Editing Project Vanguard (section)

== The Navy's project ==
In August 1955, the [[United States Department of Defense|US DOD]] [[DOD Committee on Special Capabilities|Committee on Special Capabilities]] chose the Navy's proposal as it appeared most likely, by spring 1958, to fulfill the following:<ref name=PM>{{cite magazine|magazine=Popular Mechanics|title=Stand By Satellite For Take Off |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DOEDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA65|date=July 1957|publisher=Hearst Magazines|pages=65–69, 216}}</ref>

# Place a satellite in orbit during the [[International Geophysical Year]].
# Accomplish a [[science|scientific]] [[experiment]] in orbit.
# Track the satellite and ensure its attainment of orbit.

Another consideration was that the Navy proposal used civilian [[sounding rocket]]s rather than military missiles, which were considered inappropriate for peaceful scientific exploration. What went unstated at the time was that the U.S. already had a covert satellite program underway, WS-117, which was developing the ability to launch spy satellites using USAF Thor IRBMs. The US government was concerned that the Soviets would object to military satellites overflying the Soviet Union as they had to various aircraft incursions and the balloons of the [[Project Genetrix|Genetrix]] project. The idea was that if a clearly "civilian" and "scientific" satellite went up first, the Soviets might not object, and thus the precedent would be established that space was [[Air rights|above national boundaries]].<ref>McDougall, Walter A., (1985) ... the Heavens and the Earth</ref>

[[File:330-ps-8339-usn-709831 16217941147 o.jpg|thumb|upright|John P. Hagen in 1957]]

Designated Project Vanguard, the program was placed under Navy management and DoD monitorship. The [[Naval Research Laboratory]] (NRL) in Washington was given overall responsibility, while initial funding came from the [[National Science Foundation]]. The director was [[John P. Hagen]] (1908–1990), an astronomer who in 1958 would become the assistant director of space flight development with the formation of [[NASA]].<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/sputnik/hagen.html | title=John P. Hagen | publisher=[[NASA]] | access-date=2012-12-05 | archive-date=10 January 2006 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060110233406/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/sputnik/hagen.html | url-status=dead }}</ref> After a delay due to the NRL changing the shape of the satellite from a conical shape,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Bille|first1=Matt|last2=Lishok|first2=Erika|title=Setting the Record Straight|journal=Proceedings of the 41st AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit|date=2003|pages=5}}</ref> the initial {{cvt|1.4|kg|lb}} spherical Vanguard satellites were built at the NRL, and contained as their payload seven [[Mercury battery|mercury cell batteries]] in a [[hermetically sealed]] container, two tracking radio transmitters, a temperature sensitive crystal, and six clusters of [[solar cell]]s on the surface of the sphere. The first satellite was called Vanguard TV3.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DOEDAAAAMBAJ&dq=true&pg=PA67|magazine=Popular Mechanics|title=Stand By Satellite For Take Off |page=67 |date=July 1957|publisher=Hearst Magazines|language=en}}</ref>

NRL was also responsible for developing the Vanguard rocket launch vehicles through a contract to the Martin Company (which had built the Viking rockets), developing and installing the satellite tracking system, and designing, constructing, and testing the satellites. The tracking system was called [[Minitrack]]. The Minitrack stations, designed by NRL but subcontracted to the [[United States Army Corps of Engineers|Army Corps of Engineers]], were 14 stations<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Bille|first1=Matt|last2=Lishok|first2=Erika|title=Setting the Record Straight|journal=Proceedings of the 41st AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit|date=2003|pages=3}}</ref> along a north–south line running along the east coast of North America and the west coast of South America. Minitrack was the forerunner of another NRL-developed system called [[Air Force Space Surveillance System|NAVSPASUR]], which remains operational today under the control of the Air Force and is a major producer of spacecraft tracking data.<ref name=PM/>

=== Sputnik and Explorer 1 ===
[[File:Vanguard rocket explodes.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Vanguard rocket explodes seconds after launch at Cape Canaveral (December 6, 1957).]]

The original schedule called for the TV3 to be launched during the month of September 1957, but because of delays this did not happen.<ref name=PM/> On October 4, 1957, the Vanguard team learned of the launch of [[Sputnik 1]] by the [[Soviet Union|USSR]] while still working on a test vehicle (TV-2) designed to test the first stage of their launcher rocket. While demoralizing to the Vanguard team, Minitrack was successful in tracking Sputnik, a major success for NRL.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Green|first1=Constance McLaughlin|last2=Lomask|first2=Milton|title=Vanguard: A History|url=http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4202/chap11.html|website=NASA History|publisher=National Aeronautics and Space Administration|access-date=28 April 2015}}</ref> At 11:44:35&nbsp;a.m. on December 6, an attempt was made to launch TV-3. The [[Vanguard (rocket)|Vanguard rocket]] rose about {{cvt|4|ft|m|order=flip}} into the air when the engine lost thrust, and the rocket immediately sank back down to the launch pad and exploded. The payload nosecone detached and landed free of the exploding rocket, the small satellite's radio beacon still beeping.<ref>Stehling, Kurt (1961) Project Vanguard</ref><ref name="ley196810">{{Cite magazine
 |last=Ley
 |first=Willy
 |date=October 1968
 |title=The Orbit of Explorer-1
 |department=For Your Information
 |url=https://archive.org/stream/Galaxy_v27n03_1968-10#page/n93/mode/2up
 |magazine=Galaxy Science Fiction
 |pages=93–102
}}</ref> The satellite was too damaged for further use; it now resides in the [[National Air and Space Museum]].

After the Soviet Union launched [[Sputnik 2]], on November 3, 1957, then [[United States Secretary of Defense|Secretary of Defense]] [[Neil H. McElroy]] directed the [[United States Army|U.S. Army]] to use the [[Juno I]] and launch a satellite.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://history.redstone.army.mil/space-explorer.html|title=The United States Army|access-date=14 May 2015|archive-date=3 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150703022718/http://history.redstone.army.mil/space-explorer.html|url-status=live}}</ref> On January 31, 1958, the U.S. Army launched the [[Explorer 1]] satellite. With the launch of Sputnik 1 and 2 the previous concern, the right of satellite overflight, had become moot: those satellites were launched by an early version of the Soviet [[R-7 Semyorka|R-7 rocket]], the basis of the USSR's early ICBMs, and definitely military, as well as roughly 40 times larger than the Vanguard launcher.

[[File:Vanguard TV3.jpg|thumb| [[Vanguard TV3]] in previous display at the National Air and Space Museum. The antenna rods should extend radially from the body of the satellite, but are bent as a result of damage sustained in the launch failure.]]

On March 17, 1958, the program successfully launched the Vanguard satellite TV-4. TV-4 achieved a stable orbit with an [[Apsis|apogee]] of {{convert|3,969|km|mi|abbr=off|sp=us}} and a [[Apsis|perigee]] of {{convert|650|km|mi|abbr=off|sp=us}}. It was estimated that it would remain in orbit for at least 240 years, and it was renamed Vanguard I, which in addition to its upper launch stage remains the oldest human-made satellite still in orbit.

In late 1958, with responsibility for Project Vanguard having been transferred to [[NASA]], the nucleus of the [[Goddard Space Flight Center]] was formed. After four failed launches, the program once again succeeded with SLV-4, renamed Vanguard II.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Green|first1=Constance McLaughlin|last2=Lomask|first2=Milton|title=Vanguard: A History|url=http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4202/chap12.html|website=NASA History|publisher=National Aeronautics and Space Administration|access-date=28 April 2015}}</ref> After two more failures, the program ended with the launch of Vanguard III in 1959.