Robert Goddard: The Father of Modern Rocket Propulsion

Today rocket launches and space missions are common. But in the early 1900s, space travel seemed like a dream. One of the most influential people in the field of rocket science was American Robert Goddard. The American space agency NASA describes Goddard as “the father of modern rocket propulsion.”

Robert Goddard once said that "the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow." His scientific work gave hope to many dreams about space travel. He turned some of those dreams into reality.

More than one hundred years ago, Goddard carried out studies and tests of rocket engines. He developed and flew many rockets that got their power from solid fuels: chemicals that formed a hard substance. In 1925, he made and tested the first rocket engine using a soft chemical fuel. The next year, he successfully launched the world's first liquid-fuel rocket.

Many historians consider liquid-fuel rocket flight to be as important as the first airplane flight by the American brothers Orville and Wilbur Wright. Goddard's work proved that machines could travel outside of Earth's atmosphere and into space.

During his early research, he received money and support from the U.S. Smithsonian Institution. The Smithsonian published several reports about his efforts. One publication, called “A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes,” wrote about his search for ways to send weather recording instruments higher than balloons could fly. It described how he developed the mathematical theories for rocket flight.

In that report, Goddard also suggested the possibility of a rocket someday reaching the moon. At the time, there was a big dispute in the press about this claim. Many people thought he was foolish for suggesting something that seemed so impossible.

Many of Goddard’s ideas are still used in rocket development. So, in a way, every rocket that flies today could be considered a Goddard rocket.