. \n Leo Burnett \n Willis Carrier \n Walt Disney \n Henry Ford \n Bill Gates \n Amadeo Giannini \n Ray Kroc \n Est\u00e9e Lauder \n William Levitt \n Lucky Luciano \n Louis B. Mayer \n Charles E. Merrill \n Akio Morita \n Walter Reuther \n Pete Rozelle \n David Sarnoff \n Juan Trippe \n Sam Walton \n Thomas J. Watson Jr. \n
Scientists & thinkers	\n Leo Baekeland \n Tim Berners-Lee \n Rachel Carson \n Albert Einstein \n Philo Farnsworth \n Enrico Fermi \n Alexander Fleming \n Sigmund Freud \n Robert H. Goddard \n Kurt G\u00f6del \n Edwin Hubble \n John Maynard Keynes \n Leakey family \n Jean Piaget \n Jonas Salk \n William Shockley \n Alan Turing \n Francis Crick & James Watson \n Ludwig Wittgenstein \n Wright brothers \n
Heroes & icons	\n Muhammad Ali \n The American G.I. \n Lady Diana Spencer \n Anne Frank \n Billy Graham \n Che Guevara \n Edmund Hillary & Tenzing Norgay \n Helen Keller \n Kennedy family \n Bruce Lee \n Charles Lindbergh \n Harvey Milk \n Marilyn Monroe \n Emmeline Pankhurst \n Rosa Parks \n Pel\u00e9 \n Jackie Robinson \n Andrei Sakharov \n Mother Teresa \n Bill W. \n

Authority control databases $\"Edit$
International	ISNI VIAF FAST WorldCat
National	Germany United States France BnF data Czech Republic Croatia Israel
Academics	CiNii Mathematics Genealogy Project
People	DDB
Other	IdRef NARA SNAC

Early life and inspiration

Childhood experiments

Cherry tree dream

Education and early studies

Aerodynamics and motion

Academics

First scientific writings

First patents

Rocket math

Illness

Foundational patents

Early rocketry research

Smithsonian Institution sponsorship

Goddard's military rocket

A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes

Publicity and criticism

New York Times editorial

Aftermath

\"A Correction\"

First liquid-fueled flight

First static tests

First flight

Lindbergh and Goddard

Guggenheim sponsorship

Lack of vision in the United States

Roswell, New Mexico

General Jimmy Doolittle

Launch history

Analysis of results

Annapolis, Maryland

The German V-2

Goddard's secrecy

Personal life

Legacy

Influence

In popular culture

Patents of interest

Important firsts

Bibliography

See also

References

External links