A century after the first rocket launch, Ars staffers pick their favorites

Robert Goddard, a Massachusetts-born physicist, launched the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket on this date 100 years ago.

“Robert Goddard, a Massachusetts-born physicist, launched the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket on this date 100 years ago”

Ars Technica

It was not an overly impressive flight.

The rocket, fueled by gasoline and liquid oxygen, rose just 41 feet into the air, and the flight lasted 2.5 seconds before it struck ice and snow.

Ars Technica

Nevertheless, this rocket, named “Nell,” represented a historic achievement that would help launch the modern age of spaceflight.

“Robert Goddard, a Massachusetts-born physicist, launched the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket on this date 100 years ago”

Ars Technica

Three decades later, the first objects would begin to ride liquid-fueled rockets into space, followed shortly by humans.

A little more than 40 years would pass before humans walked on the Moon.

In February 2010, I was lucky enough to attend the penultimate night launch of the shuttle program, STS-130.

This mission was a major ISS assembly flight, carrying both Node 3 and Cupola to the ISS.

Ars Technica

This one had nothing to do with me—instead, I was there as a plus-one for my wife, who had worked on Node 3 at Boeing and who had been invited to witness the hardware she’d worked on finally fly.