Saturday, March 18, 2006

Commemoration of a Space Milestone

80 years ago, on March 16, 1926, American physicist Robert H. Goddard launched the first liquid-fueled rocket from a farm in Massachusetts. It weighed 4.7 kg and reached an altitude of approximately 12 meters. That might not seem like a very auspicious beginning, but it was the rocketry equivalent of the 12-second flight the Wright Brothers had made in 1903. Goddard lived long enough to develop more advanced rockets and examine the German V-2, which he always thought he could have bettered if the U.S. had given him adequate funding.

Oddly, I can't find a darn thing on any NASA sites about this important anniversary.

We salute you, Dr. Goddard.

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