1926

Liquid-Fueled Rocketry

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857–1935), Robert Goddard (1882–1945), Wernher von Braun (1912–1977)

Propelled by the burning of gunpowder, rockets have been around for more than a thousand years. The Chinese are credited with first using rockets in battle as well as for entertainment (fireworks). But in 1903 the Russian mathematician Konstantin Tsiolkovsky wrote the first scholarly work that envisioned them as more than weapons; he also saw them as a potential means of space travel. He worked out much of the theory of rocketry and was among the first to propose using liquid fuels instead of gunpowder to maximize the combustion efficiency as well as the rocket’s thrust-to-weight ratio. Tsiolkovsky is widely regarded as the father of modern rocketry in Russia and the Soviet Union.

However, it was the American rocket scientist and Clark University physics professor Robert Goddard who was first able to test Tsiolkovsky’s—and his own—theories and show that liquid-fueled rockets were feasible and could provide the thrust needed to lift significant mass to high altitudes. He developed and patented key designs for rockets powered by gasoline and liquid nitrous oxide, as well as designs for the concept of multistage rockets, which he claimed could eventually be used to reach “extreme altitudes.” Even though the flights of his own rockets were modest by today’s standards, Goddard’s methods were sound, and others—including a group of postwar space-race engineers led by rocketry pioneer Wernher von Braun—were able to expand on his designs to enable longer, higher, and eventually, orbital (and beyond) flights.

Like many inventors, Goddard was a visionary, often working alone and seeing possibilities that others overlooked. He was an early advocate of rocketry for atmospheric science experiments and, like Tsiolkovsky, for eventual travel into space. It is perhaps ironic that it was war that was the impetus for the eventual development of the rockets that would posthumously achieve Goddard’s dream of space travel.

Robert Goddard poses with his first liquid-fueled rocket, which was launched from Auburn, Massachusetts, on March 16, 1926. Unlike conventional rockets today, this model’s combustion chamber and nozzle were at the top, and the fuel tank below. It flew for 2.5 seconds and rose 41 feet (12.5 meters).