this is a report on the United States
space exploration of 1958 1958 has seen
notable progress in the space effort of
the United States why us satellites have
gone into warming to space probes were
launched burst in October travelled
about 70 1300 miles and the second in
December ascended sixty three thousand
five hundred eighty miles above the
earth here is the story of these
historic contributions to science
on January 31st the United States Army
was ready to launch a jupiter-c missile
with a satellite payload 80 days before
Clarence had been given to proceed with
the launch the army selected the Jupiter
see because of its proven reliability
the California Institute of Technology's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory now under
contract to na sa designed and
manufactured the advanced stages and the
payload the payload transmitters would
have an expected broadcast life of two
weeks for the 60 milliwatt transmitter
and two months for the one putting out
ten milliwatts the payload measured 80
inches by 6 inches and weighed 30 and
eight tenths pounds each component in
the high-speed assembly was spin tested
it was thought that centrifugal force
might distort the structure of the solid
propellant within the high-speed rocket
motor it too was subjected to spin
testing
attention all personnel please clear the
launching area for radio frequency
interference status please clear the
launching area this is rayne command
transmitter on hello neuron frequency
measures 2.5 low-calorie i drove a pond
here all this projects demand the time
is now ex-wife 33 minutes authorized
personnel may resume work on that resume
working all clear the water carries all
clear the area the signal is 2.5 de lo
channel one is now reset channel two is
reset channel 3 is reset to figure 4
channel 1 is 4 30 channel 4 reset
channel 5 this is project to land the
time is nigh
start vibration wrecker begins cluster
run McCluster is starting its spin
transmission of all payload electronics
components is now being monitored
after the firing signal is given it will
take almost 16 seconds for the vehicle
to take off pressurization will be
started at X plus 3 seconds at X plus 14
seconds ignition will begin trust
build-up will continue until liftoff at
about X plus 16 seconds firing a needle
one piercing provider egg minus 30
seconds close baby circulated recordings
on silent excellent ten nine eight seven
six five four three two one zero
preservation star x plus b 9 10 11 12 13
the launching was a success and the
first United States satellite was named
explorer 1 explorer 1 made the most
important discovery of the International
Geophysical Year the existence of a
great belt of radiation identified by
dr. James a van allen head of the State
University of Iowa physics department on
March seventeenth st. Patrick's Day dr.
john p hagen of the Naval Research
Laboratory announced that Vanguard was
poised and ready to launch from the
Atlantic Missile Range Cape Canaveral
vanguard 1 and earth satellite was
placed into orbit with a perigee of 409
miles as its closest approach to the
earth and an apogee of 2453 miles from
the earth it is expected to stay in
orbit for hundreds of years it's solar
batteries will power transmitters which
will give information to generations of
scientists of the world community
information gained from Vanguard one has
enabled us to determine the true shape
of our earth it is slightly pear-shaped
Explorer 3 launched nine days after
vanguard one achieved orbit and yielded
valuable data on the radiation belt
discovered by Explorer 1 it recorded
micro meteor impact which gave
information about the density of cosmic
dust and it recorded internal and
external temperatures of the satellite
the next United States success in space
came with the launching into orbit of
explorer for on July 26 1958 as a
scientific experiment it confirmed and
expanded the data on radiation and
temperatures discovered by satellite
explorer 1 and 3 on March 27 the
Advanced Research Project agency
directed the space technology
laboratories to proceed with a series of
lunar probes the payload was designed so
that its electrical system would have
maximum possible life the experiments
aside from an electric scanner would
measure radiation magnetic fields of
Earth and Moon density of micro meteoric
matter and internal temperatures these
probes would use hardware developed for
the Air Force ballistic missile division
as advanced re-entry vehicles the first
stage for develops a sea-level thrust of
150,000 pounds
to vernier engines rated at 1,000 pounds
of thrust provide roll control and final
adjustment of burnout velocity the
second stage was a modified Vanguard
second stage with a gimballed
regenerative lee cooled thrust chamber
it had roll control and a separation
system for detachment from the first and
third stages