FIRST STEPS TOWARD SPACE - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

64
could be expected. Thus Abbot reluctantly wrote
a half-dozen letters acknowledging the viewpoints
of the military, requesting withdrawal of the bill
from committee action and to Goddard informing
him of the lack of interest in his work. 67
In 1932, at the depth of the world financial
depression, Guggenheim funds became unavailable.
68 Goddard returned to Worcester and resumed
teaching at Clark University. 69 He wrote to Abbot
asking if the Smithsonian might find 250 dollars
for specific tests aimed at reducing weight of rocket
designs. 70 Abbot found the money 71 and next year
on 2 September, Goddard wrote:
It made possible work which will save much time when the
development is continued later on a larger scale, and without
it things would have been stopped completely.? 2
If Abbot occasionally expressed impatience with
Goddard's penchant for becoming fascinated and
diverted by compelling and burgeoning new technical
concepts, his interest was obviously sincere
and in the hope of successful demonstration of
high-altitude rocket flight. When Goddard wrote
to Abbot on 4 September 1934 73 that major funds
had been resumed from the Daniel and Florence
Guggenheim Foundation, Abbot replied:
May I urge you to bend every effort to a directed high flight?
That alone will convince those interested that this project
is worth supporting. Let no side lines, however promising,
divert you from this indispensable aim . .?*
On 1 April 1935 Goddard mentioned in a letter
to Abbot:
You may be interested to know that I followed your advice
last fall, and am glad I did so. I had planned on new controls,
stabilization, and a large light model all at once. It
seemed necessary to do this, as the time was so short. I see
now that I might have worked the whole year without having
much in the way of flights to show for itJ 5
When special problems of technical logistics arose,
such as supply of liquid oxygen and importing
special equipment from abroad, it was to Abbot
and the Smithsonian that Goddard turned for
help. It was in recognition of this relationship and
fully appreciating the historical importance of his
work that on 2 November 1935 Goddard, 76 on the
strong urging of Guggenheim and Lindbergh, 77
SMITHSONIAN ANNALS OF FLIGHT
sent a complete 1934 Series A rocket to the Smithsonian.
Goddard asked that it not be placed on
exhibition until requested by him, or in the event
of his death, by Mr. Harry F. Guggenheim and
Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh. 78 Goddard's wishes
were respected. When it arrived, the box containing
the rocket was bricked inside a false wall in the
basement of the Smithsonian to be exhumed and
placed on display after World War II.
On 16 March 1936 the Smithsonian published
the second of Goddard's papers, entitled "Liquid-
Propellant Rocket Development," covering his research
at Roswell from July 1930 to July 1932 and
from December 1934 to September 1935. 79 Whereas
the 1919 paper had concerned itself with the theory
of rocketry and its potential, the 1936 paper described
progress made, established priority on the
world's first liquid propellant rocket flight, work
on gyro-stabilization, static firings and flight tests
to 7500 feet, and future plans to reduce weights
to a minimum.
There was one further relationship between
Goddard and the Smithsonian which is revelatory
both of the man and his view of the Smithsonian
Institution. During the period 1920-1929 Goddard
wrote four unsolicited reports dated March 1920,
August 1923, March 1924, and August 1929.
In these reports, which he asked the Smithsonian
not to make public, Goddard revealed his dreams
of interplanetary flight and how it could be accomplished
by rocket power. He also displayed his
trust and confidence in the Institution knowing
that the reports would be safeguarded and preserved.
Never publicly released until published in
The Papers of Robert H. Goddard, they set forth
the principles of lunar and interplanetary flight,
and they document Goddard's interest in and appreciation
of the potential of rocket power as well
as his fertile, creative imagination.
His March 1920 report, of 23 typewritten pages,
is entitled "Report on Further Developments of
the Rocket Method of Investigating Space." 80
Part I, "Investigation Conducted without an Operator,"
we would today entitle "Scientific Satellites
and Space Probes." In this section Goddard suggests
the value of photographing the Moon and
FIGURE 6.—a, Larger rocket, developing about 200-lb thrust, tested 20 July 1927; b, "Hoop
Skirt" rocket, flown 26 December 1928; c, payload-carrying rocket, flown 19 July 1929; d, barometer
and camera to photograph atmospheric pressure at zenith (rocket also carried alcohol
thermometer).