The Story of Robert Goddard, Father of Modern Rocketry

Dr. Robert Hutchings Goddard (1882-1945) is considered the father of modern rocket propulsion. A physicist of great insight, Goddard also had a unique genius for invention. It is in memory of this brilliant scientist that NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, was established on May 1, 1959. By 1926, Goddard had constructed and successfully tested the first rocket using liquid fuel. Indeed, the flight of Goddard’s rocket on March 16, 1926, at Auburn, Massachusetts, was as significant to history as that of the Wright brothers flight at Kitty Hawk. Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Tim Childers Music Credits: “Suburban Waltz” by Philip Guyler and “Unchartered Territories” by Phil Stevens