Object Details Summary This replica of Vanguard 1, may have been intended to be either an exhibit object or an engineering mock-up. Vanguard was a series of Earth satellites developed and managed by ...

Explorer 1 was boosted into space by the Army on Jan. 31, 1958. Nevertheless, despite setbacks, Vanguard 1 did reach orbit on March 17, 1958 as the second U.S. satellite. And guess what?

This is one of several replicas of the Vanguard 1 satellite in the NASM collection. Vanguard 1 was the second American satellite to orbit the Earth on 17 March 1958. The provenance of this object is ...