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70-601: Designed in 1959 and first tested in 1961, the R-9 was a great improvement over previous Soviet missile designs. The missile, capable of delivering a 1,600 kg (3,500 lb) payload about up to 6,071 kilometres (3,278 nmi) to an accuracy of 2 kilometres (1.1 nmi), was not only very accurate, but was also far more tactically useful to the Soviet Union. Previous Soviet designs, fuelled with cryogenic LOX and kerosene , commonly took hours to fuel and launch. The R-9, on

140-422: A camera around distant planets, guided by measurements of gravity along the trajectory, and returning to earth. His first writing on the possibility of a liquid-fueled rocket came on February 2, 1909. Goddard had begun to study ways of increasing a rocket's efficiency using methods differing from conventional solid-fuel rockets . He wrote in his notebook about using liquid hydrogen as a fuel with liquid oxygen as

210-523: A certain amount of intelligence and that "machines will not act with such intelligence." Goddard disagreed, believing that a man could control a flying machine with his own intelligence. Around this time, Goddard read Newton's Principia Mathematica , and found that Newton's Third Law of Motion applied to motion in space. He wrote later about his own tests of the Law: I began to realize that there might be something after all to Newton's Laws. The Third Law

280-400: A multi-stage rocket fueled with a solid "explosive material." The second, U.S. patent 1,103,503 , described a rocket fueled with a solid fuel (explosive material) or with liquid propellants (gasoline and liquid nitrous oxide). The two patents would eventually become important milestones in the history of rocketry. Overall, 214 patents were published, some posthumously by his wife. In

350-531: A proposed article, "The Navigation of Space," which he submitted to the Popular Science News . The journal's editor returned it, saying that they could not use it "in the near future." While still an undergraduate, Goddard wrote a paper proposing a method for balancing airplanes using gyro-stabilization. He submitted the idea to Scientific American , which published the paper in 1907. Goddard later wrote in his diaries that he believed his paper

420-441: A silo from Site 70 at Baikonur Cosmodrome . The 11-man launch crew did not realize that an oxygen leak from the missile's fuel system had raised the partial oxygen pressure to 32% (the maximum allowed was 21%). The crew was descending to the eighth level in a lift when a spark from an electrical panel started a fire in the oxygen-enriched atmosphere, killing seven and destroying the silo. The disaster occurred exactly three years after

490-551: A spinal deformity and died before his first birthday. His father Nahum was employed by manufacturers, and he invented several useful tools. Goddard had English paternal family roots in New England with William Goddard (1628–91) a London grocer who settled in Watertown , Massachusetts in 1666. On his maternal side he was descended from John Hoyt and other settlers of Massachusetts in the late 1600s. Shortly after his birth,

560-526: A telescope, a microscope, and a subscription to Scientific American . Robert developed a fascination with flight, first with kites and then with balloons . He became a thorough diarist and documenter of his work—a skill that would greatly benefit his later career. These interests merged at age 16, when Goddard attempted to construct a balloon out of aluminum , shaping the raw metal in his home workshop, and filling it with hydrogen. After nearly five weeks of methodical, documented efforts, he finally abandoned

630-419: A vacuum tube with a beam deflection that operated like a cathode-ray oscillator tube. His patent on this tube, which predated that of Lee De Forest , became central in the suit between Arthur A. Collins , whose small company made radio transmitter tubes, and AT&T and RCA over his use of vacuum tube technology. Goddard accepted only a consultant's fee from Collins when the suit was dropped. Eventually,

700-467: A variety of thoughts, mostly concerning his dream of space travel. He considered centrifugal force, radio waves, magnetic reaction, solar energy, atomic energy, ion or electrostatic propulsion and other methods to reach space. After experimenting with solid fuel rockets he was convinced by 1909 that chemical-propellant engines were the answer. A particularly complex concept was set down in June 1908: Sending

770-443: A voracious reader, regularly visiting the local public library to borrow books on the physical sciences. Goddard's interest in aerodynamics led him to study some of Samuel Langley 's scientific papers in the periodical Smithsonian . In these papers, Langley wrote that birds flap their wings with different force on each side to turn in the air. Inspired by these articles, the teenage Goddard watched swallows and chimney swifts from

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840-520: Is a NATO reporting name that was mistakenly applied to two different Soviet missile systems. The designation was accidentally applied to the R-26 when an example of that missile was revealed in a parade. However, the R-26 program had already been cancelled and no new designation was given by NATO for the R-26 once the error was discovered. On October 24, 1963, an R-9 missile was being prepared for launch in

