Photographed is a model of early rocketry, the Atlas Mercury.
Early Rockets
By the end of the 19th century, soldiers, sailors, and practical and not-so practical inventors, had developed a stake in rocketry. Skillful theorists, like Konstantian Tsiolkovsky in Russia, were examining the fundamental scientific theories behind rocketry. They were begirning to consider the possibility of space travel
Early Rockets
Photographed are models of early rocketry: The Atlas Mercury, Atlas Centaur, and Atlas Agena.
Early Rockets
Photographed are models of early rocketry: The Atlas Mercury, Redstone Mercury; and Saturn C-1.
Early Rockets
Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger, a member of von Braun's original German rocket team who directed the Research Projects Office, spoke about the importance of teachers in his life during a reception honoring educators attending the NASA Student Launch Initiative Rocketry Workshop at the Marshall Space Flight Center in July, 2003.
Around Marshall
By the end of the 19th Century, a Russian theorist, Konstantian Tsiolkovsky, was examining the fundamental scientific theories behind rocketry. He made some pioneering studies in liquid chemical rocket concepts and recommended liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen as the optimum propellants. In the 1920's, Tsiolkovsky analyzed and mathematically formulated the technique for staged vehicles to reach escape velocities from Earth.
Early Rockets
Over 1,000 middle school, high school, and collegiate students from across the U.S. and Puerto Rico launched high-powered, amateur rockets on April 13, just north of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, as part of the agency’s annual Student Launch rocketry competition.
2024 Student Launch
Children at Astro Camp at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Miss., launch rockets as one of their activities in the weeklong camp. Each week during the summer, approximately 30 children ages 9-12 from across Mississippi and Louisiana spend a week learning about space flight. Astro Camp Saturday offers a condensed version of Astro Camp on the third Saturday of each month from January through May 2001.
Astro Camp 2000 Rocketry Exercise
NASA Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot addresses a standing room-only crowd at the March 20 National Space Club Huntsville breakfast. Lightfoot, who recently announced he will be retiring from the agency on April 30, praised NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and spoke about where the agency is headed over the next two decades.  “I get to be nostalgic now, as I leave the Agency. This work was going on before I got here, and it’s going to keep going on after I leave,” said Lightfoot.  “In this nation where we hear a lot about what we can't do, NASA is a demonstration of what this nation can do. The Space Launch System rocket is taking shape right here at Marshall. The passion our team has on our exploration journey is second to none and there seems to be a sense of urgency to get to that first launch. Exploration gives us hope for the future, and brings today's generation on board to forge its own path to the next great milestones for humanity.” National Space Club Huntsville's mission is to promote the awareness of civilian and military applications for rocketry and astronautics. Participation in its events helps raise money for scholarships and STEM engagement in the community.
NASA Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot addresses members of the National Space Club at a breakfast meeting in the Jackson Conference Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASAÕs Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
Student Rockets Return to Alabama Sky
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASAÕs Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
Student Rockets Return to Alabama Sky
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASAÕs Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
Student Rockets Return to Alabama Sky
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASAÕs Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
Student Rockets Return to Alabama Sky
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASAÕs Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
Student Rockets Return to Alabama Sky
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASAÕs Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
Student Rockets Return to Alabama Sky
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASA’s Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
2022 Student Launch
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASAÕs Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
Student Rockets Return to Alabama Sky
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASA’s Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
2022 Student Launch
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASAÕs Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
Student Rockets Return to Alabama Sky
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASAÕs Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
Student Rockets Return to Alabama Sky
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASAÕs Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
Student Rockets Return to Alabama Sky
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASA’s Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
2022 Student Launch
In addition to Dr. Robert Goddard's pioneering work, American experimentation in rocketry prior to World War II grew, primarily in technical societies. This is an early rocket motor designed and developed by the American Rocket Society in 1932.
