Robert Goddard, a Massachusetts-born physicist, launched the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket on this date 100 years ago.
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.
Nevertheless, this rocket, named “Nell,” represented a historic achievement that would help launch the modern age of spaceflight. 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.
To mark this historic moment, a few Ars staffers are sharing some of their most memorable launches. Please add yours in the comments below.
Space Shuttle Endeavour
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. 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.
The day before the launch was a whirlwind of private tours through various KSC locations—we got to see one of the Crawler-Transporters up close, and then we had a photo-op right next to pad 39-A, where Endeavour was staged and ready. We got to see the VAB, the Orbiter Processing Facility, and the Space Station Processing Facility. There was also a big team lunch with some of the ESA partners my wife had worked with (including a group of Italian engineers from Alenia who, being ever Italian, had brought along a lot of wine).
Laura and Lee Hutchinson, standing near LC-39A on February 6, 2010, with Endeavour staged in the background.
Credit:
Lee Hutchinson
Laura and Lee Hutchinson, standing near LC-39A on February 6, 2010, with Endeavour staged in the background.
Credit:
Lee Hutchinson
The launch was originally scheduled for 04:39 Eastern the next morning, February 7, which meant no sleep. After a brief post-tour evening rest, we were all herded onto buses from the hotel at about midnight and then transported with the other program guests to the Banana Creek launch viewing area, about four miles from LC-39A. The Banana Creek viewing area is attached to the Saturn V visitor’s center, so we spent the hours before launch perusing the exhibits and enjoying KSC’s fantastic collection of historic human spaceflight artifacts.
