September 18: On This Day in World History … briefly
After the scientific mission ended, Vanguard 3 and two pieces of the upper stage of the rocket used to launch the satellite became derelict objects. As of January 2018, Vanguard 3 remains in orbit.[14] The pieces of the upper stage re-entered the atmosphere on April 3, 2014 and February 4, 2015.
1959: Vanguard 3 is launched into Earth’s orbit
Vanguard 3 was a scientific satellite that was launched into Earth orbit by Vanguard rocket SLV-7 on September 18, 1959, the third successful Vanguard launch out of eleven attempts. Vanguard rocket: Vanguard Satellite Launch Vehicle 7 (SLV-7) was an unused Vanguard TV-4BU (TV4-BU = Test Vehicle four Back up) rocket, updated to the final production Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV).
Project Vanguard was a program managed by the United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), and designed and built by the Glenn L Martin Company (now Lockheed-Martin), which intended to launch the first artificial satellite into Earth orbit using a Vanguard rocket as the launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral Missile Annex, Florida. Vanguard 3 was an important part of the space race between the US and the Soviet Union.
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
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