Early Rockets
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASA’s Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
2022 Student Launch
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASAÕs Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
Student Rockets Return to Alabama Sky
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASAÕs Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
Student Rockets Return to Alabama Sky
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASAÕs Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
Student Rockets Return to Alabama Sky
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASAÕs Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
Student Rockets Return to Alabama Sky
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASA’s Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
2022 Student Launch
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASA’s Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
2022 Student Launch
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASAÕs Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
Student Rockets Return to Alabama Sky
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASAÕs Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
Student Rockets Return to Alabama Sky
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASA’s Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
2022 Student Launch
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASAÕs Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
Student Rockets Return to Alabama Sky
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASAÕs Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
Student Rockets Return to Alabama Sky
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASAÕs Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
Student Rockets Return to Alabama Sky
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASAÕs Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
Student Rockets Return to Alabama Sky
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASA’s Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
2022 Student Launch
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASAÕs Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
Student Rockets Return to Alabama Sky
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASAÕs Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
Student Rockets Return to Alabama Sky
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASAÕs Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
Student Rockets Return to Alabama Sky
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASAÕs Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
Student Rockets Return to Alabama Sky
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASA’s Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
2022 Student Launch
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASAÕs Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
Student Rockets Return to Alabama Sky
Following two years of virtual events, high school and college teams from across the country return to Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, to compete in NASAÕs Student Launch rocketry competition April 23.
Student Rockets Return to Alabama Sky
General Medaris, (left) who was a Commander of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, during 1955 to 1958, shakes hands with Major General Holger Toftoy (right), who consolidated U.S. missile and rocketry development.
Origin of Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)
Teachers participate in the Rocketry Engineering Design Challenge during the 2017 GE Foundation High School STEM Integration Conference at the Center for Space Education at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. High school teachers from across the country took part in the week-long conference, which is designed to explore effective ways for teachers, schools and districts from across the country to integrate STEM throughout the curriculum. The conference is a partnership between GE Foundation and the National Science Teachers Association.
GE STEM Teacher's Conference
Teachers prepare to demonstrate the projects they built for the Rocketry Engineering Design Challenge during the 2017 GE Foundation High School STEM Integration Conference at the Center for Space Education at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. High school teachers from across the country took part in the week-long conference, which is designed to explore effective ways for teachers, schools and districts from across the country to integrate STEM throughout the curriculum. The conference is a partnership between GE Foundation and the National Science Teachers Association.
GE STEM Teacher's Conference
ISS047e056031 (04/12/2016) --- NASA astronaut Tim Kopra, Commander of Expedition 47, floats inside the Russian segment on Cosmonautics Day 2016. Behind him are photographs (left to right) of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, a Russian rocket scientist and pioneer of rocketry and astronautics, Sergei Korolev, the lead Soviet rocket and spacecraft engineer during the Space Race, Yuri Gagarin, the first human to fly in outer space, and a photo of Gagarin and Korolev together. Apr. 12, 2016 marked the 55th anniversary of Gagarin’s flight.
iss047e056031
Teachers participate in the Rocketry Engineering Design Challenge during the 2017 GE Foundation High School STEM Integration Conference at the Center for Space Education at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. High school teachers from across the country took part in the week-long conference, which is designed to explore effective ways for teachers, schools and districts from across the country to integrate STEM throughout the curriculum. The conference is a partnership between GE Foundation and the National Science Teachers Association.
GE STEM Teacher's Conference
Less interested in the scientific fundamentals of rocketry, many writers of popular literature and science fiction discovered one of the most vital elements in the formula for space travel, a fertile imagination. Under the impression that the sun "draws up" dewdrops, Cyrano de Bergerac suggested fancifully that one might fly by trapping dew in bottles, strapping the bottles to oneself, and standing in sunlight.
Early Rockets
Teachers prepare to demonstrate the projects they built for the Rocketry Engineering Design Challenge during the 2017 GE Foundation High School STEM Integration Conference at the Center for Space Education at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. High school teachers from across the country took part in the week-long conference, which is designed to explore effective ways for teachers, schools and districts from across the country to integrate STEM throughout the curriculum. The conference is a partnership between GE Foundation and the National Science Teachers Association.
