Editing Explorer 3 (section)

==Mission results==
Explorer 3 largely confirmed the findings of Explorer 1, with the same zero count returned above an altitude of around {{cvt|1000|km}} to {{cvt|1200|km}}. Because of the consistent results, Van Allen hypothesized that the satellites' equipment might have been saturated by unexpectedly high radiation concentrations, trapped in a belt of charged particles by the Earth's magnetic field. [[Explorer 4]], equipped with a lead-shielded counter, flew in July and confirmed the existence of the radiation fields subsequently known as the [[Van Allen Belts]].<ref name=Vanguard/>{{rp|242-243}}

On 7 May 1958, micrometeorites associated with the [[Eta Aquariids]] meteor shower ruptured two of Explorer 3's micrometeorite erosion gauges.<ref name=avweek1958b/>