The earliest attempts to get into space with any kind of a realistic approach were primarily carried out by Dr. Robert H. Goddard. Dr. Goddard shot gas powered rockets into space in the 1920s. For his efforts, he was ridiculed and reviled, but he persisted. Perhaps the best compliment concerning that effort came from Wernher von Braun when he said: “All we did was follow everything that your Dr. Goddard was doing”. The stories of these two men dominate the beginnings of the United States space program and are the focus of this presentation.
