Who said the United States’ 250th anniversary was the only birthday in town? 2026 is also the centennial year of a historic rocket launch that changed the way we understand space travel. On March 16, 1926 in Auburn, Massachusetts, scientist Robert Goddard set off the first liquid fueled rocket. At the time, Goddard was ridiculed and dismissed, but over the course of the last century, he became known as the father of modern rocketry.