Portal:Spaceflight/Selected article/Week 7 2007

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).

Explorer 1

Explorer I, officially Satellite 1958 Alpha (and sometimes referred to as Explorer 1), was the first Earth satellite of the United States, having been launched at 10:48pm EST on January 31 (03:48 on 1 February in GMT), 1958, as part of the United States program for the International Geophysical Year. The satellite was launched from LC-26 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida onboard a Juno I rocket.

Following the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik I on October 4, 1957, there was a frenzied effort by the United States to launch a satellite of its own, beginning the Space Race. Explorer-I was designed and built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), while the Jupiter-C rocket was modified by the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) to accommodate a satellite payload, the resulting rocket becoming known as the Juno I. Working closely together, ABMA and JPL completed the job of modifying the Jupiter-C and building the Explorer-I in 84 days. Before work was completed, however, the Soviet Union launched a second satellite, Sputnik 2, on November 3, 1957. (more...)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../s/p/a/Portal%7ESpaceflight_Selected_article_Week_7_2007_f8e6.html"