The Goddard Rocket Film Reels

Reel 04: How a Flight is Carried Out; First flights at Roswell, December 1930 - April 1932

Type

Video

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Date

1930-1932

Description

The Goddard Rocket Film Reels consists of twelve four-hundred-foot 16mm black-and-white film reels documenting Robert Goddard's experimental work with rockets in Auburn, Massachusetts, Roswell, New Mexico, and Annapolis, Maryland from 1926 through 1945. These reels were restruck in the mid-1960s, which were then digitized several years ago. Some, and very likely all, of these home movies were shot by Robert's wife Esther C. Goddard.

Reel 4 contains a unique sequence titled 'How a Flight is Carried Out' which depicts the step-by-step process for one of Robert Goddard's rocket experiments during his first (much shorter) grant-funded time in Roswell, New Mexico from 1930 to 1932. Each step is given its own intertitle with accompanying footage depicting said step.

Among the first flights at Roswell shown in the latter half of this footage is from December 30, 1930, the fifth flight of a liquid-propellant rocket. There are no other specific dates stated but the footage of these flights come earlier than the December 30, 1930 one, likely dating them between July and December 1930.

This list of intertitles gives a detailed account of the footage contained in this reel:

(00:04) The equipment arrives at the testing tower
(00:34) Unloading, and assembling the controls
(02:18) The electric cable is laid down, extending to the 1000-foot shelter, seen in the distance
(02:43) The final check-over, after which everyone leaves the testing tower
(03:16) At the 1000-foot shelter the pressure is observed through a telescope...
(03:29) ...the time of flight is checked by a stop watch...
(03:38) ...the rotation of the rocket is observed...
(03:51) ...and one operator handles the control keys
(04:03) A time-position record of the flight is obtained by the recording telescope, 3000 feet from the tower
(04:31) On arriving at the 1000-foot shelter, word is given to press key No. 1
(04:52) Firing and releasing then take place automatically
(05:17) Off for the recovery
(05:41) The first flight with remote control
(06:12) Later flights, with improved pressure regulation, and remote control
(06:24) The flight of December 30, 1930

Duration

00:07:25

Genre

home movies

Keywords

Robert H. Goddard, rocketry, home movies, motion picture film, liquid-propellant rockets

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