910-432: Is classified as an industrial gas and is widely used for industrial and medical purposes. Liquid oxygen is obtained from the oxygen found naturally in air by fractional distillation in a cryogenic air separation plant . Air forces have long recognized the strategic importance of liquid oxygen, both as an oxidizer and as a supply of gaseous oxygen for breathing in hospitals and high-altitude aircraft flights. In 1985,

980-494: Is necessarily within or beyond his grasp. Each must remember that no one can predict to what heights of wealth, fame, or usefulness he may rise until he has honestly endeavored, and he should derive courage from the fact that all sciences have been, at some time, in the same condition as he, and that it has often proved true that the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow. Goddard enrolled at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1904. He quickly impressed

1050-648: Is used in some commercial and military aircraft as a transportable source of breathing oxygen. Because of its cryogenic nature, liquid oxygen can cause the materials it touches to become extremely brittle. Liquid oxygen is also a very powerful oxidizing agent: organic materials will burn rapidly and energetically in liquid oxygen. Further, if soaked in liquid oxygen , some materials such as coal briquettes, carbon black , etc., can detonate unpredictably from sources of ignition such as flames, sparks or impact from light blows. Petrochemicals , including asphalt , often exhibit this behavior. The tetraoxygen molecule (O 4 )

1120-464: The Nedelin disaster . October 24 became known as Baikonur's "Black Day", and to this day no launches are attempted on that date. LOX Liquid oxygen , sometimes abbreviated as LOX or LOXygen , is a clear cyan liquid form of dioxygen O 2 . It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard , an application which has continued to

1190-963: The Smithsonian Institution , the National Geographic Society , and the Aero Club of America . In his letter to the Smithsonian in September 1916, Goddard claimed he had achieved a 63% efficiency and a nozzle velocity of almost 2438 meters per second . With these performance levels, he believed a rocket could vertically lift a weight of 1 lb (0.45 kg) to a height of 232 miles (373 km) with an initial launch weight of only 89.6 lbs (40.64 kg) . (Earth's atmosphere can be considered to end at 80 to 100 miles (130 to 160 km) altitude, where its drag effect on orbiting satellites becomes minimal.) The Smithsonian

1260-527: The Tsiolkovsky rocket equation published a decade earlier in Russia. Tsiolkovsky, however, did not account for gravity nor drag. For vertical flight from the surface of Earth Goddard included in his differential equation the effects of gravity and aerodynamic drag. He wrote: "An approximate method was found necessary ... in order to avoid an unsolved problem in the calculus of variations. The solution that

1330-410: 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 have several photographs of the tree, taken since, with the little ladder I made to climb it, leaning against it. It seemed to me then that a weight whirling around a horizontal shaft, moving more rapidly above than below, could furnish lift by virtue of the greater centrifugal force at

1400-475: The zinc from a battery could be charged by scuffing his feet on the gravel walk. But, holding the zinc, he could jump no higher than usual. Goddard halted the experiments after a warning from his mother that if he succeeded, he could "go sailing away and might not be able to come back." He experimented with chemicals and created a cloud of smoke and an explosion in the house. Goddard's father further encouraged Robert's scientific interest by providing him with

1470-458: The Army an idea for a tube-based rocket launcher as a light infantry weapon. The launcher concept became the precursor to the bazooka . The rocket-powered, recoil-free weapon was the brainchild of Goddard as a side project (under Army contract) of his work on rocket propulsion. Goddard, during his tenure at Clark University , and working at Mount Wilson Observatory for security reasons, designed

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1540-500: The Clark physics lab and proved that a rocket would perform in a vacuum such as that in space. He believed it would, but many other scientists were not yet convinced. His experiment demonstrated that a rocket's performance actually decreases under atmospheric pressure. In September 1906 he wrote in his notebook about using the repulsion of electrically charged particles (ions) to produce thrust. From 1916 to 1917, Goddard built and tested

1610-636: The Navy and Army. No record exists in his papers of any interest by the Navy to Goddard's inquiry. However, Army Ordnance was quite interested, and Goddard met several times with Army personnel. During this time, Goddard was also contacted, in early 1918, by a civilian industrialist in Worcester about the possibility of manufacturing rockets for the military. However, as the businessman's enthusiasm grew, so did Goddard's suspicion. Talks eventually broke down as Goddard began to fear his work might be appropriated by

