In 1920, when Robert H. Goddard outlined how a rocket might reach the moon, The New York Times wrote that he seemed “to lack the knowledge ladled out daily in high schools” and argued, incorrectly, that thrust was not possible in a vacuum.
The Times was dead wrong and history has been kinder to Dr. Goddard since his death in 1945. Now he is viewed as a pioneer of the space age.
A crucial step in his career came on this day in 1926 — 97 years ago — when he tested the first liquid-fueled rocket from his aunt’s farm in Massachusetts.
It reached only 41 feet, but, according to NASA, the experiment was “as significant to history as that of the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk.”
After Apollo 11 launched in 1969, even The Times came around, noting in a correction that it was “now definitely established that a rocket can function in a vacuum as well as in an atmosphere.”
Goddard proved that one should never be guided by mainstream thinking. “When old dreams die, new ones come to take their place,” Goddard said. “God pity a one-dream man.”
Thanks New York Times!