Goddard with his Hoopskirt rocket during a launch attempt in September 1928. The fourth time was the charm for Robert H. Goddard’s “Hoopskirt Rocket,” so named for its resemblance to the ...

Modern rockets, which use a liquid or solid fuel, didn't come into being until a scientist named Dr. Robert H. Goddard developed and launched the first liquid-fueled rocket on March 16 ...

Robert Goddard could scarcely believe ... most people believed rockets needed air "to push against." But Goddard's experiments were expensive, and in 1917 he secured a $5,000 grant from the ...