"The U.S. Post Office Department briefly attempted mail by rocket."
"Rocket mail" has a long history. The first rocket mail attempt was in 1936, when the "Gloria," a rocket airplane, was launched from Greenwood Lake in New Jersey. Popular Mechanics wrote that the flight "may in time be considered as significant as that first historic flight of the Wright brothers at Kitty Hawk." Later, in 1959, the Postmaster General assisted in the delivery of mail via a cruise missile (the Regulus) fired from the USS Barbero. "Before man reaches the moon, mail will be delivered within hours from New York to California, to Britain, to India or Australia by guided missiles," he proclaimed.