US Navy Vanguard 7
Vanguard
Status
Failure
Date
26 SEP 1958
15:38
Mission Overview
Vanguard was an American satellite and the fourth artificial Earth orbital satellite to be launched. It was the first satellite to have solar electric power.
Rocket
Vanguard
Mission Type
Earth Science
Orbit
Medium Earth Orbit
Stages
3
Livestream
Not availableRocket Details
The Vanguard rocket was intended to be the first launch vehicle the United States would use to place a satellite into orbit. Instead, the Sputnik crisis caused by the surprise launch of Sputnik 1 led the U.S., after the failure of Vanguard TV3, to quickly orbit the Explorer 1 satellite using a Juno I rocket, making Vanguard I the second successful U.S. orbital launch.
Height
23 m
Diameter
1.14 m
Launch Mass
10 T
Thrust
123 kN