Object Details
- Summary
- This commemorative plate honors the 50th anniversary of the launch of the world's first liquid propellant rocket, built and designed by U.S. rocket experimenter Dr. Robert H. Goddard (1882-1945). The rocket, using liquid oxygen and gasoline, reached 41 feet in 2.5 seconds, averaging 60 miles per hour, and landed 184 feet from the launching frame for a total flight path of 220 feet. In 1976, a local bank in Auburn, Massachusetts, the site of the launch, used the coincidence of its 25th anniversary with the 50th anniversary of this milestone to create this commemorative item.
- The scene is a copy of a painting that appeared in an advertisement at the time by the Equitable Life Insurance Co. The artist's choices dramatize Goddard in a dynamic pose, whereas he probably was not in the open and was in a crouched or near crouched position after activating the mechanism for launching the rocket.
- The Robert H. Goddard Committee donated this plate to the Museum in 1976.
- Credit Line
- Gift of the Robert H. Goddard Committee
- Inventory Number
- A19761200000
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- AWARDS-Miscellaneous
- Materials
- Ceramic
- Dimensions
- 3-D: 23.8cm (9 3/8 in.)
- Country of Origin
- United States of America
- See more items in
- National Air and Space Museum Collection
- Location
- Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA
- Hangar
- James S. McDonnell Space Hangar
- National Air and Space Museum
- Record ID
- nasm_A19761200000
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/nv974a41445-dc84-4ec0-9bdf-698dfe12976e
