Aerospace Legend - Dr. Robert Goddard

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Aerospace Legend - Dr. Robert Goddard

• Civil Air Patrol
• Colorado Wing
• Boulder Composite Squadron

1Lt Jim Garrard 1Lt Gail Jergensen Aerospace
Education Officers 07 February 2008
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Aerospace Education Mandate

• As part of our Aerospace Education mandate for
  the Civil Air Patrol, we are presenting programs
  about individual leaders in aerospace with a
  particular focus on the named cadet achievements
  and awards.
• This week we will cover Dr. Robert Goddard,
  Achievement 7 of Phase II (Leadership) in the
  Cadet curriculum.

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Dr. Robert Goddard

• Born in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1882
• B.S. degree in physics from Worcester Polytechnic
  Institute in 1908
• M.A. degree from Clark University in 1910
• Ph.D. at Clark in 1911
• Accepted a research fellowship at Princeton
  University in 1912
• Died August 10, 1945

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Dr. Robert Goddard

• Goddard first obtained public notice in 1907 in a
  cloud of smoke from a powder rocket fired in the
  basement of the physics building in Worcester
  Polytechnic Institute. School officials took an
  immediate interest in the work of student
  Goddard. They, to their credit, did not expel
  him. He thus began his lifetime of dedicated work.

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Dr. Robert Goddard

• Launched the first liquid-fueled rocket on March
  16, 1926 in Auburn, Massachusetts.
• His journal entry of the event was notable for
  its laconic understatement The first flight
  with a rocket using liquid propellants was made
  yesterday at Aunt Effie's farm.
• Launch site is now a National Historic Landmark,
  the Goddard Rocket Launching Site.

• The rocket (dubbed Nell)
• Rose 41 feet during a 2.5-second flight that
  ended in a cabbage field.
• Important demonstration that liquid-fueled
  propellants were possible.
• Complete rocket is significantly taller than
  Goddard, but does not include the pyramidal
  support structure which he grasps.

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Dr. Robert Goddard

• Rocket Ideas
• Gyroscopic control
• Jet stream vanes to control steering
• Gimbal-steering
• Power-driven fuel pumps
• Relocated to Roswell, NM
• Incorporated many of his ideas and launched a
  more advanced rocket in 1932
• Vanes in rocket motor for guidance
• Gyroscopic control
• Liquid Propellant Rocket Development paper
  published in 1936 by the Smithsonian
• Many ideas incorporated in German V2 program in
  WWII by Wernher von Braun

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Dr. Robert Goddard

• Military Applications
• 1918, 2 days before Armistice, demonstrated basic
  idea for bazooka with Clarence Hickman which
  led to WWII bazooka.
• Rocket work in 1920s and 1930s lead to many
  advances in rocket propulsion.
• Volunteered with U.S. Navy in WWII and worked on
  JATO (jet assisted takeoff) and liquid propellant
  rocket motors capable of variable thrust.

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Dr. Robert Goddard

• Lindbergh Connection
• Lindberg visited Goddard in November, 1929 after
  Goddards rockets gained increasing attention of
  newspapers.
• Mutual interest developed due to Lindbergs
  interest in the future of aviation.
• Helped secure financing through the Guggenheim
  family, not an easy feat given the stock market
  crash in October
• Lifelong friendship developed.

Photo taken by Lindbergh - 1935
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Historic Firsts Dr. Goddard

• First explored mathematically the practicality of
  using rocket propulsion to reach high altitudes
  and even the moon (1912)
• First proved, by actual static test, that a
  rocket will work in a vacuum, that it needs no
  air to push against
• First developed and shot a liquid fuel rocket,
  March 16, 1926
• First shot a scientific payload (barometer and
  camera) in a rocket flight (1929, Auburn,
  Massachusetts)
• First used vanes in the rocket motor blast for
  guidance (1932, New Mexico)
• First developed gyro control apparatus for rocket
  flight (1932, New Mexico)
• First received U.S. patent in idea of multi-stage
  rocket (1914)
• First developed pumps suitable for rocket fuels
• First launched successfully a rocket with a motor
  pivoted on gimbals under the influence of a gyro
  mechanism (1937).

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Legacy Dr. Goddard

• Goddard crater, on the Moon
• The Goddard Space Flight Center, established in
  1959
• Awarded 214 patents for his work, 83 of which
  came during his lifetime.
• Hometown of Worcester established the Goddard
  School of Science and Technology, an elementary
  school, in 1992.
• The Dr. Robert H. Goddard Collection and the
  Robert Goddard Exhibition Room are housed in the
  Archives and Special Collections area of Clark
  University's Robert H. Goddard Library. Outside
  the library lies a structure depicting the flight
  path of Goddard's first liquid fuel rocket.
• Worcester Polytechnic Institutes Chemical
  Engineering department in Goddard Hall
• Robert H. Goddard High School (9-12) built in
  Roswell, NM in 1967. The school's mascot is
  appropriately titled "Rockets.
• Robert H. Goddard Middle School, Glendora, CA.
  Mascot is the Titan IIIC missile.
• Goddard Middle School in Littleton, Colorado.
  Nickname is the Vikings.
• Robert Goddard Middle School located in Prince
  Georges County, Maryland.
• Congress authorized the issuance of a gold medal
  in 1959.
• The Civil Air Patrol Cadet Program promotion to
  Cadet Chief Master Sergeant is named after
  Goddard.

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References

• http//www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/about/dr_godda
  rd.html
• http//capddr.org/documents/u_020604110731.pdf
• http//www.cap.gov/documents/Awards_and_Achievemen
  ts_corrected_2007.pdf

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