Thank Goodness It's Monday #347

BACK TO THE FUTURE

WITH “THIS HIGH MAN”

Well, once again, a TGIM message has started a bit of unintended debate.  

My passing comment last week, correctly understood to be “endorsing” Space Exploration, incited some less-Space-enthusiastic readers to respond with views ranging from “better ways to spend all that money” to “bogus moon landing.” 

For the most part I disagree, but … As we know from audience interaction at “live” events, it’s sometimes necessary to deal with particular challenges “off line” in order to advance the relevant discussion of the moment for the greatest number of folks. So … 

I hope I’ve done that and don’t intend to belabor the challengers’ specific issues here and now in this TGIM. 

However… (a collective groan is heard): I’m stirred by these exchanges to share just one more Space-related story.  

Here’s why: It fits well with the premise of sticking to your well-grounded beliefs and persisting … it’s factual beyond dispute and … I think it provides an informative, inspirational and relevant narrative with life lessons and takeaways applicable to even the most earthbound TGIM reader.

“This High Man”

On October 19, 1899, Robert Hutchings Goddard, then 17 years old, climbed a tree in a cherry orchard to a trim some branches.  He later wrote in his diary of his thoughts that day in the tree top: 

Colorized picture
of Robert H. Goddard
and "Nell"
in 1926

“I imagined how wonderful it would be to make some device which had even the possibility of ascending to Mars, and how it would look on a small scale, if sent up from the meadow at my feet.  I was a different boy when I descended the tree from when I ascended, for existence at last seemed very purposive.” 

And the purpose to which Robert Goddard committed himself? 

To pursue the idea of Space Flight.  His inspiration in the orchard led him into a life of study and experimentation that would ultimately gain him recognition as one of the Founding Fathers of the Space Age. 

But the path of a trailblazer wasn’t easy.  After gaining the scientific and mathematical education he felt he needed, Goddard began working part time as a member of the physics faculty of Clark University.  While there in 1913 he applied for his first patent for apparatus to be used for rocket propulsion.  This was also, in essence, the first patent in the field of rocketry. 

Then in 1919, in the hope of attracting some funding, Goddard published a paper, “A Method of Reaching the Extreme Altitudes.” In it he suggested that his ideas might eventually lead to a rocket that could carry a human to the Moon. 

Shortly thereafter, an editorial in The New York Times criticized Goddard, saying he should know that there would be “nothing for rocket to push against in [the vacuum of] outer space ….  He seems to lack the knowledge ladled out daily in high school.” 

In fact, in 1915 Goddard had demonstrated experimentally that a rocket could produce thrust in a vacuum.  To one reporter’s question he responded – 

“Every vision is a joke until the first man accomplishes it;

once realized, it becomes commonplace.”

So, disheartened but undeterred, Goddard and a small band of enthusiasts pressed on. In 1926 the first flight of their liquid fuel rocket (dubbed “Nell” as all of his later rockets would be named) was achieved by Goddard—launched from his Aunt Effie’s cabbage patch.  The rocket flew 41 feet into the air and landed 184 feet away after 2.5 seconds.

As Goddard’s “Nells” grew bigger, they attracted more attention—and derision. 

After a launch in 1929 a local paper ran the headline, “Moon Rocket Misses Target by 238,799½ miles.” 

Goddard’s early achievements set the stage for the beginning of the Space Age three decades later.  Still, up to his death in 1945, he struggled to find support.  While others – particularly German scientists working on the V-2 rockets of World War II – appreciated and applied his science, it was virtually ignored in his native land. 

End of story? 

Not by a very long shot. Although Goddard never saw a bit of the space race that turned V-2s into the Saturn moon rockets, his leadership was eventually recognized. 

In 1969 after Apollo 11 lifted off for humanity’s first Moon landing, The New York Times acknowledged, “Further investigation and experimentation have confirmed … It is now definitely established that a rocket can function in a vacuum as well as in an atmosphere.” 

And NASA named its center closest to Washington DC the Goddard Space Flight Center, where dedication ceremonies were held exactly 35 years after the first flight from Aunt Effie’s cabbage patch. 

“It is difficult to say what is impossible for us.

The dream of yesterday is the hope of today

and the reality of tomorrow.” 

Robert Goddard (1882–1945), our first rocket man said that. 

In 1855 the poet Robert Browning wrote lines that were such a fitting coda to Goddard’s life story that a key phrase – “This high man” -- became the title of a definitive Goddard biography (and part of this TGIM).  

Here they are: 

    That low man seeks a little thing to do,

    Sees it and does it;

    This high man, with a great thing to pursue,

    Dies ere he knows it. 

    Robert Browning (1812-1889)

    “A Grammarian’s Funeral”

TGIM Takeaway: Space exploration enthusiast or committed Earth groundling, we’ll close this TGIM with the hope that the spirit and determination of Goddard’s journey will inspire you, too, to find your purpose … pursue it … and achieve “great things.” 

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com

P.S.  “To see the earth as we now see it, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the unending night—brothers who see now they are truly brothers.”

The now iconic
"Earthrise"
Apollo 8
1968

 This was written by Archibald MacLeish (1892-1982) for The New York Times “after the Apollo mission of 1968 returned from space with a photograph of what earth looked like as seen from beyond the moon: the photograph which gave mankind its first understanding of its actual situation.” And, I’ll add, a photograph and inspired understanding made possible by the efforts of Robert Goddard. 

P.P.S. Speaking of Space … the countdown continues and, if we don’t hear from you soon, there will not be enough “space” available to accommodate you. (Or, if we hear from enough of you, we’ll look into expanding the venue).

*** UPDATE -- March 5, 2012 at 1:40 PM: It's official! The space intended has maxed out so we're heading to the "Ballroom." That means more room to romp and more likeminded folks just like you with whom to network. Don't miss out on this "expanded" opportunity. ***   

What? Where?

Speak Like A Pro!

Thursday, March 15, 2012

at The Sheraton Hotel & Conference Center

Eatontown, NJ 

You must ACT NOW …

Less than a dozen seats remain and the event will be a SELL OUT …

When you hear about how much you missed, you will regret not having been there, live and in person.  

Click through IMMEDIATELY -- www.EricTaylorSpeaker.com -- to get all of the details and register NOW. 

Hope you can get in under the wire. I look forward to seeing you there.