VANGUARD (1956-1959) - Lot 13

VANGUARD (1956-1959) Lot of 7 black and white photographic prints showing the various stages of assembly of the 3 stages of the Vanguard rocket on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida. 3 photos captioned US Navy and numbered USN 709935/USN 709938/USN 709941 21 x 25 cm. Vanguard is a small American launcher developed by NRL, the Naval Research Laboratory, with the aim of placing the first artificial satellite into orbit. But after 9 failures out of 12 launches between 1956 and 1959, the Juno 1 launcher was entrusted with the launch of the first satellite into orbit, Explorer 1, launched on February 1, 1958, without calling into question the Vanguard program. On March 17, 1958, Vanguard was finally successful, with Vanguard 1 becoming the 2nd American satellite in orbit. These photos come from the archives of the public relations department of the Baltimore-based Martin company (later Martin-Marietta, then Lockheed-Martin), and are Martin originals.