Vanguard rocket
Encyclopedia
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.
Vanguard rockets were used by Project Vanguard
from 1957 to 1959. Of the eleven Vanguard rockets which the project attempted to launch, three successfully placed satellites into orbit.
(IGY) in 1957-1958. The goal was to track the satellite as it performed experiments. At that time there were three possible candidates for the launch vehicle: The Air Force's SM-65 Atlas, a derivative of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency
's SSM-A-14 Redstone
, and a Navy proposal for a three-stage rocket based on the RTV-N-12a Viking sounding rocket
.
The Army's Redstone-based proposal would likely be first ready for a first satellite launch. Its connection with German-born scientist Wernher von Braun
, however, was a public relations risk. In any case, the Atlas and Redstone ballistic missiles were top-priority military projects, which were not to be slowed by pursuing a secondary space launch mission. Vanguard was a project of the Naval Research Laboratory
(NRL), which was regarded more as a scientific than a military organization. This helped to emphasize the non-military goals of the satellite program. This was considered important, because a discussion of whether overflights of foreign countries by satellites were legal or illegal was to be avoided.
In August or September 1955, the DOD
Committee on Special Capabilities chose the NRL proposal, named Vanguard, for the IGY project. The Martin company, which had also built the Viking, became prime contractor for the launch vehicle. The Vanguard rocket was designed as a three-stage vehicle. The first stage was a General Electric X-405 liquid-fueled engine (designated XLR50-GE-2 by the Navy), derived from the engine of the RTV-N-12a Viking. The second stage was the Aerojet General AJ10-37
(XLR52-AJ-2) liquid-fueled engine, a variant of the engine in the RTV-N-10 Aerobee. Finally, the third stage was a solid-propellant rocket motor. All three-stage Vanguard flights except the last one used a motor built by the Grand Central Rocket Company. Vanguard had no fins, and the first and second stages were steered by gimbaled engines. The second stage also housed the vehicle's telemetry system, the inertial guidance system and the autopilot. The third stage was spin stabilized, the spin being imparted by a turn-table on the second stage before separation.
, which was to be the first test of an all-up Vanguard rocket. Although the NRL and Martin tried to emphasize that the TV-3 mission was a pure test flight (and one with several "firsts"), everyone else saw it as the first satellite launch of the Western world. Wernher von Braun angrily said about the Sputnik launch: "We knew they were going to do it. Vanguard will never make it. We have the hardware on the shelf. We can put up a satellite in 60 days".
On 6 December the US Navy launched a Vanguard rocket, carrying a 1.3 kg (2.9 lbs) satellite, from Cape Canaveral. It only reached an altitude of 1.2 meters (4 ft), fell and exploded. The satellite was thrown clear, bleeping pathetically as it rolled away. The American press called it Kaputnik.
Flight TV-3BU (BU = Backup) on February 5, 1958 broke up after 57 seconds because of a control system malfunction, but TV-4 on March 17, 1958 finally succeeded in placing a "Grapefruit"-type satellite into orbit. By that time, however, the Army's Juno
(Jupiter-C
) had already launched the United States' first satellite. The TV-4 satellite, labeled Vanguard 1
, reached a relatively high orbit (3966 km (2465 miles) x 653 km (405.8 mi)) and is currently the oldest human artifact in space. The following four flights, TV-5 and SLV (Satellite Launch Vehicle)-1 through -3 all failed, but on February 17, 1959, SLV-4 launched Vanguard 2
(weighing 10.8 kg (23.7 lb)) into orbit. The SLVs were the "production" Vanguard rockets. SLV-5 and -6 also failed, but the final flight on September 18, 1959 successfully orbited the 23.6 kg (52 lb) Vanguard 3
satellite. That last mission was designated TV-4BU, because it used a remaining test vehicle, which had been upgraded with a new third stage, the Allegheny Ballistics Lab X-248A2 Altair. This more powerful motor enabled the launch of the heavier payload. The combination of the AJ10 liquid engine and X-248 solid motor was also used, under the name Able, as an upper stage combination for Thor and Atlas space launch vehicles.
Launch vehicle
In spaceflight, a launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket used to carry a payload from the Earth's surface into outer space. A launch system includes the launch vehicle, the launch pad and other infrastructure....
the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
would use to place a satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
into orbit. Instead, the Sputnik crisis
Sputnik crisis
The Sputnik crisis is the name for the American reaction to the success of the Sputnik program. It was a key event during the Cold War that began on October 4, 1957 when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite....
caused by the surprise launch of Sputnik 1
Sputnik 1
Sputnik 1 ) was the first artificial satellite to be put into Earth's orbit. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957. The unanticipated announcement of Sputnik 1s success precipitated the Sputnik crisis in the United States and ignited the Space...
led the U.S., after the failure of Vanguard TV3
Vanguard TV3
Vanguard TV3 was the first attempt of the United States to launch a satellite into orbit around the Earth. It was a small satellite designed to test the launch capabilities of the three-stage Vanguard rocket and study the effects of the environment on a satellite and its systems in Earth orbit...
, to quickly orbit the Explorer 1 satellite using a Juno I
Juno I
The Juno I was a four-stage American booster rocket which launched America's first satellite, Explorer 1, in 1958. A member of the Redstone rocket family, it was derived from the Jupiter-C sounding rocket...
rocket, making Vanguard I the second successful U.S. orbital launch.