1680-606: 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 . 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. NASA 's Goddard Space Flight Center

1750-474: The USAF started a program of building its own oxygen-generation facilities at all major consumption bases. Liquid oxygen is the most common cryogenic liquid oxidizer propellant for spacecraft rocket applications, usually in combination with liquid hydrogen , kerosene or methane . Liquid oxygen was used in the first liquid fueled rocket . The World War II V-2 missile also used liquid oxygen under

1820-487: The Worlds at 16 years old. His dedication to pursuing space flight became fixed on October 19, 1899. The 17-year-old Goddard climbed a cherry tree to cut off dead limbs. He was transfixed by the sky, and his imagination grew. He later wrote: On this day I climbed a tall cherry tree at the back of the barn ... and as I looked toward the fields at the east, I imagined how wonderful it would be to make some device which had even

1890-576: The achievement of space travel, test by test and step by step, until one day we succeed, cost what it may." In early 1913, Goddard became seriously ill with tuberculosis and had to leave his position at Princeton. He then returned to Worcester, where he began a prolonged process of recovery at home. His doctors did not expect him to live. He decided he should spend time outside in the fresh air and walk for exercise, and he gradually improved. When his nurse discovered some of his notes in his bed, he kept them, arguing, "I have to live to do this work." It

1960-517: The available thermal energy of combustion, expressed as a percentage.) By mid-summer of 1915 Goddard had obtained an average efficiency of 40 percent with a nozzle exit velocity of 6,728 feet (2,051 meters) per second . Connecting a combustion chamber full of gunpowder to various converging-diverging expansion (de Laval) nozzles, Goddard was able in static tests to achieve engine efficiencies of more than 63% and exhaust velocities of over 7,000 feet (2,134 meters) per second. Few would recognize it at

2030-598: The business. However, an Army Signal Corps officer tried to make Goddard cooperate, but he was called off by General George Squier of the Signal Corps who had been contacted by Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, Charles Walcott . Goddard became leery of working with corporations and was careful to secure patents to "protect his ideas." These events led to the Signal Corps sponsoring Goddard's work during World War I. Goddard proposed to

2100-540: The development of the bazooka and other weapons was a result of the long recovery period required from Goddard's serious bout with tuberculosis. Goddard continued to be a part-time consultant to the U.S. Government at Indian Head, Maryland , until 1923, but his focus had turned to other research involving rocket propulsion, including work with liquid fuels and liquid oxygen. Later, the former Clark University researcher Clarence N. Hickman and Army officers Col. Leslie Skinner and Lt. Edward Uhl continued Goddard's work on

2170-648: The developments that would make spaceflight possible. He has been called the man who ushered in the Space Age . Two of Goddard's 214 patented inventions, a multi-stage rocket (1914), and a liquid-fuel rocket (1914), were important milestones toward spaceflight. His 1919 monograph A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes is considered one of the classic texts of 20th-century rocket science. Goddard successfully pioneered modern methods such as two-axis control ( gyroscopes and steerable thrust ) to allow rockets to control their flight effectively. Although his work in

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2240-439: The edge of campus during this time, as a safe place for testing. WPI also made some parts in their machine shop. Goddard's fellow Clark scientists were astonished at the unusually large Smithsonian grant for rocket research, which they thought was not real science. Decades later, rocket scientists who knew how much it cost to research and develop rockets said that he had received little financial support. Two years later, at

2310-470: The engagement around 1909. Goddard received his B.S. degree in physics from Worcester Polytechnic in 1908, and after serving there for a year as an instructor in physics, he began his graduate studies at Clark University in Worcester in the fall of 1909. While studying at Clark, Goddard continued working in Salisbury Labs at WPI and anecdotally caused a damaging explosion, whereupon his work

2380-490: The fall of 1914 Goddard's health had improved, and he accepted a part-time position as an instructor and research fellow at Clark University. His position at Clark allowed him to further his rocketry research. He ordered numerous supplies that could be used to build rocket prototypes for launch and spent much of 1915 in preparation for his first tests. Goddard's first test launch of a powder rocket came on an early evening in 1915 following his daytime classes at Clark. The launch

2450-467: The family attended the Episcopal church, and Robert sang in the choir. With the electrification of American cities in the 1880s, the young Goddard became interested in science—specifically, engineering and technology. When his father showed him how to generate static electricity on the family's carpet, the five-year-old's imagination was sparked. Robert experimented, believing he could jump higher if

