HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — One hundred years ago today, a physics professor named Robert H. Goddard trudged out into a snowy field near Worcester, Massachusetts, and quietly changed the course of human history.
On March 16, 1926, Goddard launched the world’s first liquid-propellant rocket. It burned for 20 seconds, rose just 41 feet, and traveled only 184 feet before crashing into the frozen ground. His wife and two assistants were the only witnesses. Local newspapers didn’t even cover it.
But that rickety contraption — combustion chamber on top, fueled by liquid oxygen and gasoline — was the spark that would eventually ignite an entire industry. And no city on Earth would feel that spark more than Huntsville, Alabama…