NO. 3 LIOUID-PROPELLANT ROCKET GODDARD 3 



in keeping the flame away from the tanks, but was of no value in 

 producing stabilization. This is evident from the fact that the direction 

 of the propeUing force lay along the axis of the rocket, and not in 

 the direction in which it was intended the rocket should travel, the 

 condition therefore being the same as that in which the chamber is 

 at the rear of the rocket. The case is altogether different from pulling 

 an object upward by a force which is constantly vertical, when 

 stability depends merely on having the force applied above the center 

 of gravity. 



Plate I, figure 2 shows an assistant igniting the rocket, and plate 2, 

 figure I shows the group that witnessed the flight, except for the 

 camera operator. The rocket traveled a distance of 184 feet in 2.5 

 seconds, as timed by a stop watch, making the speed along the trajectory 

 about 60 miles per hour. 



Other short flights of liquid oxygen-gasoline rockets were made 

 in Auburn, that of July 17, 1929, happening to attract public attention 

 owing to a report from someone who witnessed the flight from a 

 distance and mistook the rocket for a flaming airplane. In this flight 

 the rocket carried a small barometer and a camera, both of which 

 were retrieved intact after the flight (pi. 2, fig. 2). The combustion 

 chamber was located at the rear of the rocket, which is, incidentally, the 

 best location, inasmuch as no part of the rocket is in the high velocity 

 stream of ejected gases, and none of the gases are directed at an 

 angle with the rocket axis. 



During the college year 1929-30 tests were carried on at Fort 

 Devens, Mass., on a location which was kindly placed at the disposal 

 of the writer by the War Department. Progress was made, however, 

 with difficulty, chiefly owing to transportation conditions in the 

 winter. 



At about this time Col. Charles A. Lindbergh became interested in 

 the work and brought the matter to the attention of the late Daniel 

 Guggenheim. The latter made a grant which permitted the research 

 to be continued under ideal conditions, namely, in eastern New Mexico ; 

 and Clark University at the same time granted the writer leave of 

 absence. An additional grant was made by the Carnegie Institution 

 of Washington to help in getting established. 



It was decided that the development should be carried on for 

 2 years, at the end of which time a grant making possible 2 further 

 years' work would be made if an advisory committee, formed at the 

 time the grant was made, should decide that this was justified by the 

 results obtained during the first 2 years. This advisory committee 