2520-401: The family moved to Boston. With a curiosity about nature, he studied the heavens using a telescope from his father and observed the birds flying. Essentially a country boy, he loved the outdoors and hiking with his father on trips to Worcester and became an excellent marksman with a rifle. In 1898, his mother contracted tuberculosis and they moved back to Worcester for the clear air. On Sundays,

2590-400: The field was revolutionary, Goddard received little public or financial support for his research and development work. He was a shy person, and rocket research was not considered a suitable pursuit for a physics professor. The press and other scientists ridiculed his theories of spaceflight. As a result, he became protective of his privacy and his work. Years after his death, at the dawn of

2660-448: The first known experimental ion thrusters , which he thought might be used for propulsion in the near-vacuum conditions of outer space . The small glass engines he built were tested at atmospheric pressure, where they generated a stream of ionized air. By 1916, the cost of Goddard's rocket research had become too great for his modest teaching salary to bear. He began to solicit potential sponsors for financial assistance, beginning with

2730-494: The first of two above-ground launch sites, was mostly automated and could fire the R-9 within 20 minutes as well, and repeat the process within two and a half hours. The final launch site, "Desna-N" (Десна-Н), was also an above-ground site, but was never stocked with R-9s as the site was not automated and needed at least two hours to launch a single missile. In 1971 the above-ground R-9 launch sites were decommissioned, and by 1976 all R-9 missiles had been decommissioned. SS-8 Sasin

2800-457: The first stage engine RD-111 with a thrust of 1,385 kN, a four-chambered closed cycle design with flexible pipelines and gimbals for thrust vectoring together with Vernier thrusters . The second stage, connected by trusses to the first stage (much like the modern Soyuz rocket ) was the four-chambered RD-0106 engine, but utilized an open cycle design with vacuum optimized combustion chambers more suited to very high altitudes. This rocket engine

2870-450: The ground-based system. The ground-based system, however, never achieved the hoped-for mobility of the initial design parameters. In total, three launch sites were constructed, but only two were used. "Desna-V" (Десна-В, Russian for " gum "), the silo launch area, consisted of three underground silos with the ability to launch the R-9 within 20 minutes, and the ability to store the missile in an unfueled ready condition for one year. "Valley",

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2940-481: The head of the physics department, A. Wilmer Duff, with his thirst for knowledge, and Duff took him on as a laboratory assistant and tutor. At WPI, Goddard joined the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and began a long courtship with high school classmate Miriam Olmstead, an honor student who had graduated with him as salutatorian . Eventually, she and Goddard were engaged, but they drifted apart and ended

3010-591: The importance of his ideas as intellectual property, and thus began to secure those ideas before someone else did—and he would have to pay to use them. In May 1913, he wrote descriptions concerning his first rocket patent applications. His father brought them to a patent lawyer in Worcester who helped him to refine his ideas for consideration. Goddard's first patent application was submitted in October 1913. In 1914, his first two landmark patents were accepted and registered. The first, U.S. patent 1,102,653 , described

3080-536: The insistence of Arthur G. Webster, the world-renowned head of Clark's physics department, Goddard arranged for the Smithsonian to publish the paper, A Method..., which documented his work. While at Clark University, Goddard did research into solar power using a parabolic dish to concentrate the Sun's rays on a machined piece of quartz , that was sprayed with mercury , which then heated water and drove an electric generator. Goddard believed his invention had overcome all

3150-791: The name A-Stoff and Sauerstoff . In the 1950s, during the Cold War both the United States' Redstone and Atlas rockets, and the Soviet R-7 Semyorka used liquid oxygen. Later, in the 1960s and 1970s, the ascent stages of the Apollo Saturn rockets , and the Space Shuttle main engines used liquid oxygen. As of 2024, many active rockets use liquid oxygen: Robert H. Goddard Robert Hutchings Goddard (October 5, 1882 – August 10, 1945)

3220-440: The nitrogen has evaporated from such a vessel, there is a risk that liquid oxygen remaining can react violently with organic material. Conversely, liquid nitrogen or liquid air can be oxygen-enriched by letting it stand in open air; atmospheric oxygen dissolves in it, while nitrogen evaporates preferentially. The surface tension of liquid oxygen at its normal pressure boiling point is 13.2 dyn/cm. In commerce, liquid oxygen

