VANGUARD (1956-1959) - Lot 14

VANGUARD (1956-1959) Lot of 2 black and white photographic prints of Vanguard at launch: - Launch of Vanguard TV-4, February 5, 1958: the launch was a failure, the rocket falling back into the sea after 60 seconds of flight following a control system malfunction. (21 x 25 cm). - Liftoff of Vanguard SLV-4 to orbit the Vanguard II satellite on February 17, 1959, designed to study the Earth's environment. The satellite operated for 26 days. Photo captioned on back, no. 8P-63171 (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 the Vanguard program into question. 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.