Kuiper's cousin in midair. He is fully extended and reaching for a toy.

Reaching Extreme Altitudes

Kuiper’s cousin Sounders reaches EXTREME ALTITUDES.

Shared with permission from Sounders’ owner Laurel @jamminwhippets (who owns publication rights.) Photo taken by Phyllis Ensley Photography.

This is Kuiper’s first cousin Sounders! Kuiper’s mom and Sounders’ dad are siblings. On December 16th this year, Sounders jumped 33 feet and 6 inches, smashing their grandpa Cochiti’s dock diving world record of 31 feet! Meanwhile, Kuiper is still working on learning how to swim. New years resolution: ditch the water wings. ?

On this day in 1925, Robert Goddard performed a test of the first ever liquid fueled rocket. ? Although it merely trembled in its support for 8 seconds, it would go on to launch successfully the following March in Auburn, Massachusetts.

Liquid rocket fuel was kiiind of a big deal. Not only is it more efficient than solid fuel, but it also provides much more control. You can throttle it while it’s burning, and with it you can even turn off an engine completely and re-ignite it later. In contrast, solid fueled rockets are more like a firework ?; you light it and there it goooooes! Can’t stop, won’t stop.

Goddard had previously published some of his rocketry work via the Smithsonian in the 1919 book “A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes.” In the book, he briefly outlined calculations for getting a rocket to the moon. A number of newspapers latched onto this small piece and mocked him for it. ☹️

On January 13, 1920, the New York Times even published an editorial claiming that Goddard “does not know the relation of action to reaction, and of the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react” and that he “only seems to lack the knowledge ladled out ? daily in high schools.”

On July 17, 1969 (the day after Apollo 11 launched), the NYT published a retraction of their 1920 editorial on Goddard. It stated: “Further investigation and experimentation have confirmed the findings of Isaac Newton in the 17th century and it is now definitely established that a rocket can function in a vacuum as well as in an atmosphere. The Times regrets the error.”

What kind of fuel does your rocket dog run on? ???

Original post: https://www.instagram.com/p/BsAL-_Zj7K6/

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