You're going too little backwards in time. Spaceflight was proposed in the begining of the 20th century. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H._Goddard#A_Metho

You're going too little backwards in time. Spaceflight was proposed in the begining of the 20th century. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H._Goddard#A_Method_of_Reaching_Extreme_Altitudes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H._Goddard#A_Method_of_R... And yes, it was very criticized at the time but as you said, mainly by the media, as it seems. I doubt, however, that they did it without any backing. And I was wrong about satellites, it seems. I was pretty sure that the idea of using them as communications relay was also dissed, but I couldn't find any references about it. I can, however, give you one solid example of something that was completely discredited by the scientists, which is flight. It was widely believe at the time that no object heavier than the air could fly.