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#1 On October 19, 1899, a seventeen-year-old boy climbed a cherry tree and had an epiphany. He imagined how wonderful it would be to make some device that could travel to Mars. He dedicated his life to the dream of perfecting a rocket that would make this vision a reality.

#2 The first pioneer was the Russian rocket scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, who mapped out the theoretical basis for space travel and paved the way for Goddard. Tsiolkovsky lived in total poverty, was a recluse, and scraped by as a schoolteacher.

#3 Goddard was a scientist who, in 1926, made history with the first successful launch of a liquid fueled rocket. He developed the basic architecture for all chemical rockets, and his laboratory at Clark College established the basic architecture for all rocket scientists.

#4 Goddard was a whipping boy for the media, who did not understand Newton's laws of motion and believed that rockets could not move in the vacuum of outer space. But this law, which states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction, governs space travel.