American rocket expert Robert Goddard

American rocket expert Robert Goddard has a famous saying: "Yesterday's dreams are today's hopes and tomorrow's reality." It is Robert Goddard's scientific research that gives us the opportunity to realize many flying dreams today.

As early as the beginning of the last century, Robert Goddard conducted many studies and experiments on rockets. Later, he developed multi-stage rockets, with each stage's engine pushing the rocket higher until it flew out of the atmosphere. His multi-stage rocket design ideas are still in use today. In some respects, today's rockets are all Goddard rockets.

In 1903, the Wright brothers flew the world's first airplane over North Carolina, USA. Later, other scientists and inventors also flew airplanes for flight tests. But Robert Goddard was far ahead of his time in building a flying machine that was different from an airplane, calling two of his early designs "rockets." Goddard designed and test-fired many rockets powered by solid chemical fuels. By 1925, he designed and test-fired the world's first rocket powered by soft chemical fuel; in 1926, he successfully test-fired the world's first rocket powered by liquid chemical fuel. Considered by many historians to be as important as the first flight of the Wright brothers' plane, Goddard's experiments proved that rockets could fly out of the Earth's atmosphere and into space.

Robert Goddard was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1882. During Goddard's childhood, his family moved to Boston, Massachusetts. His father was proficient in mechanics and was a tool processor in the Boston machinery industry. During Goddard's childhood, his mother suffered from tuberculosis and was extremely weak. At that time, tuberculosis was incurable. Goddard was also often sick and unable to attend school regularly. When he was 17, the family moved back to Worcester. Goddard was a bad student, failed a grade, and was older than his classmates. He hated mathematics, but of course it was mathematics that helped him achieve his career.

On a beautiful autumn day, Goddard was sitting under a tree behind his house, reading the science fiction novel "Star Wars: The Martians Invasion of the Earth" by the British writer H.G. Wells. It's strange to say, Robert said: "When I looked up at the eastern sky, I suddenly thought that we could make an aircraft and fly to Mars. How great would it be? I imagined that there would be such a gadget that could fly from the ground. I stood up and flew into the sky. From then on, I seemed to have changed as a person and set a goal for my life." Later, he thought that this might have something to do with Wells's book.

Robert Goddard seldom talked about the day he read under the tree on October 19, but he always remembered this day. On this day, he wanted to invent an aircraft that could fly higher and further than anything else. He has identified his goal in life and believes that he will succeed. He said: "I understood that the first thing I had to do was to read good books, especially mathematics. Even if I hated mathematics, I had to conquer it."

Two years later, Goddard I feel better and can go to school. He attended Worcester South High School and studied mathematics very diligently. Goddard's father spent all his money taking care of his sick wife and had no money to pay for Robert's tuition after graduating from high school. Goddard received support elsewhere and attended a technical college in Worcester. He had very good teachers who helped him become an expert in mathematics and physics. Goddard completed his education at Worcester Polytechnic, where he became a physics teacher, and later attended Clark University.

He began to develop the idea of ??a multi-stage rocket. A multi-stage rocket is a rocket with more than one engine. Each stage of the engine can push the rocket higher. Rockets are powered by the explosion of two gases - hydrogen and oxygen.

After a year at Clark University, Goddard went to Princeton College in New Jersey to further study rockets. He said: "I often worked all night long and finally understood how to make the rocket fly higher than anything else. But I was too tired and fell ill again. I had to stop working and receive treatment. After X-rays, I have the same disease as my mother - tuberculosis. The doctor said I can only live for two more weeks and let me take a long rest. But I want to live. I can't die. I want to work."

< p>Two weeks later, Robert Goddard was not dead and was back at work. In October 1913, Goddard completed the first rocket project; in May of the following year, he completed another rocket project. These two rocket programs laid an essential foundation for subsequent manned spaceflight. In 1914, the U.S. government granted him two patents to protect his invention.

The Smithsonian Institution provided funding to Robert Goddard to help him continue his research on rockets. In 1919, the Smithsonian Institution published several of Goddard's reports to illustrate his research in "Methods of Reaching Ultimate Altitudes." The report explains how he developed the mathematical theory of rockets and the method by which they could fly higher than balloons. In the report, Goddard also talked about the possibility of a rocket flying to the moon. There was a big debate in the news about the possibility of landing on the moon, and many people thought Goddard was a fool for proposing such an unrealistic thing.

The world's first liquid-fuel rocket on the launch pad (photo from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)

Goddard needed funds to continue researching rockets, and world-famous pilot Charles Lindbergh helped him start from The Guggenheim Fellowship secured funding, and Goddard immediately began developing a larger rocket. In the 1930s, he flew rockets several times at a scientific research center in Roswell, New Mexico. He flew the first electrically controlled rocket, with the control point 300 meters away from the launch point. He also flew the first rocket controlled by a gyroscope, which was used to keep the rocket on target.

All of Goddard's scientific research work was completed in the United States, but his results are famous all over the world. German scientists used his design ideas to create the V-2 rocket used in World War II.

During World War II, Goddard helped the U.S. Navy develop some rocket engines and methods for launching jet aircraft. He continued to develop tank-fighting rocket launchers, a scientific research project he had undertaken at the end of World War I.

In 1945, Robert Goddard died of cancer at the age of 63. He was frail and sickly throughout his life, but optimistic. He has made remarkable achievements in rocket research and received many honors. He believes that his life is complete. He said: "Dreams came from nowhere, and I turned them into reality when I was 17 years old."

Many years after his death, Robert Goddard received a special honor. In 1959, the United States built the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland near Washington, D.C., which was the first large-scale scientific laboratory in the United States dedicated entirely to space science. The Goddard Space Flight Center pays tribute to American rocket expert Robert Goddard who proved that spacecraft can fly out of the Earth's atmosphere and into space.