A 2.5-second rocket flight that heralded decades of discovery in space! Today marks 100 years since the first successful test of a liquid-fueled rocket. Robert H. Goddard's achievement would have appeared unimpressive by most measures: His rocket flew just 41 feet in the air, landing in a nearby cabbage patch. Liquid-propelled rocketry has been the backbone of spaceflight ever since. 📷 by Esther Goddard on March 16, 1926 (Clark University Archive)

@NASAhistory @NASA It’s unbelievable how mankind has gotten so far

@NASAhistory The first step was small. The legacy was immense. ⚡

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@NASAhistory @NASA 2.5 seconds that literally changed everything 🚀 From a Massachusetts field in 1926 to boots on the Moon and rovers on Mars… crazy to think this tiny hop started it all. Happy 100th to Goddard’s rocket what a legacy!

@NASAhistory From such a tiny feat sprang the technology that sent men to the moon. It's a wonderful event worthy of celebration!

@NASAhistory To all dreamers, innovators, entrepreneurs, and engineers: do not despise small beginnings. They can literally turn into giant leaps for mankind. Now, back to the Moon and beyond.

@NASAhistory What's wild is that rocket only went 41 feet high and 184 feet forward, but Goddard had already figured out the math for reaching the moon. He just needed bigger fuel tanks.

@NASAhistory The rocket looked simple and unstable compared with today’s spacecraft, but it proved that liquid fuel propulsion actually worked.

@NASAhistory I wish there was motion picture of that launch.

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@NASAhistory Pointy rocket is best rocket.

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@NASAhistory @NASA 41 feet higher than Artemis... lately.

@NASAhistory small steps lead to huge things. glad we have these photos from the very start.

@NASAhistory @NASA I wonder what he would have thought about the legacy he left.

@NASAhistory @NASA A solid 100 year's of pure Grit and Consistency is a milestone worth celebrating

@NASAhistory That's so cool! But why are we still using liquid-fueled rockets 100 years later? We could easily build non-rocket space launch systems, like an orbital ring space elevator or rail guns. They could cut out launch costs 99% or more and allow easy, safe access to space

Exactly — that tiny 41-foot hop (really ~12.5 m) in 2.5 seconds on March 16, 1926, proved liquid propellants could deliver controlled, throttleable thrust. Fun sidenote: the rocket actually flew horizontally more than vertically (184 ft range vs 41 ft altitude), crashing into the cabbage patch at ~60 mph. No press showed up, yet it quietly started the path from Aunt Effie's snowy farm straight to Saturn's moons today.

@NASAhistory Every giant leap in space started with a tiny, humble test.

@NASAhistory Pioneered reaching the stars, when you think of it; 100 years is not that long ago.

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@NASAhistory 41 feet into a cabbage patch to putting people on the moon in 43 years thats the kind of iteration that makes engineering beautiful

@NASAhistory From a cabbage field to the Moon and beyond. What a journey.

@NASAhistory @NASA Meanwhile, my ambitions barely clear the doorway, respect to Goddard 😏

@NASAhistory Wild benchmark: 2.5 seconds of flight created a century of engineering compounding. Tiny demos can still reset roadmaps.

@NASAhistory Amazing milestone. From 41 feet in 1926 to reusable boosters today, this engineering curve is one of history’s best stories.

Incredible to think a 2.5-second flight could launch a century of space exploration! 🚀 Do you think Robert Goddard imagined rockets reaching the Moon or Mars when he tested that first liquid-fueled one? What do you find most inspiring about how far rocketry has come since that cabbage patch flight?

@NASAhistory Funny how small beginnings spark revolutions—just like China’s STEM investment: quiet, systematic, and now leading global education rankings. Today’s cabbage patch? Tomorrow’s lunar base. 🌍📚

@NASAhistory And here, I always thought was the Atlantic shore, perhaps even Wallops Island. Imagining it was shot where GSFC now stands. Ignorant of facts🌤️ I can be quite creative. Thanks for a fascinating story of Nell.

@NASAhistory 41 feet for a rocket, but a giant leap for humanity. It’s wild to think that this 2.5-second flight in a cabbage patch paved the way for us to reach the Moon and beyond. Happy 100th to the spark that started it all!

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@NASAhistory @RAeSTimR Good old Esther, he would probably be forgotten without her photograph.

@NASAhistory @JPMajor Doing that in Massachusetts today would be illegal. Funny how government outlaws progress.

@NASAhistory From a cabbage patch to the stars… Robert H. Goddard really set the bar high 😉

@NASAhistory There's still a landmark in the park in Worcester where he launched it.

@NASAhistory From 41 feet to 41,000 kilometres.

@NASAhistory After we went to the moon, Wernher von Braun told President Nixon that we could be on Mars by 1984. Maybe soon .

@NASAhistory I’m curious if Robert H Goddard is still taught in our history books…People Forget

@NASAhistory It's mindblowing that some decades later we went to the moon.