TLS signed “R. H. Goddard,” one page, 8.25 x 11, Clark College letterhead, March 7, 1921. Letter to William L. Straus, Jr., in full: "In reply to your letter of March 3, I might say: 1) The work at present is confined to the construction of a small model and there is no immediate prospect of financing anything more than this. 2) Regarding your second question, I admit that there is no oxygen in the atmosphere on the moon, but beg to call attention to the fact that any of the commercial flash powders contain an oxygen-carrying compound, which is usually potassium chlorate. The experiment which has been given considerable publicity took this fact into account, the flashes being exploded in a glass container in which the pressure had been reduced to about 1/60 of atmospheric pressure." In fine condition, with several blocks of light toning.
Goddard began experimenting with rockets in 1908, when he demonstrated that rockets could operate in a vacuum. In 1914, Goddard received two patents: one was for a rocket using liquid fuel, the other for a two or three-stage rocket using solid fuel. At his own expense, he began to make systematic studies about propulsion provided by various types of gunpowder. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Publication No. 2540 (January 1920) included Goddard's report entitled 'A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes.' In it, he detailed his search for methods of raising weather recording instruments higher than sounding balloons. In this search, he developed the mathematical theories of rocket propulsion. Towards the end of his 1920 report, Goddard outlined the possibility of a rocket reaching the moon and exploding a load of flash powder there to mark its arrival. Although Goddard's discussion of targeting the moon was only a small part of the work as a whole, the media latched onto the concept and he was widely criticized.
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