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Vanguard 1 60th anniversary
Last Wednesday, I attended the Vanguard 1 60th anniversary at the Naval Research Lab. Vanguard 1 was the fourth satellite, the first to carry solar cells, and is the oldest one in orbit. As some of you know, it was designed by my dad. Six Vanguardians attended the celebration. Four of them are here:
Credit: Kim Lammertin
Dave DeVorkin and Michael Neufeld from the National Air and Space Museum and Angelina Callahan from NRL had a panel discussion about Vanguard and its legacy. I am writing a brief account of the celebration which I hope to get published in The Space Review. Here’s an account of it.
I’m wearing the red coat with the Vanguard 1 a week or two before its launch.
Here’s picture I took of TV-3 (Flopnik) at the National Air and Space Museum.
160th Anniversary! Boy, they were really early, weren’t they? Was this a steam punk technology thingy?
No it’s the 60th anniversary of Vanguard 1. There’s an important space there.
Just messing with you.
Digression Alert:
Isn’t it amazing to think of the technological progress we have made in the last 160 years? There was something magical in the air around Europe in those industrial revolutionary days. I understand that when Europeans got the waterwheel with about 5 Hp output, within a few years it was changed to an overshot design that got 30 Hp and also spurred (yes, that’s a pun) the interest in gearing to change ratios and to change the direction of spin axis.
Richard, it might be nice if you spent a little time updating the Vanguard 1 entry at Wikipedia. You should at least add your dad’s name and the names of those who were responsible for the design. Your dad deserves this credit in history.
I have an account at Wiki and will gladly do it for you with your help. But, it’s easy enough to learn how to do it yourself if you are so inclined.
We went from Sputnik 1 to Apollo 11 in less than twelve years. I talked at length last week with three of my Dad’s colleagues. A big antenna at Ft Monmouth sent a signal off Sputnik 1. They found the third stage behind it. My Dad thought; here’s a large object in space orbiting over the US which we knew nothing about. He sent a proposal for a system to track all objects, including nonradiating spy satellites, and had the new project approved within a week. It became the Naval Space Surveillance System. Later, it inspired his Timation system. A modified version of it is GPS.
Truly amazing and important history.
I should write a book about it. :)
Ron Beard and Pete Wilhelm were two of the three people I was talking with about my Dad’s career.
Pete is seated at the far right. Ron is two to the left of him. This is the team that built and launched NTS-2 in 1977. It carried the first cesium atomic clock into orbit. Pete had an amazing career.
I haven’t heard “Flopnik” in a long, long time.
I discussed it on the John Batchelor Show.
Nuts. I must have missed it. Thanks for the link!
Here’s a video they played at the banquet for the National Medal of Technology in 2006. My sister John is at 0:56. Pete Wilhelm is at 1:05.
WASHINGTON, D.C.—Project Vanguard 60th Celebration of Vanguard Satellite Launch in 1958-
Employees who worked on Project Vanguard the 1st successful Navy Satellite-The Vanguardians (L-R) John Davis, Ron Muller, Al Nagy, Ed Habib and Bill Hocking
No – the Vanguard 1 in orbit does not have the base (I’ve seen absurd drawings of it with a base).
Here’s an article I wrote that was published in The Space Review.