Portal:Spaceflight/Selected article/Week 5 2008

Explorer 1, officially Satellite 1958 Alpha (and sometimes referred to as Explorer 1), was the first Earth satellite of the United States, having been launched at 03:48 GMT on 1 February (10:48 pm EST on 31 January), 1958, as part of the United States program for the International Geophysical Year. The satellite was launched from LC-26 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on board a Juno I rocket.

Explorer 1 was designed and built by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), while the Jupiter-C rocket was modified by the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) to accommodate a satellite payload, the resulting rocket becoming known as the Juno I. Working closely together, ABMA and JPL completed the job of modifying the Jupiter-C and building the Explorer 1 in 84 days.

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