Wirt,
Thank you for the reminder. I am a grateful alumnus of Clark University
and, as such, I am very conscious of standing on the shoulders of giants
such as Professor Goddard. It felt good to pause and contemplate the
anniversary of this important moment and what it represents. Thank you
again.
Yours,
Jim McIntosh
"Wirt Atmar" <[log in to unmask]> wrote in message
news:98ts9n01f4p@enews3.newsguy.com...
> I was going to mention this anniversary, but decided not to, simply
because I
> put so much off-topic material on the list already. Nonetheless, today is
a
> significant anniversary, and I changed my mind when I received the
following
> announcement from NASA a few minutes ago:
>
> =======================================
>
> Subj: NASA ADMININISTRATOR MARKS DR. GODDARD'S VISION
> Date: 3/16/01 11:53:14 AM Mountain Standard Time
> From: [log in to unmask]
> Sender: [log in to unmask]
>
> Bob Jacobs
> Headquarters, Washington, DC March 16, 2001
> (Phone: 202/358-1600)
>
> Ed Campion
> Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
> (Phone: 301/286-0697)
>
> RELEASE: 01-47
>
> NASA ADMININISTRATOR MARKS DR. GODDARD'S VISION
>
> The following is a statement by NASA Administrator
> Daniel S. Goldin regarding the 75th anniversary of Dr. Robert
> H. Goddard's first successful liquid-fueled rocket launch.
>
> "Once publicly ridiculed for his vision to boldly expand the
> frontier of space, Dr. Robert Goddard inspired a new
> generation of explorers on this date in 1926. Dr. Goddard
> initially expressed interest in rockets in 1899, when he was
> just 17 years old. By 1915, he had developed the detailed
> mathematical theory of rocket propulsion and proved rocket
> engines could produce thrust in a vacuum, making space flight
> possible.
>
> "Dr. Goddard's first work on rockets made little impression
> on the scientific community and government leaders. Only
> through modest subsidies and leaves of absence from his
> university duties was he able to sustain his lifetime of
> devoted research and testing.
>
> "At the time of his death in 1945, Dr. Goddard held 214
> patents in rocketry, and in memory of this brilliant
> innovator, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center was established
> in 1959 in Greenbelt, Maryland.
>
> "Dr. Goddard once said every vision is a joke, until the
> first man accomplishes it. NASA honors his vision through our
> continued leadership in aerospace technology and Earth and
> Space sciences. We work each day to expand knowledge of our
> planet and its environment, the solar system and the
> universe. This Agency is committed to future excellence in
> scientific investigation, the advancement of education, the
> safe development and operation of space systems, and in
> providing the inspiration for the next generation of rocket
> scientists."
>
> Additional information is available on the Internet at:
>
> http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/75th/history.htm
>
> -end-
>
> * * *
> ========================================
>
> I know Goddard's story very well simply because it has always been of
great
> interest to me. Goddard was a professor of physics at Clark University in
> Massachussetts, where he not only published a paper in the Smithsonian
Misc.
> Collections series in 1919 on "A method of reaching extreme altitudes", he
> also set out about trying to build the liquid-fueled rockets that he
> described in the paper.
>
> To Goddard's everlasting regret, newspaper reporters actually read the
paper
> and hounded him throughout his time at Clark University, especially so
once
> he began to actually attempt flight. The NY Times ran an editorial saying
> that professor Goddard "didn't have the brains that were ladled out in
most
> every American classroom", and his first attempt at flight, which only
went a
> few tens of feet, was reported as "Professor misses the Moon by 238,738
1/2
> miles".
>
> Because of complaints from his neighbors, and in an attempt to get more
> privacy, he moved his flights to an Army camp at Hell Pond, MA. But it was
in
> Aunt Effie's backyard, 75 years ago today, that he was able to obtain the
> first sustained liquid-fueled rocket flight.
>
> One of Goddard's students, Edwin Aldrin (Sr.), the yet-to-be father of
Edwin
> "Buzz" Aldrin, the second man to walk on the Moon, knew Charles Lindberg
and
> arranged for Lindberg to call Goddard at his office. Lindberg, at the
time,
> was at least as famous as Neil Armstrong. When Goddard came home and told
his
> wife that he had spent the afternoon in a very interesting conversation
with
> Lindberg, she replied that that was very nice, and that she had had tea
with
> Marie, Queen of Rumania.
>
> Lindberg was very interested in Goddard's work and recruited Daniel
> Guggenheim to further fund his research. With Guggenheim's and Lindberg's
> money, Goddard left Hell Pond, MA and moved his entire operation to Eden
> Valley, New Mexico, just outside of Roswell, and it was from there that he
> did his truly spectacular work.
>
> Goddard died August 10, 1945, just ten days before I was born, so we
didn't
> share the planet as free-living souls. But Goddard's footprints are
> everywhere here, and the Roswell high school is called Goddard, and they
are
> of course the "Rockets."
>
> On July 20, 1969, the day that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on
the
> Moon, the NY Times printed a retraction of their 1926 editorial, saying
that
> it appears the newspaper was in error and that professor Goddard was
correct
> all along.
>
> Wirt Atmar
>
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