Vanguard (Lockheed Martin)
Photo Credit: NASA
The Vanguard, manufactured by Lockheed Martin established in 1953, undertook its inaugural launch on 10/23/1957, is non-reusable and is inactive.
Vanguard has 3 successful launches and 8 failed attempts, with a cumulative tally of 11 launches, currently with 0 pending launches in the pipeline.
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.
- Length: 23 m
- Diameter: 1.14 m
- Launch Mass: 10 T
- LEO Capacity: 9 kg
Manufacturer
Lockheed Martin (LMT)
Lockheed Martin's Space Division started in the production of missiles and later ICBM's in the 1950s. Their TITAN missile system was used for 12 Gemini spacecraft and the Voyager probes. They have worked largely in collaboration with NASA on many of their probes, landers, and spacecraft, and hope to play a key role in NASA's return to the moon in 2024.
