Launch Vehicle

Vanguard

retired

Loading…

Specifications

Status: retired
Height: 23 m
Diameter: 1.14 m
Mass: 10,000 kg
Stages: 3
Payload to LEO: 9 kg
First flight: 1957-10-23
Total launches: 11
Success / Fail: 3 / 8

The Vanguard rocket was intended to be the first launch vehicle the United States would use to place a satellite into orbit. Instead, the Sputnik crisis caused by the surprise launch of Sputnik 1 led the U.S., after the failure of Vanguard TV3, to quickly orbit the Explorer 1 satellite using a Juno I rocket, making Vanguard I the second successful U.S. orbital launch.

Payloads it launched · 3