The first U.S. satellite, Explorer 1, was launched on January 31, 1958, marking a pivotal moment in American space history. Coming just months after the Soviet Union’s Sputnik satellites, NASA’s ...

Explorer 1 was less than 2 meters long and weighed about 13.4 kg. The model William Hayward Pickering, James Van Allen, and Wernher von Braun are brandishing triumphantly in this photo is the ...

Sixty years ago today, the United States used a modified German V-2 rocket to send the country’s first satellite, Explorer 1, into orbit around the Earth. This momentous achievement was just the first ...

Wednesday marks the United States’ 60th anniversary in space with the launch of Explorer 1. The success of the fast-tracked mission, which carried the country’s first satellite into orbit, helped ...

George Ludwig, a graduate student who worked with physicist James Van Allen at the University of Iowa, is seen here testing the Explorer 1 instruments as the satellite was prepared for launch. When ...

Sixty years ago next week, the hopes of Cold War America soared into the night sky as a rocket lofted skyward above Cape Canaveral, a soon-to-be-famous barrier island off the Florida coast. The date ...

A half-century ago, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Explorer 1 spacecraft became America’s first Earth-orbiting satellite when it sailed into space on Jan. 31, 1958. In honor of the historic ...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. Most of us weren't around to witness the launch of the United States' first successful satellite, ...

Learn about the role that the Jet Propulsion Laboratory played before the creation of NASA. Explorer 1 traces the story of the role JPL played before the creation of NASA and how the lab was given a ...

The U.S. satellite program was evolving in the early 1950s, first beginning at as joint Army-Navy venture called Project Orbiter, then becoming a wholly Navy civilian effort with Project Vanguard. But ...

IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more. This is one of several full-scale ...