On May 6, 1937, the Hindenburg airship approached Lakehurst, New Jersey, after a three-day journey across the Atlantic. At over 800 feet long, it was the largest flying object ever built, a floating palace of luxury intended to showcase the future of global travel. However, its design relied on seven million cubic feet of hydrogen, a highly flammable gas used because the United States held a monopoly on non-flammable helium and refused to export it. ​As the airship attempted to dock during a thu