H. G. Wells inspired many with his 1898 book, War of the Worlds. One of those was seventeen-year old Robert Goddard. After reading the book, Goddard was fascinated with the idea of rockets and space flight. After earning a Ph.D in physics at his hometown Clark University, Goddard received a grant from the Smithsonian Institute to fund his research. In 1920, he published a small pamphlet, A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes, part of which discussed a rocket that would reach the moon. His research turned to rockets that used liquid fuel instead of powder. On March 26, 1926, he succeeded in launching the first liquid-fueled rocket, flying to 184 feet. After a call from Charles Lindberg, Goddard met Harry Guggenheim, who funded Goddard’s research. Goddard moved to New Mexico, a far better place to launch rockets than Massachusetts. This led to other advancements by Goddard, like the first rocket to fly faster than 500 mph, the first to fly higher than 2,000 feet, the first to use an internal guidance system, and the first to use turbopumps to supply fuel. The “father of modern rocketry” was eventually awarded 214 patents for his pioneering work.
The Space Race heated up in the years after World War II. The Germans were the first to use liquid-propelled rockets in warfare. Some of the German rocket scientists came to the United States, while others were taken to the Soviet Union. A number of German scientists, like Wernher von Braun, had always been more interested in space flight than in creating weapons of war. The pioneering work of scientists like Goddard and von Braun pushed the development of liquid-propelled rockets. While the Soviet Union was the first to launch a satellite and the first to put a man in orbit, the United States was first to put a man on the moon during the Apollo program, winning the Space Race. Liquid-propelled rockets have placed all kinds of satellites in space, including weather, internet, and gps satellites. They helped build the International Space Station and launch our most important scientific observatories, like the Hubble and the James Webb space telescopes.
Since our last human moon mission in 1972, there has been a desire to return for further research and possible settlement. The Artemis program was established by NASA in 2017. The program is designed to establish a permanent base on the Moon, using this base as a springboard to take women and men astronauts to the planet Mars. Artemis is composed of two parts. SLS (Space Launch System) contains both solid rocket boosters and a liquid-fueled rocket. On top sits the Orion spacecraft, providing living space for the astronauts. Uncrewed, Artemis I launched in November 2022, traveling to the moon and back. Artemis II is scheduled to launch in 2026, taking four astronauts on a trip around the moon and back to earth. Once the mission is completed, this group of four will have traveled further away from earth than any other humans.
Goddard envisioned humans going to the moon. The United States did just that in 1969 with the Apollo 11 mission. Now, with the Artemis program, it is time to go back.
Michael C. Hardy is an award-winning historian who just happens to moon-light at the Bare Dark Sky Observatory.