January 31, 1958

Explorer 1 liftoff ..... the first true scientific space mission.

 

 

Official Announcement.

The Outcome.

To think this could have been, say August 31, 1956, if Von Braun had been given his head.  On the
other hand our last great POTUS "Ike", preferred to wait until the Russians went first to make sure
satellites were "politically correct"!  Meanwhile the young and ignorant (Johnson/Kennedy) went into panic stations...

August 31, 1956 ?

Too early, I think .....

..... but in 1957, and surely before Sputnik, YES !

Military needs prevailed and the following two launches, in May and August 1957, carried scaled-down development nose cones for the forthcoming Jupiter IRBM.

Then came Sputnik 1 and 2 ..... the Vanguard rocket, in December, burst on the launch pad ..... and America got into a panic .....

 

..... but the way to Missile 29 was opened .....