Goddard’s Liquid-Propellant Rocket Development records the experimental phase that followed his March 16, 1926 launch near Auburn, Massachusetts, when a liquid-fueled rocket rose 41 feet, traveled 184 feet, and landed after 2.5 seconds. Published ten years later by the Smithsonian Institution, the paper distills the work Goddard conducted with a small staff at Roswell, New Mexico, under the patronage of the Smithsonian, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Carnegie Institution, and Charles A. Lindbergh. The plates document the field systems behind the experiments, including a shelter with control keys, an observer stationed 3,000 feet from the tower with a recording telescope, and a concrete dugout positioned so an observer could watch the rocket at close range. The publication stands as one of only two major rocket papers Goddard issued, following A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes in 1919.

Goddard, Robert H. Liquid-Propellant Rocket Development. Washington: Smithsonian Institution, March 16, 1936. First edition. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Volume 95, Number 3, Publication 3381. 8vo. (2), 10 pages., with 11 photographic plates. Recent red full cloth, gilt-lettered on front board. The text outlines Goddard’s development of liquid-propellant rockets through test apparatus, launching arrangements, control systems, and experimental results. The photographic plates extend the technical account through field documentation of launch towers, shelters, telescopic observation, checking mechanisms on recording telescopes, and protective structures used during the tests.

Goddard worked independently from the larger research teams that later advanced rocketry in Germany, the Soviet Union, and the United States, yet his liquid-fuel patents, test flights, stabilization experiments, and instrumentation established a technical foundation for modern rocket development. His secrecy limited the public circulation of his work during his lifetime, making this 1936 Smithsonian paper a central published record of his mature experimental program. Fine and clean internally, complete with all 11 plates, in recent red cloth binding. Overall fine condition.

Item #23373

Price: $7,500.00