The first U.S. satellite, Explorer 1, was launched on January 31, 1958, marking a pivotal moment in American space history. Coming just months after the Soviet Union’s Sputnik satellites, NASA’s ...

Sixty years ago today, the United States used a modified German V-2 rocket to send the country’s first satellite, Explorer 1, into orbit around the Earth. This momentous achievement was just the first ...

Sixty years ago next week, the hopes of Cold War America soared into the night sky as a rocket lofted skyward above Cape Canaveral, a soon-to-be-famous barrier island off the Florida coast. The date ...

George Ludwig, a graduate student who worked with physicist James Van Allen at the University of Iowa, is seen here testing the Explorer 1 instruments as the satellite was prepared for launch. When ...

A half-century ago, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Explorer 1 spacecraft became America’s first Earth-orbiting satellite when it sailed into space on Jan. 31, 1958. In honor of the historic ...

Learn about the role that the Jet Propulsion Laboratory played before the creation of NASA. Explorer 1 traces the story of the role JPL played before the creation of NASA and how the lab was given a ...

IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more. This is one of several full-scale ...

IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more. One of several replicas and backup ...