page_title: Vanguard TV-3
section_title: Satellite construction project
hierarchical_section_title: Vanguard TV-3 / Satellite construction project
caption_attribution_description: A team of Vanguard I scientists mount the satellite in the rocket.
context_page_description: Vanguard TV-3, was the first attempt of the United States to launch a satellite into orbit around the Earth, after the successful Soviet launches of Sputnik 1 and Sputnik 2. Vanguard TV-3 was a small satellite designed to test the launch capabilities of the three-stage Vanguard and study the effects of the environment on a satellite and its systems in Earth orbit. It was also to be used to obtain geodetic measurements through orbit analysis. Solar cells on Vanguard TV-3 were manufactured by Bell Laboratories.
  At its launch attempt on 6 December 1957, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the booster ignited and began to rise, but about two seconds after liftoff, after rising about 1.2 m, the rocket lost thrust and fell back to the launch pad. As it settled the fuel tanks ruptured and exploded, destroying the rocket and severely damaging the launch pad. The Vanguard 1A satellite was thrown clear and landed on the ground a short distance away with its transmitters still sending out a beacon signal. The satellite was damaged, however, and could not be reused. It is now on display at the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution.
context_section_description: The history of the Vanguard TV-3 project dates back to the International Geophysical Year (IGY). This was an enthusiastic international undertaking that united scientists globally to conduct planet-wide geophysical studies. The IGY guaranteed free exchange of information acquired through scientific observation which led to many important discoveries in the future. Orbiting a satellite became one of the main goals of the IGY. As early as July 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower announced, through his press secretary, that the United States would launch "small, unmanned, earth-circling satellites as part of the U.S. participation in the I.G.Y." On 9 September 1955, the United States Department of Defense wrote a letter to the secretary of the Navy authorizing the mission to proceed. The US Navy had been assigned the task of launching Vanguard satellites as part of the program. Project Vanguard had officially begun.
caption: The NRL engineers place Vanguard 1 atop the third stage of the launching vehicle. Shown here (from left to right, Roger L. Easton, Sandy J. Smith, Robert C. Bauman, and Joseph B. Schwartz. (Bauman and Schwartz transferred with the Vanguard Project to NASA). On 17 March 1958, Vanguard 1 started its historic journey into space (US Navy photo).
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