93 years ago today, on 16 March 1926, Robert Goddard flew the very first
liquid-fuel rocket. Isp, T/W, and mass ratio were all dismal :-), but it
did fly briefly.
(Apart from its general pioneering importance, Peter Alway noted that it
was also advance notice of a shift in the center of gravity of rocket
technology: it was the first significant innovation in rocketry to appear
in the United States, rather than Europe.)
Henry