The gift from Roswell, New Mexico? An A-series rocket that played a role in the development of a lightweight, high altitude, flight vehicle. A vehicle that could maintain steady vertical flight, thanks to an automatic stabilizer, and that reached speeds of 700 miles per hour. The recipient of the gift was the Smithsonian Institution in November 1935. It had funded some of Robert H. Goddard's early experiments and published his 1919 article, "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes", that suggested the eventual possibility of sending a multistage rocket to the moon.
In 1930, with the Guggenheim family providing funds, Goddard and a
meteorologist friend selected the high isolated country at the northern fringe of our
desert as ideal for rocket experiments. Wrapped within the skin of the 15-foot long
gift is the pioneering technology that helped man to set foot on the moon.
Goddard's rocket is now a space-age artifact on exhibit at the Smithsonian's
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles Airport in northern Virginia. Shall we add to
the museum label, "Developed in our desert Southwest?"
Contributor: Florence E. Schwein, University of Texas at El Paso.
Desert Diary is a joint production of the Centennial Museum and KTEP National Public Radio at the University of Texas at El Paso.
Crouch, T. D. 2001. Reaching toward space: His 1935 rocket was a technological tour deforce, but Robert H. Goddard hid it from history. Smithsonian, February:38-42.