Rockets

April 3, 2018

On a snowy day in 1926, a physicist named Robert Goddard set out to his Aunt Effie's ranch. What happened next was not your typical day on the farm – Goddard launched the first liquid-propellant rocket.

Tech Briefs' podcast series, Here's an Idea, explores the origin stories and inspiration behind some of today's most innovative inventions. In this episode, we explore how Goddard's efforts almost 100 years later have inspired generations of rocketeers and rocket launches. You can listen to the episode below.

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Episode highlights include:

• Rob Garner of the Office of Communications for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center shares early stories of the famous first rocket man.
• Oregon State University engineering student Josh Allen takes us inside an amateur rocketry competition held in the middle of the desert.
• Orbital ATK's Mark Ogren discusses private-sector rocketry efforts and NASA collaboration.
• Michael Fritz, director of product development for Estes model rockets, talks about how the popular "toy" continues to inspire tomorrow's aerospace engineers.

You can read the full-length interviews below.

• How Robert Goddard Launched Present-Day Spaceflight
• A Q&A with Orbital ATK: Exploring the Roots of Rocketry
• How Model Rockets Launch Tomorrow’s Engineers

Listen to the Here's an Idea episode on 3D Printing.

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Transcript

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