A few prescient persons however recognised his potential and followed it keenly, most notably the Germans. Wernher von Braun, one of the most important specialists in the field of rocketry and jet propulsion the world has seen, took Goddard’s plans from various journals and incorporated them into building the dreaded V-2 rockets that frequently hit targets in Europe.

On July 17, 1969, a day after Apollo 11 commenced its historic mission to the Moon, the New York Times published a brief correction and apology. It acknowledged that it had made a grave error half a century earlier stating that rockets could not work in space. “Further investigation and experimentation have confirmed the 17th century findings of Isaac Newton and it is now definitely established that a rocket can function in vacuum as well. The Times regrets the error.”

The original 1920 Times editorial had claimed that Robert H. Goddard, now recognised as the father of modern rocketry, didn’t even have an elementary knowledge of physics. The apology came too late for Goddard who died in 1945. Although his groundbreaking experiments with rocket propulsion were the foundation on which the exploration of space was built, they attracted much ridicule from press and public alike during his lifetime.

Born October 5, 1882, in Worcester, Massachusetts, USA, Robert Hutchings Goddard was fortunate to have a father who encouraged his scientific temper. At a young age, he was provided with a telescope, microscope and subscription to Scientific American. Robert was fascinated with flight and began to experiment with kites and balloons. The results of his investigations were meticulously recorded in diaries and personal journals, a habit that served him well in life. He may also be reckoned amongst the youth who were inspired to dream of space travel by The War of the Worlds, H.G. Wells’ science fiction epic. He received his PhD in 1911, and embarked on a career as a physics professor at Princeton University, where he was very well loved. However, two years later, he contracted tuberculosis and had to give up lecturing. The saving grace was that this gave him more time for research.

In 1914, Goddard was granted two patents, one described a multi-stage rocket while the other represented a rocket fuelled with gasoline and liquid nitrous oxide. These were the first of his 214 patents. In 1919, the Smithsonian Institution published Goddard’s trailblasing treatise, A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes. It is considered one of the classic texts of 20th century rocket science. Apart from his mathematical theories of rocket flight and reports of his experiments with solid-fuel rockets, it contained the promise of exploring the earth’s atmosphere and beyond.

In 1921, Goddard began experimenting with the mathematical and practical aspects of using liquid oxygen and liquidfuelled rockets to reach high altitudes. A rocket which he ground-tested in November 1923 had a cylindrical combustion chamber and used impinging jets to mix and atomise liquid oxygen and gasoline. It proved for the first time that a rocket will work in a vacuum. The world’s first liquid-fuelled rocket, designed and built by Goddard, was successfully launched on March 16, 1926. The device worked initially, but plunged back to earth after reaching 41 feet, averaging about 100 kilometres per hour, all within 2.5 seconds. Unfortunately, no photographic evidence of the feat exists. Yet, this launch is now considered as significant to the history of space travel as that of the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk in 1903 is considered to travel by air. In 1929, Goddard was also the first to launch a scientific payload in a rocket flight. In all, Goddard and his assistants launched no less than 34 rockets between 1926 and 1941. The altitudes and speeds they achieved may not have been impressive by modern standards, but many of the principles and procedures they employed are relevant even today. Goddard successfully used threeaxis control, gyroscopes and steerable thrust to control rocket flight. He developed high-speed pumps suitable for rocket fuels. In 1937, he was the first to launch a rocket with a motor pivoted on gimbals.

Despite his immensely important work, Goddard and his rockets were ignored by the American public and the scientific establishment. After one of his launches in 1929, a local newspaper mockingly declared: “Moon rocket misses target by 238,799½ miles.” Goddard responded to the illinformed criticism, saying, “Every vision is a joke until the first man accomplishes it; once realised, it becomes commonplace.”

A few prescient persons however recognised his potential and followed it keenly, most notably the Germans. Wernher von Braun, one of the most important specialists in the field of rocketry and jet propulsion the world has seen, took Goddard’s plans from various journals and incorporated them into building the dreaded V-2 rockets that frequently hit targets in Europe towards the end of the World War II. About 20 years later, Freiherr von Braun said about Goddard’s work, “His rockets may have been rather crude by present-day standards, but they blazed the trail and incorporated many features used in our most modern rockets and space vehicles.” Robert Goddard died at the age of 62 on August 10, 1945, in Baltimore, Maryland.