Launch vehicle
Vanguard
The Vanguard rocket was intended to be the first launch vehicle the United States would use to place a satellite into orbit. Instead, the Sputnik crisis caused by the surprise launch of Sputnik 1 led the U.S., after the failure of Vanguard TV3, to quickly orbit the Explorer 1 satellite using a Juno I rocket, making Vanguard I the second successful U.S. orbital launch.
- Height
- 23 m
- Diameter
- 1.14 m
- Stages
- 3
- Recorded launches
- 11
- First flight
- 1957-10-23