3290-587: The obstacles that had previously defeated other scientists and inventors, and he had his findings published in the November 1929 issue of Popular Science . Not all of Goddard's early work was geared toward space travel. As the United States entered World War I in 1917, the country's universities began to lend their services to the war effort. Goddard believed his rocket research could be applied to many different military applications, including mobile artillery, field weapons and naval torpedoes . He made proposals to

3360-441: The other hand, could be launched 20 minutes from the time a launch order was given. NPO "Electropribor" ( Kharkiv , Ukraine ) designed the missile's control system. First put into active service in 1964, the R-9 carried a 1.65 to 5 Mt warhead . Though the last Soviet missile to use cryogenic propellant, this design is one of the most widely deployed ICBMs to use cryogenic fuel. OKB-456 (later renamed to NPO Energomash ) developed

3430-452: The oxidizer. He believed that 50 percent efficiency could be achieved with these liquid propellants (i.e., half of the heat energy of combustion converted to the kinetic energy of the exhaust gases). In the decades around 1910, radio was a new technology, fertile for innovation. In 1912, while working at Princeton University, Goddard investigated the effects of radio waves on insulators. In order to generate radio-frequency power, he invented

3500-455: The porch of his home, noting how subtly the birds moved their wings to control their flight. He noted how remarkably the birds controlled their flight with their tail feathers, which he called the birds' equivalent of ailerons . He took exception to some of Langley's conclusions and in 1901 wrote a letter to St. Nicholas magazine with his own ideas. The editor of St. Nicholas declined to publish Goddard's letter, remarking that birds fly with

3570-525: The present. Liquid oxygen has a clear cyan color and is strongly paramagnetic : it can be suspended between the poles of a powerful horseshoe magnet . Liquid oxygen has a density of 1.141 kg/L (1.141 g/ml), slightly denser than liquid water, and is cryogenic with a freezing point of 54.36 K (−218.79 °C; −361.82 °F) and a boiling point of 90.19 K (−182.96 °C; −297.33 °F) at 1 bar (15 psi). Liquid oxygen has an expansion ratio of 1:861 and because of this, it

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3640-531: The project, remarking, "... balloon will not go up. ... Aluminum is too heavy. Failior [ sic ] crowns enterprise." However, the lesson of this failure did not restrain Goddard's growing determination and confidence in his work. He wrote in 1927, "I imagine an innate interest in mechanical things was inherited from a number of ancestors who were machinists." He became interested in space when he read H. G. Wells ' science fiction classic The War of

3710-460: The school library. At his graduation ceremony in 1904, he gave his class oration as valedictorian . In his speech, entitled "On Taking Things for Granted", Goddard included a section that would become emblematic of his life: [J]ust as in the sciences we have learned that we are too ignorant to safely pronounce anything impossible, so for the individual, since we cannot know just what are his limitations, we can hardly say with certainty that anything

3780-405: The thermal energy in their fuel into thrust and kinetic energy. At this point he applied de Laval nozzles , which were generally used with steam turbine engines, and these greatly improved efficiency. (Of the several definitions of rocket efficiency, Goddard measured in his laboratory what is today called the internal efficiency of the engine: the ratio of the kinetic energy of the exhaust gases to

3850-487: The time, but this little engine was a major breakthrough. These experiments suggested that rockets could be made powerful enough to escape Earth and travel into space. This engine and subsequent experiments sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution were the beginning of modern rocketry and, ultimately, space exploration. Goddard realized, however, that it would take the more efficient liquid propellants to reach space. Later that year, Goddard designed an elaborate experiment at

3920-475: The top of the path. I was a different boy when I descended the tree from when I ascended. Existence at last seemed very purposive. For the rest of his life, he observed October 19 as "Anniversary Day", a private commemoration of the day of his greatest inspiration. The young Goddard was a thin and frail boy, almost always in fragile health. He suffered from stomach problems, pleurisy, colds, and bronchitis, and he fell two years behind his classmates. He became

3990-515: The tube-fired rocket for military use during World War I. He and his co-worker Clarence N. Hickman successfully demonstrated his rocket to the U.S. Army Signal Corps at Aberdeen Proving Ground , Maryland , on November 6, 1918, using two music stands for a launch platform. The Army was impressed, but the Compiègne Armistice was signed only five days later, and further development was discontinued as World War I ended. The delay in

4060-509: The two big companies allowed the country's growing electronics industry to use the De Forest patents freely. By 1912 he had in his spare time, using calculus, developed the mathematics which allowed him to calculate the position and velocity of a rocket in vertical flight, given the weight of the rocket and weight of the propellant and the velocity (with respect to the rocket frame) of the exhaust gases. In effect he had independently developed

