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In the midst of the tragedy of war, science found new ways of flying that opened the door to space travel. War Opens the Door

With the success of the Wright brothers in the early part of the 20th century, the era of manned flight began. But simple engines were not enough for some scientists. The American chemist and engineer Robert Goddard (left) was among several people experi- menting with ways to make objects travel even faster. In 1926, he perfect- ed the first true rockets, launching test flights thousands of feet in the air at speeds never before seen. With this door open, the possibilities for new types of flight and new explorations began in earnest.

Rockets of WWII ▲ Of course, humans being humans, one of the first uses of rockets was not for peace and ex- ploration, but for war. By 1944, German scientists had perfected long-range rockets that were aimed at London. The V-1 and V-2 rockets car- ried devastating bombs and wreaked havoc in England. The weapons came late in the war, however, and were put to limited use. However, some of the scientists who designed them, in- cluding Werner von Braun, went to the West and to the Soviet Union after the war, bringing the secrets of rocket flight with them.

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