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The Jupiter C, America's first successful space vehicle, launched the free world's first scientific satellite, Explorer 1, on January 31, 1958. The four-stage Jupiter C measured almost 69 feet in length. The first stage was a modified liquid fueled Redstone missile. This main stage was about 57 feet in length and 70 inches in diameter.![Early_Rocketry_Models]()
Models of early rocketry: The Atlas Mercury, Saturn C-1, and Saturn C-5. Photo captured in 1967.![Able_Takes_a_Ride]()
On May 28, 1959, a Jupiter Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile provided by a U.S. Army team in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, launched a nose cone carrying Baker, a South American squirrel monkey and Able, an American-born rhesus monkey. This photograph shows Able after recovery of the nose cone of the Jupiter rocket by the U.S.S. Kiowa.![Baker__Pre_Flight]()
Baker was the payload of the Jupiter rocket (AM-18). Here he poses on a model of the Jupiter vehicle, May 29, 1959.![X_15_Launces_from_B_52]()
The X-15 was a rocket-powered aircraft 50 ft long with a wingspan of 22 ft. It was a missile-shaped vehicle with an unusual wedge-shaped vertical tail, thin stubby wings, and unique fairings that extended along the side of the fuselage. Because of the large fuel consumption, the X-15 was air launched from a B-52 aircraft at 45,000 ft and a speed of about 500 mph. This was one of the early powered flights using a pair of XLR-11 engines.![Project_Red_Socks]()
Project RED SOCKS was to be "the world's first useful moon rocket," proposed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/California Institute of Technology in October 1957. These artist's renditions show the configuration of motors and a diagram of the moon orbit. RED SOCKS was to respond to the Sputnik launch challenge with a significant technological advance over the Soviet Union instead of merely matching them with another earth-orbiting satellite.![X_15_After_Landing]()
A series of ground and in-flight accidents occurred during the X-15's contractor program, fortunately without injuries or even greatly delaying the program. On November 5, 1959, a small engine fire -- always extremely hazardous in a volatile rocket airplane -- forced pilot Scott Crossfield to make an emergency landing on Rosamond Dry Lake. The X-15, not designed to land with fuel, came down with a heavy load of propellants and broke its back, grounding this particular X-15 for three months.![The_First_Explorer_Launch]()
On January 31, 1958, the First Explorer was launched into Earth orbit by the Army Ballistic Missile Agency. Inaugurating the era of space exploration for the United States, Explorer I was a thirty pound satellite that carried instruments to measure temperatures, and micrometeorite impacts, along with an experiment designed by James A. Van Allen to measure the density of electrons and ions in space.![Testing_a_Lunar_Lander]()
In this 1964 NASA Flight Research Center photograph, NASA Pilot Joe Walker is setting in the pilot's platform of the the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) number 1. This photograph provides a good view of the pilot setting in front of the primary instrumentation panel. When Apollo planning was underway in 1960, NASA was looking for a simulator to profile the descent to the moon's surface. Three concepts surfaced, including this one.![Juno_II_Launch_Vehicle]()
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Juno II was a part of America's effort to increase its capability to lift heavier satellites into orbit. One payload was Explorer VII. This photograph depicts workers installing the Explorer VII satellite on Juno II (AM-19A) booster. The Explorer VII investigated energetic particles and obtained data on radiation and magnetic storms. The successful launch of Juno II took place on October 13, 1959.![Explorer_1]()
This image is a cutaway illustration of the Explorer I satellite with call-outs. The Explorer I satellite was America's first scientific satellite launched aboard the Jupiter C launch vehicle on January 31, 1958. The Explorer I carried the radiation detection experiment designed by Dr. James Van Allen and discovered the Van Allen Radiation Belt.![Bumper_8_Launch]()
Bumper 8, a two-stage vehicle built from a U.S.-modified, World War II-captured German V-2 missile and a sounding rocket upper-stage, became the first to liftoff from what is now known as Cape Canaveral. Here, Bumper 8 lifts off on July 24, 1950 from the Long Range Proving Grounds in Cape Canaveral, Florida.NASA's Early Rocketry
Sixty years ago Saturday morning, a rocket stood ready to launch from the east coast of Florida, destined to make history. Here, a look back at NASA's early rocketry efforts.
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- NASA's Early Rocketry
