From Project Vanguard to the space race

America’s second satellite, Vanguard 1, was launched 50 years ago today, on March 17, 1958. It’s still up there, the oldest man-made object in orbit. Paradoxically, the earlier failures of Project Vanguard boosted the popular perception of a “Space Race” and ultimately led to the Moon programme.

Vanguard 1	(NASM)

The oldest man-made object in space, the Vanguard 1 satellite, today celebrates its 50th birthday in orbit. Most of the earliest satellites were launched into low orbits, and atmospheric drag brought them back to Earth fairly quickly (Table 1), but Vanguard 1’s higher orbit means it will stay aloft for over 2000 years ^[1]. It’ll remain the oldest piece of space hardware for a very long time to come.

This newsreel footage describes the Vanguard project (the satellite shown is the 20-inch diameter design, used for Vanguard 2 and 3).

“Moon” Is Born – The Story Of “Project Vanguard”

Table 1.  The first artificial satellites –
the frenetic first six months of the Space Race

Satellite	Mass kg	Launch date	Orbit decay date
Sputnik 1	83.6	Oct. 4, 1957	Jan. 4, 1958
Sputnik 2	508.3	Nov. 3, 1957	Apr. 14, 1958
Vanguard TV3	1.4	Dec. 6, 1957    (failed)	–
Explorer 1	14.0	Jan. 31, 1958	Mar. 31, 1970
Vanguard TV3 backup	1.4	Feb. 5, 1958    (failed)	–
Explorer 2	14.5	Mar. 5, 1958    (failed)	–
Vanguard 1	1.5	Mar. 17, 1958	> 2000 years
Explorer 3	14.1	Mar. 26, 1958	Jun. 27, 1958

Three Months Earlier

Earlier attempts to launch a Vanguard satellite hadn’t gone well.

After the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik 1 on Oct. 1, 1957, President Eisenhower played down the idea of a “space race”, and seemed surprised by the American public’s view of the importance of the event.

Official reaction to Sputnik I – which is to say, high-level government reaction in Washington – was also marked by surprise, but of a different sort. The government was startled by what Defense Secretary Wilson described as the public’s “jitters.” At an October press conference and in two subsequent television appearances, President Eisenhower undertook to reassure an agitated nation. The chief executive conceded that the Soviet achievement was a “political defeat” for the United States. He stressed, however, that this country and the U.S.S.R. were not engaged in a space race, a statement that the Russian leaders, with the same indifference of officialdom to the facts of life, had also made. Granting the remote military potentialities of Sputnik, the President asserted that it “does not raise my apprehensions…one iota” about the national security.

Vanguard: A History, Chapter 11,
C. McLaughlin Green and M. Lomask ^[3]

Nevertheless, the U.S. Navy’s Vanguard ^[2] project was fast-tracked to launch a satellite by the end of the year. The project’s fiery launch pad failure in December 1957 severely shook the morale of the American public. The spherical Vanguard satellite was thrown clear of the explosion and continued beeping away. Here’s the newsreel coverage of the launch attempt:

Satellite a Bust – Rocket Blows Up In First U.S. Try

The Vanguard Test Vehicle 3 (TV3) launch on December 6, 1957. This was America’s first attempt to launch a satellite.

A wave of outrage swept the country. “Failure to launch test satellite,” the New York Times announced in big headlines, “assailed as blow to U. S. prestige.” Senator Lyndon B. Johnson spoke for millions when he termed the situation “most humiliating.” In New York City, members of the Soviet delegation to the United Nations asked American delegates if the United States would be interested in receiving aid under the U.S.S.R.’s program of technical assistance to backward nations. On the morning after the explosion sell-orders on Martin Company stock reached such proportions that at 11:50 a.m. the governors of the New York Stock Exchange suspended trading in it.

Vanguard: A History, Chapter 11,
C. McLaughlin Green and M. Lomask ^[3]

That there was a “Space Race”, at least in the mind of the American public, could no longer be denied. The view gradually formed that the United States must visibly and decisively overtake the Soviet Union in space exploration. After Yuri Gagarin’s manned space flight on April 12, 1961, President Kennedy embraced the “Space Race” and crystallised this policy by setting a clear and explicit goal:

“First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.”     audio

President John F. Kennedy,
Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs, May 25, 1961 ^[4]

He expanded on this in his famous speech at Rice Stadium:

“We choose to go to the Moon”

Rice University, Houston, Texas, September 12, 1962

It could be argued that the early failures of Project Vanguard galvanised U.S. opinion around the need for a decisive display of technological prowess in manned spaceflight. Paradoxically, that’s an important part of Vanguard’s legacy.

References

1. Vanguard I celebrates 50 years in space, Naval Research Laboratory Press Release, March 13, 2008.
2. Vanguard: A History, C. McLaughlin Green and M. Lomask, NASA SP‑4202 (1970)
3. Vanguard: A History, Chapter 11. From Sputnik I to TV3, C. McLaughlin Green and M. Lomask, NASA SP‑4202 (1970)
4. Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs, President J.F. Kennedy, May 25, 1961.