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Scientifictionist, issue 2, after 1945

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THE AMERICAN ROCKET SOCIETY
by John Stadter Jr.

As I look over the dozens of fanzines and letters of hundreds of fen, I am struck by the fact that there is no organized movement to support and bring about those ideas on which they are most enthused. The purpose of this article is to urge fen to join the American Rocket Society, which is now doing by action what fen do by words. Let us look over the Society itself and its record. 

The American Rocket Society is an incorporated organization devoted to the encouragement of scientific research and development of jet propulsion and its application to the problems of transportation and communication. Here in a sentence we have the hopes and dreams of the Society. These men are trying to bring into our everyday existance those machines and wonders we read about in ASF and all the other stf mags. They believe in this dream. Every true fan believes in this dream. Then why not join?
The Society carries out its aims by the following methods: 
1. Promotion of interest in jet propulsion and its applications.
2. Collection and compilation of all available data and information on this subject, from sources in both this country and abroad.
3. Publication and dissemination of news, experimental results and technical data to its members.
4. Encouragement and aid to active experimenters in this field.
5. By acting as a central organiation for all persons and groups conducting research in the field of rocket power.
On the evening of March 21, 1930, a dozen men gathered in an apartment at 450 West 42nd St, in New York for the first meeting of the American Rocket Society (Then called "The American Interplanetary Society")  The leader of the original organizing group was none other than David Lasser, a graduate of M.I.T. and then editor of WONDER STORIES. Lasser became the first president of the Society. Other founders include C.P. Mason, a writer adn editor who was the first secretary; Fletcher Pratt, who needs no introduction; and Nathan Schachner lawyer and famous stf writer for many, many years. Just by looking at the above names you can see how scientifiction has been woven into the Society from the very start by men who considered the "impossible" possible.

But don't jump to the conclusion that the Society is a bunch of starry eyed dreamers who read stf. On the contrary. The Society took over wher ethe Vfr left off. The experimental program of the Society got under way in 1931. Early in that year Mr. and Mrs. G.E. Pendray (Pendray is one of the driving forces of the Society) had an opportunity to go abroad. They planned their trip in such a way as to enable them to study what the European experimenters were doing. The Society named them as its official representatives, and they had excellent opportunity to learn what was going on in rocketry in Italy, France, and Germany. 

They found to their dismay, that most of the European "rocket experiments" which had so excited the American public at the time were mostly publicity stunts, of little or no scientific value. At Berlin, however, they met Willy Ley, with whom M. Pendray had corresponded. Ley introduced them to the interesting and suggestive experiments then being carried on, with what are no being called "solid" liquid fuel motors, by the Vfr (German Rocket Society) near Berlin.

Mr. Pendray's report on the German experiments was given on the evening of May 1, 1931, an appeared in a somewhat condensed version in the May issue of the Bulletin. It marked the beginning of liquid fuel experiments in this country, other than the work of Dr. Goddard, who had of course, been using liquid fuels in his motors since 1920.

Shortly after the May 1931 meeting, H.F. Pierce, who later became president

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THE AMERICAN ROCKET SOCIETY by John Stadter Jr. As I look over the dozens of fanzines and letters of hundreds of fen, I am struck by the fact that there is no organized movement to support and bring about those ideas on which they are most enthused. The purpose of this article is to urge fen to join the American Rocket Society, which is now doing by action what fen do by words. Let us look over the Society itself and its record. The American Rocket Society is an incorporated organization devoted to the encouragement of scientific research and development of jet propulsion and its application to the problems of transportation and communication. Here in a sentence we have the hopes and dreams of the Society. These men are trying to bring into our everyday existance those machines and wonders we read about in ASF and all the other stf mags. They believe in this dream. Every true fan believes in this dream. Then why not join? The Society carries out its aims by the following methods: 1. Promotion of interest in jet propulsion and its applications. 2. Collection and compilation of all available data and information on this subject, from sources in both this country and abroad. 3. Publication and dissemination of news, experimental results and technical data to its members. 4. Encouragement and aid to active experimenters in this field. 5. By acting as a central organiation for all persons and groups conducting research in the field of rocket power. On the evening of March 21, 1930, a dozen men gathered in an apartment at 450 West 42nd St, in New York for the first meeting of the American Rocket Society (Then called "The American Interplanetary Society") The leader of the original organizing group was none other than David Lasser, a graduate of M.I.T. and then editor of WONDER STORIES. Lasser became the first president of the Society. Other founders include C.P. Mason, a writer adn editor who was the first secretary; Fletcher Pratt, who needs no introduction; and Nathan Schachner lawyer and famous stf writer for many, many years. Just by looking at the above names you can see how scientifiction has been woven into the Society from the very start by men who considered the "impossible" possible. But don't jump to the conclusion that the Society is a bunch of starry eyed dreamers who read stf. On the contrary. The Society took over wher ethe Vfr left off. The experimental program of the Society got under way in 1931. Early in that year Mr. and Mrs. G.E. Pendray (Pendray is one of the driving forces of the Society) had an opportunity to go abroad. They planned their trip in such a way as to enable them to study what the European experimenters were doing. The Society named them as its official representatives, and they had excellent opportunity to learn what was going on in rocketry in Italy, France, and Germany. They found to their dismay, that most of the European "rocket experiments" which had so excited the American public at the time were mostly publicity stunts, of little or no scientific value. At Berlin, however, they met Willy Ley, with whom M. Pendray had corresponded. Ley introduced them to the interesting and suggestive experiments then being carried on, with what are no being called "solid" liquid fuel motors, by the Vfr (German Rocket Society) near Berlin. Mr. Pendray's report on the German experiments was given on the evening of May 1, 1931, an appeared in a somewhat condensed version in the May issue of the Bulletin. It marked the beginning of liquid fuel experiments in this country, other than the work of Dr. Goddard, who had of course, been using liquid fuels in his motors since 1920. Shortly after the May 1931 meeting, H.F. Pierce, who later became president page 1