The Enigma of Robert H. Goddard

modern rocketry and as a man who, because of his aloofness, had meager influence on contemporaries.' As these conflicting views suggest, despite the rather extensive literature on this important rocket pioneer he remains something of a mystery. The aim of this article is not to decide which view is correct. Both are valid as far as they go. As the first person known to have launched a liquid-propellant rocket (in 1926), Goddard deserves, arguably, to be acknowledged as in some sense the progenitor of modern rocketry. Yet, as a loner who avoided publicity and remained highly secretive about most of the technical details of his liquid-propellant rockets, he failed to have more than an inspirational influence on most specific developments in modern rocketry. This is so even though he anticipated a great many of these developments in the patented components of his rockets.2 Clearly, Goddard was a highly gifted man who achieved numerous significant firsts in rocket development. Yet he failed to reach the goal he set for himself-to send a rocket to extremely high altitudes. Given his abilities, why did Goddard fail to accomplish that goal, and why did he remain so secretive and thus also fail to influence future