Robert Goddard – the Father of Space Age (1733)

Born in 1882 in Worcester, Massachusetts, Robert Goddard had been interested in space exploration and rocketry from childhood. Due to various illnesses, that often kept him out of school, he did much reading at home. Among his books on mathematics and the physical and chemical sciences were such science fiction works as H. G. Wells' War of the Worlds and Jules Verne's Journey from the Earth to the Moon. His diary and early notebooks show that he was fascinated with the idea of space travel.

Being a teenager Robert fell ill with tuberculosis. Although the disease remained inactive for many years, it kept him in a physically weak condition. He once wrote to a friend, "It's shocking how short life is and how much there is to do. We have to take chances and do what we can".

Robert Goddard worked far beyond the limits of his poor health. Receiving his Ph. D. in physics in 1913, he chose a career in university teaching and research. Most of his moderate income from teaching he added to the small amount he received from the Smithsonian Institution to finance his rocket experiments. Goddard worked to make his dream of conquering space come true.

In the dry and sunny southwest in Mexico, during ten years of brilliant work, he developed and experimented with guided and stabilized rocket flights. Goddard was the first to use a gyroscope; the first to use deflector vanes in the rocket motor blast to guide the missile; and in 1935, he was the first to launch a rocket which flew faster than the speed of sound.

Goddard contributed many advanced ideas to help the war effort, among which was the basic plan for the bazooka, the rocket launcher which was eventually used as an antitank weapon.

If Goddard had lived only 17 years longer, he would have seen his life's work crowned with success. In 1962 John Glenn piloted America's first spacecraft in orbit around the earth; and seven years later, Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot upon the moon. Such achievements were possible only by the amazing power of liquid-fuel rockets which Goddard's research had made possible.

Check your comprehension.

1. What was Robert Goddard interested in from his childhood? 2. What books was he fond of? 3. What idea was he fascinated with? 4. What kept Robert in a physically weak condition? 5. What did Goddard write to his friend? 6. Who financed his rocket experiments? 7. Where did he make experiments with guided rocket flights? 8. What inventions did Goddard make? 9. What kind of rockets did Goddard work with? 10. What success did America achieve due to Goddard's research?

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