Goddard Rocket Launching Site

The Goddard Rocket Launching Site is a historic area on a golf course in Auburn where a space pioneer conducted his experiments. The grounds are marked today by stone monuments indicating the exact positions where the launches took place.

The site is tied to the birth of modern rocket technology, which led to the development of all later space programs. One scientist began here with fundamental tests that proved liquid fuel could power rockets effectively.

The site marks a turning point in space travel history and shows how groundbreaking innovation can happen in the simplest of places. Visitors sense here the weight of how one scientist and his experiment mattered to all of humanity.

The site sits on a golf course and is relatively accessible, though it takes some effort to locate the markers. It helps to know beforehand that two separate stones are placed at different corners of the grounds.

In later tests at the same location, small scientific instruments were attached to the rockets to gather data from the air. This practical approach was one of the first steps toward sending instruments into the sky.

Location: Massachusetts

Inception: 1926

GPS coordinates: 42.21833,-71.81278

Latest update: December 11, 2025 11:01