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One hundred years ago today, physicist Robert Goddard launched the first liquid-fueled rocket from a snow-covered field in Auburn, Massachusetts. The 10-foot-tall rocket flew for only 42 seconds, but it proved a valuable test for a technology that would kick off the space age and, decades later, send humans to the Moon.
While the space race of the 1950s and ‘60s brought rapid innovation in spaceflight, the history of rockets traces back much longer, and, as historian Michael Carrafiello described, took off during World War II.
Carrafiello maps out the century between Goddard’s first flight and today. Rockets have gotten larger and more reliable in that time, and much of their development has shifted from government agencies to the private sector.
Next month, NASA plans to launch a crew of four on a flyby around the Moon using its Space Launch System, a heavy-lift rocket that can carry tens of thousands of pounds. As Carrafiello writes, “Goddard’s rocket was the beginning of a century of innovation.”
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Mary Magnuson
Associate Science Editor
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Robert Goddard, considered the father of modern rocketry, standing with a rocket in 1935.
Esther Goddard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Michael Carrafiello, Miami University
From World War II to the Apollo era, the space shuttle program and today’s privately developed commercial rockets, the landscape of spaceflight has changed dramatically.
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Education
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Kristi Girdharry, Babson College
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Boaz Dvir, Penn State
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Ethics + Religion
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Daniel M. Stuart, University of South Carolina
The Burmese meditation master Sayagyi U Ba Khin played a key role in shaping the meditation retreats that are popular today.
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Science + Technology
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Erin Potter, Binghamton University, State University of New York
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Paul C. Sereno, University of Chicago
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Economy + Business
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Benjamin F. Henwood, University of Southern California
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Jonathan Deutsch, Drexel University
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Health + Medicine
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Deldhy Nicolás Moya Sánchez, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
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Arts + Culture
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Jennifer Pollitt, Temple University
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Eilidh Noyes, University of Leeds; Walter Scheirer, University of Notre Dame
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