Wish my life was like this

On October 19, in 1899, a 17 year-old Robert Goddard climbed a cherry tree on a beautiful autumn afternoon in Worcester, Massachusetts. Inspired by H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds and gazing out across a meadow, young Goddard imagined it would be wonderful to make a device that had the possibility of ascending to Mars. Forever more he felt his life had a purpose and in the following years his diary entries record October 19th as “Anniversary Day”, the anniversary of his ascent into the cherry tree. By 1926 he had designed, built, and flown the world’s first liquid fuel rocket.

From a favouriite site of mine.

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Nabakov
Nabakov
2024 years ago

But then Bob Goddard fizzled out at 47, leaving Werner Von Braun and Jack Parsons to take it further. Two charismatic dudes, one given a boost by the Nazis, the other by Alaister Crowley.

In this context, “Gravity’s Rainbow” is worth rereading as is Norman Mailer’s “A Fire On The Moon”. There’s always been a slightly spooky, voodoo edge to rocket science,

“Rocket Boys”is also worth a look too. Both the book and the film.

Cameron Riley
2024 years ago

Yep know what you mean.

meika
2024 years ago

and more recently the rest of us had the space shuttle, an eighties high point, it was an ancient design at the time, a high point along along with Duran Duran (named after a Barbarella character) and reagonomics (tax cuts with massive increase in meaningless military spending like “Star Wars” (a seventies movie)

pomo bricoleurage (or however you spell it) was always there in the real world

gen x had it tough

we had to put up with gravity rainbow too, one of the few book I have never finished, drivel