GE STEM Teacher's Conference
Dr. Wernher von Braun (center), then Chief of the Guided Missile Development Division at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, discusses a "bottle suit" model with Dr. Heinz Haber (left), an expert on aviation medicine, and Willey Ley, a science writer on rocketry and space exploration. The three men were at the Disney studios appearing in the motion picture, entitled "Man in Space."
Wernher von Braun
Teachers participate in the Rocketry Engineering Design Challenge during the 2017 GE Foundation High School STEM Integration Conference at the Center for Space Education at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. High school teachers from across the country took part in the week-long conference, which is designed to explore effective ways for teachers, schools and districts from across the country to integrate STEM throughout the curriculum. The conference is a partnership between GE Foundation and the National Science Teachers Association.
GE STEM Teacher's Conference
Five pioneers pose with scale models of their missiles they created in the 1950s. From left to right: Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger, a member of the original German rocket team who directed the Research Projects Office, Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA); Major General Holger Toftoy, who consolidated U.S. missile and rocketry development; Professor Herman Oberth, a rocket pioneer and Dr. von Braun's mentor; Dr. Wernher von Braun, Director, Development Operation Division, ABMA; and Dr. Robert Lusser, who served as assistant director for Reliability Engineering for ABMA. This photographis was taken February 1, 1956 by Hank Walker and appeared in February 27, 1956 issue of Life magazine.
Origin of Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC)
Education Specialists Lynn Dotson, left, of the NASA Public Engagement Center, and Lester Morales, right, of Texas State University's NASA STEM Educator Professional Development Collaborative, explain the Rocketry Engineering Design Challenge to teachers participating in the 2017 GE Foundation High School STEM Integration Conference at the Center for Space Education at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. High school teachers from across the country took part in the week-long conference, which is designed to explore effective ways for teachers, schools and districts from across the country to integrate STEM throughout the curriculum. The conference is a partnership between GE Foundation and the National Science Teachers Association.
GE STEM Teacher's Conference
Mississippi educators participated in a variety of hands-on activities, including rocketry, robotics, and NASA's BEST (Beginning Engineering, Science, and Technology) during a pair of during a pair of professional development workshops conducted by Stennis Space Center educators in June. On June 14, Stennis educators presented workshops to 96 kindergarten-through-12th-grade science teachers and eight Jackson State University faculty, as part of JSU's Project MAST (Mississippi Academy for Science Teaching) Project. On June 21, educators presented workshops in Starkville to 43 fourth-through-eighth-grade science teachers as part of Mississippi State University's Advancing Teachers of Middle School Science initiative.
Teacher training
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- This is an inside view of the Air Force Space and Missile Museum's History Center, which is located outside the south gate of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida. It contains historic information and displays for each launch complex at CCAFS.    Since opening to the public in 1966, the museum has introduced millions of visitors to the history of rocketry and spaceflight. Its primary mission is to collect, restore and exhibit items of historical significance that relate to the development and heritage of U.S. Air Force space launch activities.      Photo credit: NASA/Frankie Martin
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NASA Administrator Charles Bolden poses with an all-girl engineering team that participated in the White House Science Fair. "Team Rocket Power" was one of 100 teams that qualified for last year’s Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC). Nia'mani Robinson, 15, Jasmyn Logan, 15, and Rebecca Chapin-Ridgely, 17, gave up their weekends and free time after school to build and test their bright purple rocket, which is designed to launch to an altitude of about 750 ft, and then return a “payload” (an egg) to the ground safely. The fourth White House Science Fair was held at the White House on May 27, 2014 and included 100 students from more than 30 different states who competed in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) competitions. (Photo Credit: NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)
