Robert Hutchings Goddard (1882-1945), US rocket scientist, with a rocket in his workshop. Despite receiving little recognition during his lifetime, Goddard is now hailed as a father of modern astronautics. During his career he explored mathematically the feasibility of reaching high altitudes using rocket propulsion, and in 1926 built the first rocket propelled by liquid fuel. His speculations about using rockets to reach the Moon were ridiculed by his contemporaries, and his achievements were only recognised after his death with the dawn of the Space Age. Photographed in Roswell, New Mexico, USA in 1935.