[023] "The empty frame" after world's first flight of a liquid-propelled rocket, March 16, 1926

Photographer

Esther C. Goddard

Preview

Description

Photograph of Robert Goddard looking up at "the empty frame, after world's first flight of a liquid-propelled rocket, March 16, 1926" (annotation by Esther Goddard). This still was taken from a piece of 16mm film that Esther shot (Robert bought his wife a movie camera earlier that year). Esther would often extract still images from her own footage. The footage this still comes from can be seen here, as part of our The Goddard Rocket Film Reels. While the flight itself was not captured by photograph or on film (due to a delay in lift-off and having mere seconds of available footage to shoot), Esther was able to record moments before the flight, assistant Henry Sachs igniting the rocket, and after the flight.

The flight took place at "Aunt Effie's" (a distant relative of Goddard's) Ward Farm in Auburn Massachusetts, where he conducted rocket experiments until 1929. In his book Rocket Man: Robert H. Goddard and the Birth of the Space Age, David Clary describes that assistant Henry Sachs "lit a blowtorch attached to a long stick, and touched off the igniter, improvised from match heads, at the top of the motor. Then he lit the alcohol tank under the LOX tank, and stepped behind a propped-up wooden door for shelter. Goddard turned a valve, which let pressurized oxygen from a tank enter the fuel system, donating a boost to the vapor pressure rising from the LOX tank, heated by the alcohol flame."

As Goddard next described it, "Even though the release was pulled, the rocket did not rise at first, but the flame came out and there was a steady roar. After a number of seconds it rose, slowly until it cleared the frame, and then at express-train speed, curving over to the left, and striking the ice and snow, still going at a rapid rate. It looked almost magical as it rose, without any appreciably greater noise or flame, as if it said, 'I've been here long enough; I think I'll be going somewhere else if you don't mind'".

The rocket's altitude was 41 feet at an average of 60 miles per hour; it was in the air for 2.5 seconds and landed 184 feet from the launching frame, traveling a total path of 220 feet.

'The Goddard Rocket Researches: A Photographic Record' is an annotated photo album covering Robert H. Goddard's work and experimentation with rocketry. It was assembled and curated by Esther Goddard sometime after her husband's passing in 1945. Additionally, almost all of the photographs were taken by Esther herself.

Photographs were scanned at 400dpi.

Date Taken

3-16-1926

Type

image

Genre

photograph

Format

jpg

Keywords

Robert Goddard, rocketry, liquid-propellant rocket, liquid fuel rocket

Recommended Citation

Goddard, Esther C., "[023] "The empty frame" after world's first flight of a liquid-propelled rocket, March 16, 1926" (1926). The Goddard Rocket Researches: A Photographic Record [Individual Photographs]. 21.
https://commons.clarku.edu/goddardphotographs/21

Rights

This image is the property of Clark University and is intended for non-commercial use. Images may be copied for research, teaching, personal, or any fair use as defined by U.S. copyright law. Images may not be altered in any way. Users of these images are asked to acknowledge Clark University. For questions or further information about usage rights, please contact archives@clarku.edu