White House Science Fair
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, engineers launched a small rocket as part of Rocket University. The goal was to test its systems and to verify that it performed as designed. The event was supported by the Spaceport Rocketry Association, a 40-year-old organization that provides launch demonstrations and educational programs.   As part of Rocket University, the engineers are given an opportunity to work a fast-track project to develop skills in developing spacecraft systems of the future. As NASA plans for future spaceflight programs to low-Earth orbit and beyond, teams of engineers at Kennedy are gaining experience in designing and flying launch vehicle systems on a small scale. Four teams of five to eight members from Kennedy are designing rockets complete with avionics and recovery systems. Launch operations require coordination with federal agencies, just as they would with rockets launched in support of a NASA mission. Photo credit: NASA_Jim Grossmann
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MOJAVE DESERT, Calif. – In the Mojave Desert in California, students and engineers checkout the Garvey Spacecraft Corporation's Prospector P-18D rocket at the Friends of Amateur Rocketry launch site. The rocket is scheduled for launch June 15 with the RUBICS-1 payload on a high-altitude, suborbital mission. The rocket will carry four satellites made from four-inch cube sections.      Collectively known as CubeSats, the satellites will record shock, vibrations and heat inside the rocket. They will not be released during the test flight, but the results will be used to prove or strengthen their designs before they are carried into orbit in 2014 on a much larger rocket. A new, lightweight carrier is also being tested for use on future missions to deploy the small spacecraft. The flight also is being watched closely as a model for trying out new or off-the-shelf technologies quickly before putting them in the pipeline for use on NASA's largest launchers.  Built by several different organizations, including a university, a NASA field center and a high school, the spacecraft are four-inch cubes designed to fly on their own eventually, but will remain firmly attached to the rocket during the upcoming mission. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/smallsats/elana/cubesatlaunchpreview.html Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis
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Dr. Robert H. Goddard and a liquid oxygen-gasoline rocket in the frame from which it was fired on March 16, 1926, at Auburn, Massachusetts. From 1930 to 1941, Dr. Goddard made substantial progress in the development of progressively larger rockets, which attained altitudes of 2400 meters, and refined his equipment for guidance and control, his techniques of welding, and his insulation, pumps and other associated equipment. In many respects, Dr. Goddard laid the essential foundations of practical rocket technology. He is considered one of the fathers of rocketry along with Konstantin Tsiolovsky (1857-1935) and Hermann Oberth (1894-1989).   <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.  <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASA_GoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b>  <b>Join us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b>
First Flight of a Liquid Propellant Rocket
In honor of the Centernial of Flight celebration and commissioned by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), a team of engineers from Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) built a replica of the first liquid-fueled rocket. The original rocket, designed and built by rocket engineering pioneer Robert H. Goddard in 1926, opened the door to modern rocketry. Goddard's rocket reached an altitude of 41 feet while its flight lasted only 2.5 seconds. The Marshall design team's plan was to stay as close as possible to an authentic reconstruction of Goddard's rocket. The same propellants were used - liquid oxygen and gasoline - as available during Goddard's initial testing and firing. The team also tried to construct the replica using the original materials and design to the greatest extent possible. By purposely using less advanced techniques and materials than many that are available today, the team encountered numerous technical challenges in testing the functional hardware. There were no original blueprints or drawings, only photographs and notes. However, this faithful adherence to historical accuracy has also allowed the team to experience many of the same challenges Goddard faced 77 years ago, and more fully appreciate the genius of this extraordinary man. The replica will undergo ground tests at MSFC this summer.
