[022] Assistant (Henry Sachs) igniting the rocket, March 16, 1926

Photographer

Esther C. Goddard

Preview

Description

Photograph of Robert Goddard's assistant Henry Sachs igniting the rocket on March 16, 1926. This test, which took place at Ward Farm in Auburn, Massachusetts, would go down in history as the world's first flight of a liquid-fueled rocket. In his book Rocket Man: Robert H. Goddard and the Birth of the Space Age, David A. Clary describes that "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 delay in lift-off and very limited film length is what prevented Esther from capturing the flight with her movie camera. The delay was due to the rocket needing to burn off excess fuel before it could lift off.

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 181 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., "[022] Assistant (Henry Sachs) igniting the rocket, March 16, 1926" (1926). The Goddard Rocket Researches: A Photographic Record [Individual Photographs]. 22.
https://commons.clarku.edu/goddardphotographs/22

Rights

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