4130-457: Was a product of the OKB-154 design team. Guidance of the warhead, like most ICBMs before and after it, was totally inertial save the final ten seconds before detonation of the warhead, which was controlled by a radio-altimeter correction system. The initial design called for a mobile surface-launched system, but a changing Cold War situation saw a silo-based R-9 developed in tandem with

4200-657: Was accordingly tested, both with devices suspended by rubber bands and by devices on floats, in the little brook back of the barn, and the said law was verified conclusively. It made me realize that if a way to navigate space were to be discovered, or invented, it would be the result of a knowledge of physics and mathematics. As his health improved, Goddard continued his formal schooling as a 19-year-old sophomore at South High Community School in Worcester in 1901. He excelled in his coursework, and his peers twice elected him class president. Making up for lost time, he studied books on mathematics, astronomy, mechanics and composition from

4270-598: 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. 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). Goddard's work as both theorist and engineer anticipated many of

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4340-492: Was during this period of recuperation, however, that Goddard began to produce some of his most important work. As his symptoms subsided, he allowed himself to work an hour per day with his notes made at Princeton. He was afraid that nobody would be able to read his scribbling should he succumb. In the technological and manufacturing atmosphere of Worcester, patents were considered essential, not only to protect original work but as documentation of first discovery. He began to see

4410-528: Was first predicted in 1924 by Gilbert N. Lewis , who proposed it to explain why liquid oxygen defied Curie's law . Modern computer simulations indicate that, although there are no stable O 4 molecules in liquid oxygen, O 2 molecules do tend to associate in pairs with antiparallel spins , forming transient O 4 units. Liquid nitrogen has a lower boiling point at −196 °C (77 K) than oxygen's −183 °C (90 K), and vessels containing liquid nitrogen can condense oxygen from air: when most of

4480-494: Was interested and asked Goddard to elaborate upon his initial inquiry. Goddard responded with a detailed manuscript he had already prepared, entitled A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes . In January 1917, the Smithsonian agreed to provide Goddard with a five-year grant totaling US$ 5000 . Afterward, Clark was able to contribute US$ 3500 and the use of their physics lab to the project. Worcester Polytechnic Institute also allowed him to use its abandoned Magnetics Laboratory on

4550-503: Was loud and bright enough to arouse the alarm of the campus janitor, and Goddard had to reassure him that his experiments, while being serious study, were also quite harmless. After this incident Goddard took his experiments inside the physics lab in order to limit any disturbance. At the Clark physics lab Goddard conducted static tests of powder rockets to measure their thrust and efficiency. He found his earlier estimates to be verified; powder rockets were converting only about two percent of

4620-502: Was moved to the Magnetic Lab (today called Skull Tomb). Goddard received his M.A. degree in physics from Clark University in 1910, and then stayed at Clark to complete his Ph.D. in physics in 1911. He spent another year at Clark as an honorary fellow in physics, and in 1912 he accepted a research fellowship at Princeton University 's Palmer Physical Laboratory . The high school student summed up his ideas on space travel in

4690-625: 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. Goddard was born in Worcester, Massachusetts to Nahum Danford Goddard (1859–1928) and Fannie Louise Hoyt (1864–1920). Robert was their only child to survive; a younger son, Richard Henry, was born with

4760-530: Was obtained revealed the fact that surprisingly small initial masses would be necessary ... provided the gases were ejected from the rocket at a high velocity, and also provided that most of the rocket consisted of propellant material." His first goal was to build a sounding rocket with which to study the atmosphere. Not only would such investigation aid meteorology, but it was necessary to determine temperature, density and wind speed as functions of altitude in order to design efficient space launch vehicles. He

4830-512: Was the first proposal of a way to automatically stabilize aircraft in flight. His proposal came around the same time as other scientists were making breakthroughs in developing functional gyroscopes . While studying physics at WPI, ideas came to Goddard's mind that sometimes seemed impossible, but he was compelled to record them for future investigation. He wrote that "there was something inside which simply would not stop working." He purchased some cloth-covered notebooks and began filling them with

4900-400: Was very reluctant to admit that his ultimate goal was, in fact, to develop a vehicle for flights into space, since most scientists, especially in the United States, did not consider such a goal to be a realistic or practical scientific pursuit, nor was the public yet ready to seriously consider such ideas. Later, in 1933, Goddard said that "[I]n no case must we allow ourselves to be deterred from

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