ROCKETRY—COX AND STOIKO 263 
was successful, and a demonstration was held at the Aberdeen Proving 
Grounds on November 6 and 7, 1918. The reports from these demon- 
strations were so encouraging that the Government authorized limited 
rocket research between World War I and World War II. 
It was not generally known, however, in or out of the United States, 
until 1919, that Dr. Goddard was engaged in rocket research and de- 
velopment. At that time, Goddard delivered his now famous mono- 
eraph to the Smithsonian Institution entitled “A Method of Reaching 
Extreme Altitudes.” In the second part of this paper, in addition to 
the report of his experimental work, Dr. Goddard showed that a 
rocket with a gross weight of 22,000 pounds would be capable of 
escaping from the earth and delivering a payload of magnesium 
powder to the moon. He estimated that in impacting on the moon a 
flash could be created which would be visible on the earth. It is inter- 
esting to note that the Vanguard launching vehicle weighs 22,000 
pounds and, secondly, that many people today are proposing that we 
send nuclear or other type warheads to the moon to create an explosion 
which would be visible on earth. 
By 1926 Dr. Goddard’s research activities included almost every 
aspect of rocket design and culminated in a feasibility demonstration 
of the world’s first liquid-propellant rockets. Although the demon- 
stration was successful, his accomplishments were ahead of their time 
and not immediately recognized. 
Dr. Goddard continued his research first in New England and then 
later in the deserts of New Mexico. Many experimental rocket- 
stabilization flights were conducted in New Mexico. On December 
30, 1930, an 11-foot rocket reached a height of 2,000 feet and a velocity 
of 500 miles per hour. Another flight, on March 28, 1935, achieved a 
height of 4,800 feet and a velocity of 550 miles per hour. Subsequent 
rocket firings achieved altitudes of 7,500 feet and speeds of 700 miles 
per hour. 
Some of Dr. Goddard’s contributions to rocketry, of which there 
were many, were as follows: 
1. Mathematical analysis of multistage rockets. 
2. Feasibility of liquid propellants. 
3. Centrifugal propellant pump. 
4. The use of jet vane fins in the rocket exhaust. 
5. Invention of the first practical gyroscope. 
Goddard is truly the father of modern rocketry. In 1922, Hermann 
Oberth wrote to Goddard, requesting a copy of “A Method of Reaching 
Extreme Altitudes.” The following year, Oberth published his classic 
book on space travel, “Die Rakete zu den Planetenriiumen” (‘The 
Rocket to the Interplanetary Spaces). This book, written by a mathe- 
matician, discussen in great detail the theoretical requirements for 
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