[021] Liquid oxygen-gasoline rocket in the frame from which it was fired in Auburn, Massachusetts on March 16, 1926

Photographer

Esther C. Goddard

Preview

Description

Famous photograph of Robert Goddard at Aunt Effie's (a distant relative) Ward Farm, standing next to his "liquid oxygen-gasoline rocket in the frame from which it was fired in Auburn, Massachusetts on March 16, 1926" (annotation by Esther Goddard). This test would go down in history as the world's first flight of a liquid-fueled rocket. Goddard poses next to the rocket before the test. A previously unseen photograph that shows a slightly different angle from the day can be found here.

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 delay in lift-off and very limited film length prevented Esther from capturing the flight with her new movie camera. That brief 16mm film footage can be seen here, as part of the Goddard Rocket Film Reels series. While the flight itself was not captured by photograph or video, Esther was able to record before the flight, assistant Henry Sachs igniting the rocket, and after the flight.

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 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., "[021] Liquid oxygen-gasoline rocket in the frame from which it was fired in Auburn, Massachusetts on March 16, 1926" (1926). The Goddard Rocket Researches: A Photographic Record [Individual Photographs]. 23.
https://commons.clarku.edu/goddardphotographs/23

Rights

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