Thursday, October 4, 2018

DATELINE TOOBWORLD - ROBERT GODDARD



136 years ago tomorrow, the father of America's rocket program was born.

From Wikipedia:

Robert Hutchings Goddard (October 5, 1882 – August 10, 1945) was an American engineer, professor, physicist, and inventor who is credited with creating and building the world's first liquid-fueled rocket. Goddard successfully launched his model on March 16, 1926, ushering in an era of space flight and innovation. He and his team launched 34 rockets between 1926 and 1941, achieving altitudes as high as 2.6 km (1.6 mi) and speeds as fast as 885 km/h (550 mph).

Goddard's work as both theorist and engineer anticipated many of the developments that were to make spaceflight possible. He has been called the man who ushered in the Space Age. Two of Goddard's 214 patented inventions—a multi-stage rocket (1914), and a liquid-fuel rocket (1914)—were important milestones toward spaceflight. His 1919 monograph A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes is considered one of the classic texts of 20th-century rocket science. Goddard successfully applied three-axis control, gyroscopes and steerable thrust to rockets to effectively control their flight.

Although his work in the field was revolutionary, Goddard received very little public support for his research and development work. The press sometimes ridiculed his theories of spaceflight. As a result, he became protective of his privacy and his work. Years after his death, at the dawn of the Space Age, he came to be recognized as one of the founding fathers of modern rocketry, along with Robert Esnault-Pelterie, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, and Hermann Oberth. He not only recognized the potential of rockets for atmospheric research, ballistic missiles and space travel but was the first to scientifically study, design and construct the rockets needed to implement those ideas. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center was named in Goddard's honor in 1959.


'MURDOCH MYSTERIES'
"F.L.A.S.H.!"

From the IMDb:
Murdoch investigates a death which may have been caused by a high speed travel device.



A few years into the 20th Century, Goddard was a member of James Pendrick's team working on that high speed travel vehicle which was being tested in an underwater tunnel between Toronto Island and the mainland.

For a short time he was a person of interest in the murder of another member of the team, but O'Bviously the life of his televersion hews closely to that of his Real World inspiration.  Once the case was solved, Goddard resigned from the team to focus his studies on rocketry.


His influence could be felt in the far future of the main Toobworld.  As mentioned in Wikipedia:

The television series 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' had a shuttlecraft named after Goddard.

From Memory Alpha:
The Goddard was a Federation Type 6 shuttlecraft that was in service with Starfleet in the mid-24th century, attached to the USS Enterprise-D. It was shuttle number 15, replacing the shuttlecraft Magellan lost in 2368.



Early in 2369, Captain Jean-Luc Picard "loaned" the Goddard to Captain Montgomery Scott, as thanks for his role in freeing the Enterprise from the interior of a Dyson sphere. Picard felt that since Scott lost his ship, the USS Jenolan, while rescuing the Enterprise-D, it was only fair the Enterprise return the favor. La Forge told him the craft was slightly slow, but it would be able to take him to the Norpin colony. However, Scott decided to postpone his trip there, and used the Goddard to depart for parts unknown. (TNG: "Relics")

That reference would serve as legitimate proof that Goddard had a "televersion", even if we didn't have the 'Murdoch Mysteries' episode.  Should he show up again in Earth Prime-Time, Robert Goddard will then be eligible for membership in the Television Crossover Hall of Fame.

O'BSERVATION:
It appears that the televersion of Goddard may be older than the historical figure.  

BCnU!


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