Mark a century of spaceflight!
Join us on the exact 100th anniversary of the world’s first liquid-fuelled rocket launch for a fascinating evening with Jerry Stone FBIS, FRAS — space expert, author, and inspirational speaker.
Discover how this pioneering moment sparked the journey that would one day take humanity to the Moon, Mars, and beyond!
Robert H. Goddard’s first liquid-fuelled rocket launch on 16 March 1926 marked the beginning of modern spaceflight, turning a ten‑foot experimental vehicle in a snowy Massachusetts field into the ancestor of every orbital launcher that followed.
To mark the exact centenary of this historic flight, the British Interplanetary Society will host a special talk by BIS Fellow Jerry Stone, “Nell, Esther and Aunt Effie: The story of Robert H. Goddard and the world’s first liquid‑fuelled rocket,” exploring how a quiet professor’s patents, experiments and perseverance laid the groundwork for missions to the Moon and across the Solar System.
Drawing on his long career as a freelance spaceflight presenter and founder of Spaceflight UK, Jerry will bring to life Goddard’s early tests, the pivotal 1926 launch, and the crucial role played by those around him, including his wife Esther and “Aunt Effie,” on whose farm the first liquid‑fuelled rocket rose into the air.
Members, guests and visitors are warmly invited to join the BIS on this anniversary evening to celebrate a century of rocket innovation, revisit the moment the Space Age truly began, and reflect on how Goddard’s vision continues to inspire today’s explorers and engineers.