A method of reaching extreme altitudes. Washington, Smithsonian Institution, 1919. Gr.8°. Mit 25 Abb. auf 10 Tafeln. 2 Bl., 69 S. OU. (Ger. Randläs.).

Von Braun & Ordway, History of rocketry and space travel, 1969, pp. 40-59. Emme, History of rocket technology, 1964, pp. 19-28. - Rare first edition of Goddard's 'seminal paper ,A method of reaching extreme altitudes', which marked the birth of modern rocketry. - Like the two other rocket pioneers, the Russian Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and the German Hermann Oberth, the American Robert H. Goddard worked out the theory of rocket propulsion independently; and then almost alone he designed, built, tested, and flew the first liquid-fuel rocket on the 16th of March, 1926. - Although Goddard seriously studied experimental physics throughout bis life, he began to dream of astronautics in 1899 and rocket engineering remained bis preoccupation. Having explored the mathematical practicality of rocketry since 1906 and the experimental work ability of reaction engines in laboratory vacuum tests since 1912, Goddard began io accumulate ideas for probing beyond the earth's stratosphere. His first two Patents in 1914, for a liquid-fuel gun rocket and a multistage step rocket, led to some modest recognition and financial support from the Smithsonian Institution (cf. DSB V, 433 f.). - After experimental tests were performed at Clark University, Worchester, Mass., in 1915 and 1916, Goddard submitted the manuscript of the present paper to the Smithsonian Institution, where it was printed, with some additional notes, towards the end of 1919 as Publication No. 2540, and in the history of rocketry was to become famous as the First Smithsonian Report. - Tls. ger. Läs. im Vorderschnitt u. weitgehend unaufgeschnitten. Gutes Ex.

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