Robert Goddard: The Invention Of The Liquid Fueled Rocket

Without the exploration of the liquid fueled rocket Robert Goddard made in 1926 the world would be almost no where today in space travel. And without his exchange with the Smithsonian Institution the liquid fueled rocket might not have been a possibility. Robert Goddard was born October 5th, 1882 in Worcester Massachusetts. His mother was Fannie Hoyt and his father was Nahum Goddard. As a child Robert was not the best student he missed many days of school in high school. However, he was very successful in college and was considered ahead of his time. He attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute, where he came up with his first ideas of the liquid fueled rocket, but could not experiment and received his Bachelor of Science in 1908. From there he went to Clark university taught physics and
However, on March 16, 1926 Robert launched the first liquid fueled rocket. This rocket was one of the most significant inventions to all of mankind. The rocket traveled for 2.5 seconds at a speed of about 60 mph, reaching an altitude of 41 feet and landing 184 feet away. The rocket was 10 feet tall, constructed out of thin pipes, and was liquid fueled. This would not have been possible without the De Laval Nozzle. The De Laval Nozzle is an asymmetric hourglass like nozzle that is attached to the end of rockets that creates pressure form liquids burning and creating thrust that sends the rocket upwards. The De Laval uses the expanding gases from burning fuels and in the pinched part of the middle of the nozzle the gases are pressurized and the pressure creates thrust. Using the De Laval nozzle increased his rocket’s efficiency by 63%. He improved the original design by using a calibrated compressed spring. And a device with that could work in a vacuum such as space. However, no one believed that his invention could even work, let alone travel in space. But his same design was used in the rocket that sent the first humans to the