Missile ‘shoots’ from Auburn park over to Worcester museumSusannah Sudborough
MassLiveSun, August 17, 2025 at 4:11 PM EDT
1 min read
After calling an Auburn park home for over 40 years, a Polaris missile is being moved to Worcester’s EcoTarium science museum, according to the Auburn Fire Department.
The missile was removed from Robert H. Goddard Park on Southbridge Street on Friday, the fire department said in a Facebook post.
"Goddard Park is undergoing a major renovation, and the missile was in dire need of repair. There is a large split in the metal that runs down the side and it has a significant amount of rot on the inside. It has become home to Bee Colonies from all over Central MA," the fire department wrote.
In July, the Auburn Select Board voted to donate the missile to the EcoTarium, which plans to restore it before making it part of its space exhibit, the fire department said.
"This was a great opportunity for this piece of history to have new life, to educate people for generations to come," the fire department wrote.
The missile is part of the park’s tribute to its namesake — Worcester-born rocket scientist Robert Hutchings Goddard. Described by NASA as “the father of modern rocket propulsion," Goddard constructed the first liquid-fueled rocket and launched a successful test flight in Auburn on March 16, 1926.
The Auburn Rotary Club opened Goddard Park in 1970 to honor the Clark University-educated physicist, but was unable to afford a NASA rocket as a centerpiece, according to Roadside America. They instead settled for a Polaris missile — a type of submarine-launched missile used by the U.S. Navy in the latter half of the 20th century.
"Although visually satisfying, the missile is, awkwardly, a solid-fueled rocket," Roadside America wrote.
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