03-18-2024 - On This Day in Insane History

On March 18th, 1926, Robert Goddard launched the world's first liquid-fueled rocket in Auburn, Massachusetts. The rocket flew for a mere 2.5 seconds before landing 184 feet away in a cabbage patch, but it was a monumental achievement that opened the door to modern rocketry.

Goddard had been working tirelessly on rockets for over a decade, facing ridicule from the public and lack of funding. But he persevered, knowing that one day rockets could reach unprecedented heights.

On that chilly New England day, with his wife Esther watching anxiously, Goddard's scrappy little rocket roared to life in a belch of smoke and fire. The flight itself was over in the blink of an eye, but Goddard had proven his ideas viable. Within 33 years, rockets based on his designs would carry humans to the Moon.

While the cabbage farmer was none too pleased about this "metal monster" crashing onto his land, history looks kindly on the very short but profound flight of Goddard's first liquid-fueled rocket. It was the moment that launched humankind's dreams of spaceflight. Not bad for a rocket made of salvaged metal tubes fueled by gasoline and liquid oxygen. Old Robert Goddard certainly ruffled some leaves that day - both literal and proverbial!