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. 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."

Robert Goddard, a Massachusetts physicist, launched the world's first liquid-fueled rocket on this date a century ago. The rocket, named "Nell" and fueled by gasoline and liquid oxygen, achieved a modest flight of just 41 feet lasting 2.5 seconds before crashing into ice and snow. Despite its brief duration and low altitude, this achievement represented a pivotal moment in spaceflight history. Within three decades, liquid-fueled rockets began carrying objects into space, followed by humans. Approximately 40 years after Goddard's pioneering flight, humans successfully walked on the Moon. The article commemorates this centennial milestone and includes personal accounts of memorable space launches.

Read at Ars Technica