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Event

Project Vanguard

US Navy-led program of 1955–1959 to launch the first American satellite.

4 links, 4 backed by primary records

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Dates
1955–1959
Also known as
Vanguard satellite program

Project Vanguard was the US satellite program for the International Geophysical Year, led by the Naval Research Laboratory from 1955. Its first launch attempt failed in December 1957; Vanguard 1 reached orbit on 17 March 1958. Its staff became the nucleus of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

It is unrelated to the investment firm The Vanguard Group.

Connections 4

involved

  • United States government sponsor, through the Naval Research Laboratory Primary record 1
  • NASA took over the program and its staff in 1958 Primary record 1

part of

not the same as

  • The Vanguard Group Primary record 13

    A name match is not identity: an investment company founded in 1974–75 and a US satellite program of 1955–1959.

Timeline 1 date
  1. 1955–1959 Project Vanguard
Proof 3 sources
  1. NASA Goddard's Beginnings in Project Vanguard, NASA, 16 Feb 2024. Primary record
    Project Vanguard, initiated in 1955, aimed to launch the first American satellite into Earth orbit as part of the International Geophysical Year (July 1957 to December 1958).
    NASA transferred many employees from Project Vanguard to form the nucleus of the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
  2. Sputnik, 1957 (Milestones in the History of U.S. Foreign Relations), U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian. Primary record
    The U.S. Government suffered a severe setback in December of 1957 when its first artificial satellite, named Vanguard, exploded on the launch pad
  3. Vanguard's history, The Vanguard Group. Primary record
Page history 1 change
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