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Stories and Lifestyle

"Rocket can reach moon" - on January 12, 1920, this sentence could be read in the New York Times. The author was Professor Robert Hutchings Goddard - he was almost unknown to the public back then.

A LOW-KEY BUT IMPORTNANT BEGINNING During his research, Goddard discovered the multiple charge system for rocket propulsion. At the beginning of 1914 his first patent was registered, it described a multi-stage rocket. In 1918 he found - after two further intermediate steps (e.g. solid fuel rocket propulsion) in rocket research - the optimal form of a combustion nozzle for solid fuel rockets. Since he realized early on that the rockets of the future would be high-energy liquid fuel rockets he looked into several different fuel combinations. On November 1, 1923 the first rocket motor was being tested. Aluminum and magnesium alloys replaced heavier substances like steel and bronze. In the middle of March 1926 Goddard launched the first liquid fuel rocket, three meters long and 5 kg heavy. The flight lasted 2.5 seconds, the rocket flew 56 meters at a height of 12 meters. The first more efficient rocket was launched toward the end of December 1930 in Roswell. It reached a height of 600 meters and a maximum speed of 800 kilometers per hour. Due to the American economic crisis, a break followed after this. In 1935 one of his 31 test rockets reached a height of 2300 meters at a maximum speed of 1100 kilometers per hour.

The NACA - the predecessor of NASA In 1915 the American government decided to create an official agency with the task of conducting scientific aviation research. Twelve voluntary workers were appointed to the founders committee by President Wilson, during the first meeting they adopted the name of National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). It proved itself during the second half of the First World War by taking care of patent problems with aircraft construction. In 1920 it got its first own research laboratory in Langley Field (Virginia) named after Samuel Pierpont Langley (1834 - 1906), the famous astrophysicist and aviation pioneer. They built the first great wind tunnel in the US. Today, Langley is one of the most important NASA centers.

The development of NACA At first, NACA was a relatively small organization, with only 523 employees in 1939 and an annual budget of 4.6 million Dollars. Toward the end of 1945, NACA already had 6,800 employees and an annual budget of 40 million Dollars, as well as facilities worth 200 million Dollars. In the following years, also because of the increasing tensions between East and West and the Korean war, the NACA more and more developed into an organization that was solving problems, for both the military and industry.

Space travel attracts attention Since 1950, space travel attracted more and more attention in the US, not least due to the publicist activities of Wernher von Braun. One of the highlights was, without a doubt, the symposium in the Hayden Planetarium in New York on October 12, 1951, on Columbus Day, where great people from industry and science were talking. After the second conference one year later at the latest, public interest in the conquest of space had been wakened. On October 1, 1958, 43 year old NACA with its roughly 8,000 employees, three centers and facilities worth 300 million Dollars, became NASA. On October 5, 1958, Glennan announced that the US would send people into orbit with Project Mercury. On November 5, 1958, the Space Task Group was founded, a circle of experts under Gilruth who shuld prepare the manned flight. The so-called Space Project Center was set up near Washington, in the area of Greenbelt, Maryland. This was the new domain of the Vanguard Team with 150 members. Later, the new center was renamed to Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC).

The path is clear 1959: the army launches a successful trial run. Pioneer 4 passes the moon at a distance of roughly 60,000 kilometers and enters into orbit around the sun. This small probe collected valuable information about the radiation belts. The way to the moon was "clear" and there was nothing in the way of the first manned flight.
It had to be decided who was to be sent into space. However, since a few more trial runs were necessary, they first used trained primates, who could execute simple orders in response to certain stimuli. They did this during the test flights for the Mercury program. Later, there were numerous trial runs and test flights with human test pilots. It wasn't always easy, but it was all worth it: the great moment was about to happen.

The epochal event - Apollo 11 On July 16, 1969, Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins started on the historic mission with Apollo 11. Right on time, they reached orbit on July 19. In the morning of July 21, 1969, at 3:56, Neil Armstrong set foot on the surface of the moon and uttered one of the most famous sentences "That's one small step for a man; one giant leap for mankind."

Within 8 years, NASA had reached the goal set by President Kennedy by mobilizing the entire nation and had demonstrated to the world how technologically advanced, especially in the realm of space travel, the US really were. There are countless textbooks and works of literature describing the process down to the last detail. It is unbelievable how many people, institutions, events and other things influenced the development of NASA up to the first moon landing. One thing is certain, and that's that is was not always easy and there were a number of set backs. But even the successes and set backs of the individual missions alone offer reading material for a long time.

Find more information about NASA and space travel in general on
www.nasa.gov
www.dlr.de
www.raumfahrtgeschichte.de