The Eagle Has Landed: The Story of Apollo 11 Read Free Page A

but poorly refined science of rocketry proved to be the only reliable means of generating such thrust.
    As early as 1232, the Chinese used rockets fueled by gunpowder during fireworks shows. In 1281, Italians from Bologna used rocket-propelled arrows against their rival-state enemies from Forli, calling the fearsome weapon a rochetto, meaning “cylindrical spool of thread.”
    The earliest rockets were powered by solid fuels, namely gunpowder. While solid fuels could theoretically propel a rocket at sufficient velocity to reach outer space, a major drawback existed—once ignited, there was no control over the vehicle’s rate of combustion or amount of thrust.
    Born in Russia on September 17, 1857, Konstantin Edvardovich Tsiolkovsky studied mathematics, physics, and astronomy, and then applied much of his creative energy to the study of rocketry. Tsiolkovsky’s research led him to believe that a rocket fuel mixture of liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen would generate considerably more power than black powder. By mixing two volatile liquids in a tight metal chamber and igniting them, Tsiolkovsky theorized that expanding gasses from the explosion could be vented through a hole at high speeds, propelling a rocket and its payload in the opposite direction. The Russian scientist’s Formula of Aviation defined the relationship between the speed and mass of a rocket as related to its specific propulsion fuel. Tsiolkovsky calculated that a velocity of 18,000 miles per hour was necessary to break the Earth’s gravitational force, and also determined that the most efficient way to achieve this goal was to utilize a multi-staged launch rocket.
    German mathematics teacher Hermann Julius Oberth, born in Transylvania on June 25, 1894, wrote in detail about space travel in his 1923 treatise, The Rocket into Interplanetary Space. Six years later, in a separate publication, Way to Space Travel, Oberth outlined the feasibility of using liquid-fueled rockets. That same decade, Oberth and other German rocketeers formed the Verein fur Raumschiffahrt (VfR) —the “Society for Space Travel.”
    Robert Hutchings Goddard, born on October 5, 1882, is widely regarded as America’s first true rocket scientist. A native of Massachusetts, Goddard was educated at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and later taught physics at Clark University.
    The New Englander’s passion for rocketry began during his childhood and eventually became his life’s work. At the age of 27, Goddard published A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes, which hypothesized that a rocket launched from Earth could reach the Moon. Like many visionaries, the young rocketeer encountered numerous skeptics. In January of 1920, the New York Times harshly criticized Goddard’s theory that rockets could be utilized for space exploration: “He seems only to lack the knowledge ladled out daily in high schools.” Forty-nine years later, as Apollo 11 raced to the Moon, the famed newspaper published a retraction to its article criticizing Goddard.
    Goddard launched his first liquid-fueled rocket from his Aunt’s farm in Auburn, Massachusetts in March of 1926. Nicknamed Nell, the 10-feet-tall, 10.25-pound rocket was powered by gasoline and liquid oxygen contained in fuel tanks attached by rigid tubes to a small engine. Once the gasoline and oxygen mixture was ignited in the combustion chamber, the hot gasses exploded out a small nozzle at the base of the rocket. Racing into the air at 60 miles per hour, Nell’s maiden voyage lasted a mere 2.5 seconds, reaching an altitude of only 41 feet, before landing 184 feet down range; nonetheless, it was a milestone in the science of rocketry.
    After consulting with a meteorologist at Clark University, Goddard determined that the climate of New Mexico was ideal for year-round rocket launches. In July of 1930, Goddard, his wife, and four assistants, along with a freight car filled with rocket equipment, relocated to a remote area known as Eden Valley,