Vanguard II
Vanguard
US Navy
Mission
Vanguard II
Type: Earth Science
Vanguard II is an Earth orbiting satellite and the first weather satellite. It was designed to measure cloud-cover distribution over the daylight portion of its orbit for a period of 19 days and to provide information on the density of the atmosphere.
Trajectory
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Location
Launch Complex 18A
Cape Canaveral, FL, USA
877 rockets have launched from Cape Canaveral, FL, USA.
Rocket
Vanguard – Lockheed Martin
- Family: Vanguard
- Length: 23 m
- Diameter: 1.14 m
- Launch Mass: 10 T
- Low Earth Orbit Capacity: 9 kg
The Vanguard was manufactured by Lockheed Martin with the first launch on 1957-10-23. Vanguard has 3 successful launches and 8 failed launches with a total of 11 launches. 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.
Agency
US Navy – USN
- Type: Government
- Abbreviation: USN
- Founded: 1963
- Spacecraft: Vanguard 1-3 | Parker Solar Probe
- Country: USA
The Navy was competed with the Army to put the first American satellite into orbit. Their first two Vanguard missions failed, with the second being a highly publicized failure, as it exploded on the launchpad. They went on to put 3 satellites into orbit but did not beat the Army to be the first. Their work in space continues today largely on military satellites.
