Robert H. Goddard – autograph letter on experiments at Clark University

Robert H. Goddard – handwritten and hand signed letter from 1925.

One of the greatest rarities in space autographs!

Physicist and inventor (1882-1945) credited with creating and building the world's first liquid-fueled rocket. 

Letter signed “R. H. Goddard” on one page ca. 8.5 x 11'' at Clark University (Department of Physics), October 18, 1925.

Handwritten letter to his former graduate student Russell B. Hasting :

“I was glad to hear from you, and to learn that you are getting settled in New York. I am also glad to know that your work here has been a help, although I imagine that you will have to spend considerable time on the mathematical side of things. It is interesting to know that Starling covers all the electricity you will need. Things are settling down here into running form. Mr. Sleeper has the large room on the second floor, front, and shares it with a M. Bouillette, a young French exchange student who picked out Clark. His main work has been in engineering and physics. He holds the equivalent of an A.B. and A.M., has taught at the University of Paris, and has worked for a number of men such as Fabry. He will get used to things this year, particularly the language, and will then pass on to another University where he can get a Ph.D. He is working on an interrupted-current pattern here, and on hydraulics with Prof. Allen at the Tech. Mr. Goldblatt is getting the apparatus ready for some runs, and will use large copper blocks, in the hope of preventing melting. Please remember me to Dr. Hubbard.”

Seven weeks after this letter, he successfully conducted a static test in the Clark University physics laboratory, in which a liquid-fueled engine successfully lifted its own weight in a static rack. The test proved that a liquid-fuel rocket was possible.

Three months later, on March 16, 1926, Goddard launched the world's first liquid-fueled rocket at his aunt's farm in Auburn, Massachusetts.