Paper Session II-A - Looking Backward/Looking Forward: Space Flight at the Turn of the New Millennium

On March 16, 1926, seventy-six years ago, a reclusive Robert H. Goddard launched the world’s first liquid-fueled rocket at Auburn, Massachusetts, which traveled 43 feet in 2½ seconds. This event could appropriately be characterized as the “Kitty Hawk” of space exploration and the beginning of what would eventually become one of the most significant endeavors of the twentieth century. In the space allotted for this article, I shall survey fifty years of space exploration, reviewing the major programs of human and robotic exploration from the first efforts to reach space in 1957-1958 through the enormously successful spaceflight programs of the recent past. Using this historical base as a jumping-off point, I shall offer some comments on the possibilities available for the next fifty years in spaceflight.