1926: Robert Goddard, the father of modern rocketry, successfully fired his first liquid-fueled rocket ushering in the age of rockets. He would not live to see Sputnik, the first satellite launched into space (1957) that was developed by the Soviet Union. Goddard died in 1945.

1802: Library of Congress: Congress approved legislation establishing the United States Military Academy at West Point, one of the oldest military service academies in the world. Strategically located on the west bank of the Hudson River approximately fifty miles north of New York City, West Point was first garrisoned in January 1778 and is the oldest continuously occupied military post in America. George Washington transferred his headquarters there in 1779 as a Revolutionary War outpost. In 1780, Benedict Arnold, then in command of the post, tried unsuccessfully to betray it to the British.