1930
Robert H. Goddard, later known as the father of modern rocketry, began his experiments at his new location in Roswell, New Mexico with new financial backing. That initial round of experiments, which would ultimately require years of work in isolation, were responsible for the smooth streamlined body and tail fins of the sterotypical rocket design that would remain so iconic for many decades to come.
1957
The Vanguard satellite launch vehicle, TV-3, undergoes its first test firing.
1961
The Freedom 7 Mercury capsule that carried astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. on the first suborbital space flight is presented to the Smithsonian National Air Museum for its preservation by NASA Administrator Webb. During the craft's dedication ceremony, Webb explains that, "To Americans seeking answers, proof that man can survive in the hostile realm of space is not enough. A solid and meaningful foundation for public support and the basis for our Apollo man-in-space effort is that U.S. astronauts are going into space to do useful work in the cause of all their fellow men."
The U.S.S. Ethan Allen becomes the first submarine to launch Polaris A-2 missiles while submerged.
1984
The Space Shuttle Discovery launch vehicle is moved to the launch pad in preparation for its launch on mission STS 51-A.
1989
The NASA Space Shuttle Atlantis successfully returns from its fifth flight, the sixty-second manned space mission, during which it deployed the Galileo space probe. (STS 34)
2004
The Brazilian Space Agency's "Operation Cajuana" launched the VSB-30 rocket on a sub-orbital mission from the Alcântara Launch Center just fourteen months afters the organization's first attempt resulted in an explosion that killed twenty-one technicians.
2007
NASA launched the Space Shuttle Discovery on a mission to the International Space Station (ISS). (STS-120) It was the twenty-third shuttle mission to the station. On board, Mission Commander Pamela Melroy became only the female commander in NASA history, and upon docking with the ISS, commanded by the first female space station commander, the mission would become the first instance of two female mission commanders being in space at the same time. The
shuttle carried a number of special cargos, including scans of several giant posters signed by a half million students and the prop lightsaber used by Mark Hamill in the 1983 film Return of the Jedi. After being returned to Earth the light saber would be placed on display at the Space Center Houston.