On the afternoon
of October 19, 1899, I climbed a tall cherry tree at the back of [my uncle’s]
barn and, armed with a saw and hatchet, started to trim the dead limbs from the
tree. It was one of those quiet, colorful afternoons of sheer beauty which we
have in October in New England and, as I looked toward the fields to the east,
I imagined how wonderful it would be to make some device which had even the
possibility of ascending to Mars, and how it would look on a small scale if
sent up from the meadow at my feet . . . I was a different boy when I descended
the ladder. Life now had a purpose for me. ~ Robert H. Goddard
“It is
difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of
today and the reality of tomorrow.” ~ Robert H. Goddard US physicist & pioneer rocket
engineer (1882 - 1945)
Robert H. Goddard had just turned seventeen some two
weeks before that lazy afternoon on that exquisite New England autumn and when
he climbed down from that cherry tree he henceforth dedicated his life to one
purpose, the creation of some device that would one day take people to the
planet Mars.
Some twenty seven years later on March 16th,
1926, a date just as significant to the history of astronautics as December 17th, 1903 (when the Wright brothers took to the air in the first heavier than air
flying machine) is important in the history of aeronautics, Robert H. Goddard
created that device when he launched the world’s first liquid fueled rocket. This rocket, which was dubbed
"Nell," rose just 41 feet (12.5 meters) during a 2.5-second flight
that ended up in a cabbage field on his aunt’s farm. Yet, that first flight was
a small technical step and giant technological leap that would one day take men
to the Moon and eventually, sometime in this century, take humans to Mars.
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| Robert H. Goddard, bundled against the cold New England weather of March 16, 1926, holds the launching frame of his most notable invention — the first liquid rocket. |
Today on Far Future Horizons, we commemorate the
eighty-eighth anniversary of the launching of the world’s first liquid fueled
rocket by presenting two special video features: the biographical documentary
“The Dream That Wouldn't Down” and the fifth episode of Carl Sagan’s acclaimed
documentary series Cosmos – “Blues for a Red Planet."
