Beginnings of the Space Age
The American Rocketeer On Halloween day in 1936, a group of Caltech students, led by Frank Malina, conducted the first stand-up rocket engine test in a dirt gulch known to the residents of Pasadena as the Arroyo. Little did they know that this day would go down in history as the beginning of what is now JPL, the world's leading center for robotic exploration of the solar system and beyond.

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› Q&A with the director - Blaine Baggett
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› 75th Anniversary feature

Explorer One The story of the world's first satellite, Sputnik, is well known in the annals of space history. Not as well understood is how the United States responded to the Russian challenge. Travel back in time and learn about the pivotal role the Jet Propulsion Laboratory played in designing and getting into orbit America's first successful U.S satellite, which also achieved the first space science results.

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Destination Moon Journey along with JPL's ambitious plan to beat the Soviet Union in robotic space exploration by reaching not only for the moon, but also the inner planets. JPL would be humbled by a series of failures in attempting to merely hit the moon, let alone visit the other planets. Watch how JPL did learn to go to the moon and to the planet Venus, giving the United States its first 'First in Space.'

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