Portrait of Robert Goddard
NASA

Robert Goddard

Robert Goddard was an American physicist who lived between 1882-1945. He was a pioneer of modern rocketry who discovered that liquid fuel is more efficient than solid fuel. Although Goddard's first rocket flew for only 2 1/2 seconds, it made him believe that travel into space and to the Moon was possible, a position for which he was often ridiculed.

Goddard spent much of his life perfecting the liquid propulsion system which he had invented. He also learned how to control rocket flight and how to equip them with parachutes so they could land safely.


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