<Tr> <Th> Parent (s) </Th> <Td> Fannie Louise Hoyt Nahum Danford Goddard </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Awards </Th> <Td> Congressional Gold Medal (1959) Langley Gold Medal (1960) Daniel Guggenheim Medal (1964) </Td> </Tr> <P> 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). </P> <P> 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 . </P>

Who built the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket