Vanguard 1 Credit - NASM

An engineering test satellite. Based on orbital position data derived from its transmissions, the shape of the earth was refined.

Typical orbit: 654 km x 3868 km at 34 degrees inclination. Mass: 1.00 kg (2.20 lb). Associated Launch Vehicle: Vanguard.

• 1955 August 1 - Vanguard selected to launch first US satellite. - Program: Vanguard. Launch Vehicle: Vanguard.

  Ad Hoc Committee on Special Capabilities rejects Army/Von Brauns's Project Orbiter (Redstone) and USAF Atlas proposals; selects Navy/Vanguard for first US satellite.

• 1955 October 7 - Vanguard contract awarded. - Program: Vanguard. Launch Vehicle: Vanguard.

  Prime contract for Project Vanguard awarded the Martin Co.

• 1957 December 6 - Vanguard 1A - Program: Vanguard. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Vanguard. FAILURE: Vehicle lost thrust and exploded after 2 seconds. Mass: 1.00 kg (2.20 lb).

  First US orbital attempt. IGY Vanguard (TV-3), the first with three live stages, failed to launch a test satellite.

• 1957 May 1 - Vanguard suborbital test. - Program: Vanguard. Launch Vehicle: Vanguard.

  Vanguard Test Vehicle (TV-1), a modified Martin Viking first-stage and Vanguard solid-propellant third-stage Grand Central Rocket as second-stage, launched with instrumented nose cone to an altitude of 121 miles and met all test objectives.

• 1957 October 1 - Vanguard tracking system operational. - Program: Vanguard. Launch Vehicle: Vanguard.

  Project Vanguard world-wide tracking system (minitrack) became operational.

• 1957 October 23 - Vanguard TV2 Test mission - Program: Vanguard. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Vanguard. Apogee: 175 km (108 mi).

  IGY Vanguard prototype (TV-2) with simulated second and third stage successfully met test objectives, by reaching 109-mile altitude and 4,250 mph.

• 1957 October 9 - Vanguard supported by Eisenhower. - Program: Vanguard. Launch Vehicle: Vanguard.

  President Eisenhower in a White House press release congratulated the Soviet scientists on SPUTNIK I. He gave a brief history of the development of the U.S.-IGY satellite program and pointed to the separation of Project Vanguard from work on ballistic missiles.

• 1958 April 29 - Vanguard 2A - Program: Vanguard. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Vanguard. FAILURE: Third Stage failed to ignite. Mass: 1.00 kg (2.20 lb). Apogee: 550 km (340 mi).

• 1958 February 5 - Vanguard 1B - Program: Vanguard. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Vanguard. FAILURE: Control system malfunction - control lost after 57 sec. Mass: 1.00 kg (2.20 lb). Apogee: 6.00 km (3.70 mi).

  Trial firing of IGY Vanguard (TV-3Bu) satellite.

• 1958 March 17 - Vanguard 1 - Program: Vanguard. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Vehicle: Vanguard. Mass: 2.00 kg (4.40 lb). Perigee: 654 km (406 mi). Apogee: 3,868 km (2,403 mi). Inclination: 34.20 deg. Period: 133.20 min.

  Transmitted pear-shaped earth data. Life expectancy of perhaps a 1,000 years. The satellite had a mass of 1.6 kg and a diameter of 175 cm.

• 1960 March 17 - Vanguard second anniversary. - Program: Vanguard. Launch Vehicle: Vanguard.

  VANGUARD I still in orbit and transmitting on its second anniversary after traveling 131,318,211 miles. NASA reported that VANGUARD I orbit was being altered by solar pressure.

• 1961 March 17 - Vanguard third anniversary. - Program: Vanguard. Launch Vehicle: Vanguard.

  Vanguard I completed third year in orbit and was still transmitting. Vanguard I provided much useful data on orbits, including the slight pear-shape of the Earth and the effect of solar pressure. Vanguard also provided the second stage for the Able, Delta, and Able-Star, as well as the third stage of Scout, pioneering solid-propellant stages used in Polaris and Minuteman.

• Krebs, Gunter, Gunter's Space Page, University of Frankfurt, 1996. Accessed at: http://www.skyrocket.de/space.

• NASA Report, Balancing Vanguard Satellites, . Accessed at: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19980227279_1998388240.pdf. -right click to download pdfs!

• McDowell, Jonathan, Jonathan's Space Home Page, Harvard University, 1997-present. Jonathan McDowell's complete on-line listing of all objects orbited and over 20,000 rocket launches Accessed at: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html.

• NASA Report, Vanguard Satellite Separation Mechanisms, . Accessed at: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19980228196_1998388611.pdf. -right click to download pdfs!

• NASA Report, Vanguard I Satellite Structure and Separation Mechanism, . Accessed at: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19980228199_1998388604.pdf. -right click to download pdfs!

• NASA Report, Project Vanguard Magnetic-Field Instrumentation and Measurements, . Accessed at: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19980228065_1998389865.pdf. -right click to download pdfs!

• Emme, Eugene M, Aeronautics and Astronautics: An American Chronology of Science and Technology in the Exploration of Space 1915-1960, NASA, 1961. Accessed at: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/timeline.html.

• JPL Mission and Spacecraft Library, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 1997. Accessed at: http://msl.jpl.nasa.gov/home.html.

• USAF Satellite Database, USAF Institute of Technology, 1995. Accessed at: ftp://archive.afit.af.mil/pub/space/.

• NASA Report, The Vanguard Satellite Launching Vehicle: An Engineering Summary, . Accessed at: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19740072500_1974072500.pdf. -right click to download pdfs!

• Vanguard report , Vang-ER9470 (via Jonathon McDowell).

• Bramscher, Robert G, Spaceflight, "A Survey of Launch Vehicle Failures", 1980, Volume 22, page 351.

• Ordway, Frank, and Sharpe, Mitchell, The Rocket Team, Collector's Guide Publishing, Ontario, Canada, 2000. ISBN: 1894959000. Original published by Thomas Y Crowell, New York, 1979. Updated edition published in 2000. More at amazon.com...

• Emme, Eugene M, Aeronautical and Astronautical Events of 1961 Report of NASA to the Committee on Science and Astronautics US House of Representatives 87th Cong 2d Sess, NASA, 1962. Accessed at: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/timeline.html.