The Space Program

Newspaper articles about the space program tell the story of man's attempts at and ultimate journeys to the stars. The heavens have always been the ultimate curiosity for man, for many centuries being an enigma without hope for an answer. However, over the last century, man has been able to reach the last true frontier. Beginning with the ideas and inventions of Professor Robert H. Goddard in the early 20th century, man has finally turned the dream of space exploration into a reality.

In 1914, Professor Robert H. Goddard patented the first liquid fuel rocket. While seemingly unimportant at the time, it was this invention that would propel man into the heavens. By the time Professor Goddard launched his first successful rocket in 1926, he had gained the attention of some of the most important people of the era, including aviation legend Charles Lindbergh. This rocket would be the first building block in the exploration of space.

The "Space Race" between the United States and the Soviet Union would begin in 1957 with the launching of the Soviet satellite "Sputnik". The Soviet Union would be the first to put a man into space, with the launching of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in 1961. The Soviet Union accomplished many other firsts as well, performing the first space-walk on the flight of cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov and being the first to send animals into space. Yet the United States would reach the ultimate goal first, placing two men, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, on the surface of the moon in 1969.

NewspaperARCHIVE.com, the largest database of newspapers online, is providing a free archive of material relating to the space program. The archive provides content that covers the space program from its infancy to today, beginning with the experiments of Professor Goddard up through the successful journey of SpaceShipOne, the first civilian-built aircraft to reach space. Click on the timeline above to view newspapers in chronological order or begin searching the newspaper pages with your own key words.