Around Marshall
MOJAVE DESERT, Calif. – In the Mojave Desert in California, a student attaches a tail fin to the Garvey Spacecraft Corporation's Prospector P-18D rocket at the Friends of Amateur Rocketry launch site. The rocket is scheduled for flight June 15 with the RUBICS-1 payload on a high-altitude, suborbital flight. The rocket will carry four satellites made from four-inch cube sections.      Collectively known as CubeSats, the satellites will record shock, vibrations and heat inside the rocket. They will not be released during the test flight, but the results will be used to prove or strengthen their designs before they are carried into orbit in 2014 on a much larger rocket. A new, lightweight carrier is also being tested for use on future missions to deploy the small spacecraft. The flight also is being watched closely as a model for trying out new or off-the-shelf technologies quickly before putting them in the pipeline for use on NASA's largest launchers.  Built by several different organizations, including a university, a NASA field center and a high school, the spacecraft are four-inch cubes designed to fly on their own eventually, but will remain firmly attached to the rocket during the upcoming mission. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/smallsats/elana/cubesatlaunchpreview.html Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis
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MOJAVE DESERT, Calif. – In the Mojave Desert in California, students and engineers checkout the Garvey Spacecraft Corporation's Prospector P-18D rocket at the Friends of Amateur Rocketry launch site. The rocket is scheduled for flight June 15 with the RUBICS-1 payload on a high-altitude, suborbital flight. The rocket will carry four satellites made from four-inch cube sections.      Collectively known as CubeSats, the satellites will record shock, vibrations and heat inside the rocket. They will not be released during the test flight, but the results will be used to prove or strengthen their designs before they are carried into orbit in 2014 on a much larger rocket. A new, lightweight carrier is also being tested for use on future missions to deploy the small spacecraft. The flight also is being watched closely as a model for trying out new or off-the-shelf technologies quickly before putting them in the pipeline for use on NASA's largest launchers.  Built by several different organizations, including a university, a NASA field center and a high school, the spacecraft are four-inch cubes designed to fly on their own eventually, but will remain firmly attached to the rocket during the upcoming mission. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/smallsats/elana/cubesatlaunchpreview.html Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis
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MOJAVE DESERT, Calif. – In the Mojave Desert in California, Kevin Baxter, a range representative of the Friends of Amateur Rocketry launch site, ensures all is ready for launch of the Garvey Spacecraft Corporation's Prospector P-18D rocket with the RUBICS-1 payload on a high-altitude, suborbital flight. The rocket will carry four satellites made from four-inch cube sections.      The rocket reached a peak altitude of about 9,000 feet, however the parachute deployed prematurely and the vehicle continued on its trajectory, coasting and tumbling to a hard landing on its side. In spite of the rough ride, all four CubeSats were recovered. PhoneSat and RUBICS received data in flight, but sustained structural damage. CP-9 and StangSat fared better, and their teams are working to recover as much information as possible. Collectively known as CubeSats, the satellites were designed to record shock, vibrations and heat inside the rocket. The results will be used to prove or strengthen their designs before they are carried into orbit in 2014 on a much larger rocket. Built by several different organizations, including a university, a NASA field center and a high school, the spacecraft are four-inch cubes designed to fly on their own eventually, but will remain firmly attached to the rocket during the upcoming mission. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/smallsats/elana/cubesatlaunchpreview.html Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis
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In honor of the Centernial of Flight Celebration and commissioned by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), a team of engineers from Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) built a replica of the first liquid-fueled rocket. The original rocket, designed and built by rocket engineering pioneer Robert H. Goddard in 1926, opened the door to modern rocketry. Goddard's rocket reached an altitude of 41 feet while its flight lasted only 2.5 seconds. The Marshall design team's plan was to stay as close as possible to an authentic reconstruction of Goddard's rocket. The same propellants were used - liquid oxygen and gasoline - as available during Goddard's initial testing and firing. The team also tried to construct the replica using the original materials and design to the greatest extent possible. By purposely using less advanced techniques and materials than many that are available today, the team encountered numerous technical challenges in testing the functional hardware. There were no original blueprints or drawings, only photographs and notes. However, this faithful adherence to historical accuracy has allowed the team to experience many of the same challenges Goddard faced 77 years ago, and more fully appreciate the genius of this extraordinary man. In this photo, the replica is shown firing in the A-frame launch stand in near-flight configuration at MSFC's Test Area 116 during the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 39th Joint Propulsion Conference on July 23, 2003.
