On Sep 21, 12:46*pm, Doug Freyburger wrote:

It's just like the mountain based rail launcher on the old puppet show
Fireball XL-5! *I liked that show just as much as All Thunderbrids Are
Go.

The idea of launching a rocket on rails has a long pedigree. It was
mentioned in the Venus novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs. It featured in
the movie When Worlds Collide. And then there was the German
propaganda film from 1937, "Weltraumschiff 1 Startet".

I presume this meme started with Goddard, but a quick Google search
hasn't turned up its origin just yet.

John Savard