Rockets & Roswell

This is the 89th anniversary of Dr. Robert Goddard launching rockets from Roswell, New Mexico.

On March 16, 1926, in Auburn, Massachusetts, Dr. Robert H. Goddard launched the world's first liquid-propelled rocket, setting the course for future developments in rocketry.

A grant from the Smithsonian Institution enabled Goddard to move his laboratory to Roswell, New Mexico, where on December 30, 1930, a rocket achieved an altitude of 2,000 feet and a speed of 500 miles per hour.