What was Robert Goddards “cherry tree vision?
At the age of 17, while in his family’s yard, Robert Goddard had a vision of space travel that would remain with him for the rest of his life. Later, in an autobiographical sketch, Goddard wrote “on the afternoon of October 19, 1899, I climbed a tall cherry tree and, armed with a saw which I still have, and a hatchet, started to trim the dead limbs from the cherry tree. It was one of the quiet, colorful afternoons of sheer beauty which we have in October in New England, and as I looked towards the fields at the east, I imagined how wonderful it would be to make some device which had even the possibility of ascending to Mars. I was a different boy when I descended the tree from when I ascended for existence at last seemed very purposive.
At the age of 17, while in his family’s yard, Robert Goddard had a vision of space travel that would remain with him for the rest of his life. Later, in an autobiographical sketch, Goddard wrote “on the afternoon of October 19, 1899, I climbed a tall cherry tree and, armed with a saw which I still have, and a hatchet, started to trim the dead limbs from the cherry tree. It was one of the quiet, colorful afternoons of sheer beauty which we have in October in New England, and as I looked towards the fields at the east, I imagined how wonderful it would be to make some device which had even the possibility of ascending to Mars.
