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From: paulhus@euclid.DEC (N. CHRIS PAULHUS DTN 223-6871 MLO8-3/T13)
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: Robert Goddard
Message-ID: <354@decwrl.DEC.COM>
Date: Thu, 9-Jan-86 14:12:01 EST
Article-I.D.: decwrl.354
Posted: Thu Jan  9 14:12:01 1986
Date-Received: Sat, 11-Jan-86 06:08:30 EST
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	W. Von Braum vs. Robert Goddard

  The recent postings mentioning Von Braum bring to mind an anecdote my
  dad relates:  When Von Braum was debriefed by (U.S.?/Allied?) scientists,
  he was asked how Germany was able to make such incredible progress in
  rocketry in comparison to the allies.  Von Braum expressed amazement at
  the question and said that they had done nothing new, that they had just
  implemented the work of the American rocket pioneer, Robert Goddard. The
  scientists asked, who is this Goddard?!
    I took this tale with a grain of salt until I finally visited the new
  Air and Space Museum.  There, next to the familiar engine-above-fuel-
  tanks-below first rocket of Goddard's was his latest model (1938 I think).
  What an incredible achievement! Gyro inertial guidance, gimbled motor,
  turbo-pumps for propellants, and (I believe) fuel cooling of some
  components.  Look at a V-2 and it's the same level of technology, just
  a bit different (much less than an order of magnitude delta) scale.
    Goddard made his first flights in Auburn, MA.  After some problems there,
  (I think he set something on fire) he started using a launch site in
  Harvard, MA, now (then?) on Fort Devens, about a mile from where I now
  live.  (He rapidly outgrew this site and moved to [White Sands?].)  The
  Harvard site has a small monument and a tiny sign on a little used road
  on Fort Devens. I'd bet less than 100 people visit it a year.  
    I wonder if Goddard will ever get the respect that he deserves from the
  space community?
	- N. Chris Paulhus, DEC - Maynard