Around Marshall
MOJAVE DESERT, Calif. – In the Mojave Desert in California, students and engineers checkout the Garvey Spacecraft Corporation's Prospector P-18D rocket at the Friends of Amateur Rocketry launch site. The rocket is scheduled for launch June 15 with the RUBICS-1 payload on a high-altitude, suborbital mission. The rocket will carry four satellites made from four-inch cube sections.    Collectively known as CubeSats, the satellites will record shock, vibrations and heat inside the rocket. They will not be released during the test flight, but the results will be used to prove or strengthen their designs before they are carried into orbit in 2014 on a much larger rocket. A new, lightweight carrier is also being tested for use on future missions to deploy the small spacecraft. The flight also is being watched closely as a model for trying out new or off-the-shelf technologies quickly before putting them in the pipeline for use on NASA's largest launchers.  Built by several different organizations, including a university, a NASA field center and a high school, the spacecraft are four-inch cubes designed to fly on their own eventually, but will remain firmly attached to the rocket during the upcoming mission. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/smallsats/elana/cubesatlaunchpreview.html Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis
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Dr. Robert Hutchings Goddard (1882-1945). Dr. Goddard has been recognized as the father of American rocketry and as one of the pioneers in the theoretical exploration of space. Robert Hutchings Goddard, born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on October 5, 1882, was theoretical scientist as well as a practical engineer. His dream was the conquest of the upper atmosphere and ultimately space through the use of rocket propulsion. Dr. Goddard, died in 1945, but was probably as responsible for the dawning of the Space Age as the Wrights were for the beginning of the Air Age. Yet his work attracted little serious attention during his lifetime. However, when the United States began to prepare for the conquest of space in the 1950's, American rocket scientists began to recognize the debt owed to the New England professor. They discovered that it was virtually impossible to construct a rocket or launch a satellite without acknowledging the work of Dr. Goddard. More than 200 patents, many of which were issued after his death, covered this great legacy.   <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.  <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASA_GoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b>  <b>Join us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b>
Dr. Robert H. Goddard
NASA successfully launched a NASA Terrier-Improved Orion suborbital sounding rocket carrying student experiments with the RockOn/RockSat-C programs at 6 a.m., today  More than 200 middle school and university students and instructors participating in Rocket Week at Wallops were on hand to witness the launch.  Through RockOn and RockSat-C students are learning and applying skills required to develop experiments for suborbital rocket flight.  In addition, middle school educators through the Wallops Rocket Academy for Teachers (WRATS) are learning about applying rocketry basics in their curriculum.  The payload flew to an altitude of 71.4 miles and descended by parachute into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Wallops.  Payload recovery is in progress.  The next launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility is a Black Brant IX suborbital sounding rocket currently scheduled between 6 and 10 a.m., July 7.   For more information on NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, visit: <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/wallops" rel="nofollow">www.nasa.gov/wallops</a>  <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b>  <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.  <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b>  <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b>  <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagrid.me/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>
NASA Successfully Launches Suborbital Rocket from Wallops with Student Experiments
Robert H. Goddard with vacuum tube apparatus he built in 1916 to research rocket efficiency. Dr. Robert Hutchings Goddard is commonly referred to as the father of American rocketry. The same year he built the apparatus, Goddard wrote a study requesting funding from the Smithsonian Institution so that he could continue his rocket research, which he had begun in 1907 while still a student at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. A brilliant physicist, with a unique genius for invention, Goddard may not have succeeded had it not been for the Smithsonian Institution and later the Daniel Guggenheim Foundation and his employer the Worcester Polytechnic Institute of Clark University. The former gave him research monies while the Institute provided leaves of absence so that he could continue his life's work. He was the first scientist who not only realized the potential of missiles and space flight, but also contributed directly to making them a reality.  <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.  <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASA_GoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b>  <b>Join us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b>
Goddard with Vacuum Tube Device
