Clark Professor Charles Agosta on Robert Goddard’s Rocket Legacy in Auburn

“If he could perfect the liquid fuel rocket, then he’d have something you could light, turn off, and relight again to perform another maneuver.”

By-Hank Stolz

Photo-iStock

Worcester, MA- A rocket that flew just 41 feet into the air in Auburn a century ago helped launch the modern space age.

Clark University physics professor Charles Agosta joined Talk of the Commonwealth to discuss the lasting legacy of Dr. Robert Goddard, whose successful launch of the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket from Packachoag Hill in Auburn took place on March 16, 1926.

The achievement marked a turning point in rocketry. Unlike solid-fuel rockets, Goddard’s design could be controlled—an innovation that made modern space travel possible.

“If he could perfect the liquid fuel rocket, then he’d have something that you could light,” Agosta explained. “When you got to a certain speed, you could turn it off, which is in itself very important. And then you could relight it, turn it on, and do another maneuver.”

The rocket Goddard launched that day reached only 41 feet in altitude, but the experiment proved that liquid propulsion could work and opened the door to the technology that would eventually power rockets into orbit and beyond.

Goddard’s innovations extended far beyond propulsion. His work also introduced critical technologies that remain foundational to spaceflight today, including gyroscopic control systems, inertial navigation, and pivoting rocket engines.

Those concepts would later play a major role in rockets such as the Saturn V, which carried astronauts to the moon during the Apollo program.

Agosta says Goddard’s perseverance was as important as his inventions.

“He had more failures than he had successes, but he just kept on pushing on,” Agosta said. “And that’s such an important part about science — not to lose faith and to learn from your mistakes and just to keep going.”

At Clark University, Agosta continues to keep Goddard’s legacy alive. He has located and used Goddard’s original demonstration apparatus to help teach physics concepts to his students.

More information about Goddard’s work and legacy can be found at
ClarkU.edu/Goddard