From Cabbages to Countdowns: NASA Marks 100 Years of Mode...

What’s Happening

Let’s talk about Snow covered the ground that Tuesday morning 100 years ago, when a college professor and his wife took a morning drive to the family farm a few miles south in Auburn, Massachusetts.

Along for the ride, the couple brought two work colleagues — and “Nell. ” They may not have known it at the time, but [] 3 Min Read From Cabbages to Countdowns: NASA Marks 100 Years of Modern Rocketry Photograph of Robert Goddard and his liquid-fueled rocket, prior to its first flight on , from a farm at Auburn, Mass. (it feels like chaos)

Credits: Esther Goddard, Courtesy of Clark University Rob Garner News Chief Mar 09, 2026 Article Snow covered the ground that Tuesday morning 100 years ago, when a college professor and his wife took a morning drive to the family farm a few miles south in Auburn, Massachusetts.

The Details

” They may not have known it at the time, but thanks to Nell, the four New Englanders were about to attend an auspicious birth. Some eleven feet tall and weighing a mere 10 pounds, Nell was a contraption of the professor’s invention.

He had devised, constructed, and tested Nell methodically, incrementally, over the course of many, many years. That snowy morning at Aunt Effie’s farm, the professor’s assistant took a blowtorch to Nell.

Why This Matters

The gangly apparatus climbed 41 feet high and landed in a cabbage patch 60 yards away. The entire journey took less than three seconds, but , had just become the date of the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket flight, and Dr. Robert Goddard had just become a father of modern rocketry.

This could have implications for future research in this area.

The Bottom Line

They stand with parts from the rocket — later named Nell — following the flight of , at Aunt Effies (a distant relative of Robert Goddards) Ward Farm in Auburn, Mass. This test marked the worlds first successful launch of a liquid-propelled rocket.

Are you here for this or nah?