MOJAVE DESERT, Calif. – In the Mojave Desert in California, a student StangSat Team of students from Merritt Island High School in Florida posed for a pre-launch photograph as the Garvey Spacecraft Corporation's Prospector P-18D rocket, in the background, was being prepared for flight at the Friends of Amateur Rocketry launch site. Kneeling from left to right, are: Gurkirat Kainth, Megan Mackool, NASA mentor Shaun Daly and Maurisa Orona. Standing from left to right, are: teacher sponsor Tracey Beatovich, Brian Robusto, NASA Education program manager Grace Johnson, Nathan Stephens, Briana Luthman, Jackson Kinney, Steven Krygier, NASA mentor Jim Kinney, Joshua Zirkle and NASA mentor Kelvin Ruiz.      Collectively known as CubeSats, the satellites will record shock, vibrations and heat inside the rocket. They will not be released during the test flight, but the results will be used to prove or strengthen their designs before they are carried into orbit in 2014 on a much larger rocket. A new, lightweight carrier is also being tested for use on future missions to deploy the small spacecraft. The flight also is being watched closely as a model for trying out new or off-the-shelf technologies quickly before putting them in the pipeline for use on NASA's largest launchers.  Built by several different organizations, including a university, a NASA field center and a high school, the spacecraft are four-inch cubes designed to fly on their own eventually, but will remain firmly attached to the rocket during the upcoming mission. For more information, visit http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/smallsats/elana/cubesatlaunchpreview.html Photo credit: NASA/Dimitri Gerondidakis
KSC-2013-2784
NASA successfully launched a NASA Terrier-Improved Orion suborbital sounding rocket carrying student experiments with the RockOn/RockSat-C programs at 6 a.m., today.  More than 200 middle school and university students and instructors participating in Rocket Week at Wallops were on hand to witness the launch.  Through RockOn and RockSat-C students are learning and applying skills required to develop experiments for suborbital rocket flight.  In addition, middle school educators through the Wallops Rocket Academy for Teachers (WRATS) are learning about applying rocketry basics in their curriculum.  The payload flew to an altitude of 71.4 miles and descended by parachute into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Wallops.  Payload recovery is in progress.  The next launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility is a Black Brant IX suborbital sounding rocket currently scheduled between 6 and 10 a.m., July 7.   Credits: NASA Wallops Optics Lab  <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/features/MP_Photo_Guidelines.html" rel="nofollow">NASA image use policy.</a></b>  <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.  <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASAGoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b>  <b>Like us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b>  <b>Find us on <a href="http://instagrid.me/nasagoddard/?vm=grid" rel="nofollow">Instagram</a></b>
Student experimenters successfully launch suborbital rocket from NASA Wallops
Dr. Robert Hutchings Goddard (1882-1945). Dr. Goddard has been recognized as the father of American rocketry and as one of the pioneers in the theoretical exploration of space. Robert Hutchings Goddard, born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on October 5, 1882, was theoretical scientist as well as a practical engineer. His dream was the conquest of the upper atmosphere and ultimately space through the use of rocket propulsion. Dr. Goddard, died in 1945, but was probably as responsible for the dawning of the Space Age as the Wrights were for the beginning of the Air Age. Yet his work attracted little serious attention during his lifetime. However, when the United States began to prepare for the conquest of space in the 1950's, American rocket scientists began to recognize the debt owed to the New England professor. They discovered that it was virtually impossible to construct a rocket or launch a satellite without acknowledging the work of Dr. Goddard. More than 200 patents, many of which were issued after his death, covered this great legacy.   <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.  <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASA_GoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b>  <b>Join us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b>
Dr. Robert H. Goddard
Dr. Robert Hutchings Goddard (1882-1945). Dr. Goddard has been recognized as the father of American rocketry and as one of the pioneers in the theoretical exploration of space. Robert Hutchings Goddard, born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on October 5, 1882, was theoretical scientist as well as a practical engineer. His dream was the conquest of the upper atmosphere and ultimately space through the use of rocket propulsion. Dr. Goddard, died in 1945, but was probably as responsible for the dawning of the Space Age as the Wrights were for the beginning of the Air Age. Yet his work attracted little serious attention during his lifetime. However, when the United States began to prepare for the conquest of space in the 1950's, American rocket scientists began to recognize the debt owed to the New England professor. They discovered that it was virtually impossible to construct a rocket or launch a satellite without acknowledging the work of Dr. Goddard. More than 200 patents, many of which were issued after his death, covered this great legacy.   <b><a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/home/index.html" rel="nofollow">NASA Goddard Space Flight Center</a></b> enables NASA’s mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASA’s accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agency’s mission.  <b>Follow us on <a href="http://twitter.com/NASA_GoddardPix" rel="nofollow">Twitter</a></b>  <b>Join us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Greenbelt-MD/NASA-Goddard/395013845897?ref=tsd" rel="nofollow">Facebook</a></b>
Dr. Robert Goddard