Apollo 11 first landed astronauts on the Moon in 1969, but the journey to the lunar surface actually began 43 years before, in snowy Massachusetts.
Exactly 100 years ago, on March 16, 1926, Robert H. Goddard launched the first liquid-fueled rocket. Liquid-fueled rockets would eventually provide the power to send humans to the Moon. Still, Goddard’s vehicle was small, flew for only 42 seconds, reached a height of a mere 184 feet and sustained damage that created more doubters than believers in the prospects for human space flight.
Despite this less-than-spectacular start to the space age, Goddard’s rocket was the beginning of a century of innovation. Today, hundreds of rockets launch each year. Giant liquid-fueled rockets combine liquid oxidizer – a substance that releases oxygen – and liquid fuel. These create chemical reactions that produce the explosive thrust necessary to propel humans to the Moon.
As a historian, I’ve spent 40 years studying the winding path that led to the development of modern rocketry. I’ve also seen how, over the past few years, private companies have played a much larger role in spaceflight than they did throughout most of its history.
Early days of spaceflight
After Goddard’s first liquid-fueled rocket launch, the development of American rocketry crept along at a snail’s pace until World War II. Nazi Germany’s invention of the V-2 missile proved that rockets could provide immense strategic and scientific value during both war and peace.
In war, the V-2 terrorized Britain and its allies. In peace, scientists looked at launching artificial satellites, or “moons” as they were originally called, to survey weather and boost intercontinental communication.
A launching site for V-2 rockets in Germany.
Roger Viollet via Getty Images
The United States government did not invest heavily in rocketry throughout most of the 1950s. Then, on Oct. 4, 1957, the Soviet Union shocked the world by launching the world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik I. Millions of Americans feared that the USSR would soon rain nuclear missiles on them.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his advisers, however, displayed little anxiety at this prospect. They believed that America’s problems down on Earth were more urgent than those that might emanate from space.
Political pressure from the Senate majority leader, Lyndon B. Johnson, caused Eisenhower to reconsider. Late in 1958, the Republican president gave his consent for Congress’ establishment of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. This new agency then went about selecting America’s first seven astronauts, introducing them to the nation in 1959.
Americans to the Moon
The arrival of a new, young chief executive, John F. Kennedy, sharpened the United States’ commitment to space. In September 1962, the president publicly challenged the nation to land an astronaut on the Moon before 1970. To Kennedy,…