Vanguard rockets were used by Project Vanguard
Project Vanguard
Project Vanguard was a program managed by the United States Naval Research Laboratory , 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....
from 1957 to 1959. Of the eleven Vanguard rockets which the project attempted to launch, three successfully placed satellites into orbit.
Overview
In 1955, the USA announced plans to put a scientific satellite in orbit for the International Geophysical YearInternational Geophysical Year
The International Geophysical Year was an international scientific project that lasted from July 1, 1957, to December 31, 1958. It marked the end of a long period during the Cold War when scientific interchange between East and West was seriously interrupted...
(IGY) in 1957-1958. The goal was to track the satellite as it performed experiments. At that time there were three possible candidates for the launch vehicle: The Air Force's SM-65 Atlas, a derivative of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency
Army Ballistic Missile Agency
The Army Ballistic Missile Agency was the agency formed to develop the US Army's first intermediate range ballistic missile. It was established at Redstone Arsenal on February 1, 1956 and commanded by Major General John B...
's SSM-A-14 Redstone
Redstone (rocket)
The PGM-11 Redstone was the first large American ballistic missile. A short-range surface-to-surface rocket, it was in active service with the U.S. Army in West Germany from June 1958 to June 1964 as part of NATO's Cold War defense of Western Europe...
, and a Navy proposal for a three-stage rocket based on the RTV-N-12a Viking sounding rocket
Viking rocket
The Viking rocket series of sounding rockets were designed and built by the Glenn L. Martin Company under the direction of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory . Twelve Viking rockets flew from 1949 to 1955.- Origins :...
.
The Army's Redstone-based proposal would likely be first ready for a first satellite launch. Its connection with German-born scientist Wernher von Braun
Wernher von Braun
Wernher Magnus Maximilian, Freiherr von Braun was a German rocket scientist, aerospace engineer, space architect, and one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany during World War II and in the United States after that.A former member of the Nazi party,...
, however, was a public relations risk. In any case, the Atlas and Redstone ballistic missiles were top-priority military projects, which were not to be slowed by pursuing a secondary space launch mission. Vanguard was a project of the Naval Research Laboratory
United States Naval Research Laboratory
The United States Naval Research Laboratory is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps and conducts a program of scientific research and development. NRL opened in 1923 at the instigation of Thomas Edison...
(NRL), which was regarded more as a scientific than a military organization. This helped to emphasize the non-military goals of the satellite program. This was considered important, because a discussion of whether overflights of foreign countries by satellites were legal or illegal was to be avoided.
In August or September 1955, the DOD
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
Committee on Special Capabilities chose the NRL proposal, named Vanguard, for the IGY project. The Martin company, which had also built the Viking, became prime contractor for the launch vehicle. The Vanguard rocket was designed as a three-stage vehicle. The first stage was a General Electric X-405 liquid-fueled engine (designated XLR50-GE-2 by the Navy), derived from the engine of the RTV-N-12a Viking. The second stage was the Aerojet General AJ10-37
AJ-10
The AJ-10 or AJ10 is a hypergolic rocket engine. It has been used to propel the upper stages of several carrier rockets, including the Delta II and Titan III. It will also be used as the main engine of the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle for NASA's Project Constellation.It was first used in the Able...
(XLR52-AJ-2) liquid-fueled engine, a variant of the engine in the RTV-N-10 Aerobee. Finally, the third stage was a solid-propellant rocket motor. All three-stage Vanguard flights except the last one used a motor built by the Grand Central Rocket Company. Vanguard had no fins, and the first and second stages were steered by gimbaled engines. The second stage also housed the vehicle's telemetry system, the inertial guidance system and the autopilot. The third stage was spin stabilized, the spin being imparted by a turn-table on the second stage before separation.
Launch summary
The first two flights of the Vanguard program, designated Test Vehicle (TV)-0 and -1, were actually the last two remaining RTV-N-12a Viking rockets. TV-0, launched on December 8, 1956, primarily tested new telemetry systems, while TV-1 on May 1, 1957 was a two-stage vehicle testing separation and ignition of the solid-fueled upper stage of Vanguard. TV-2, launched on October 23, 1957 after several abortive attempts, was the first real Vanguard rocket. The second and third stages were inert, but the flight successfully tested first/second-stage separation and spin-up of the third stage. However, by that time, the Soviet Union had already placed the "Sputnik" satellite into orbit, and therefore project Vanguard was more or less forced to launch its own satellite as soon as possible. Therefore, a very small experimental satellite (called the "grapefruit" and weighing only 1.8 kg (4 lb)) was added to TV-3Vanguard TV3
Vanguard TV3 was the first attempt of the United States to launch a satellite into orbit around the Earth. It was a small satellite designed to test the launch capabilities of the three-stage Vanguard rocket and study the effects of the environment on a satellite and its systems in Earth orbit...
, which was to be the first test of an all-up Vanguard rocket. Although the NRL and Martin tried to emphasize that the TV-3 mission was a pure test flight (and one with several "firsts"), everyone else saw it as the first satellite launch of the Western world. Wernher von Braun angrily said about the Sputnik launch: "We knew they were going to do it. Vanguard will never make it. We have the hardware on the shelf. We can put up a satellite in 60 days".
On 6 December the US Navy launched a Vanguard rocket, carrying a 1.3 kg (2.9 lbs) satellite, from Cape Canaveral. It only reached an altitude of 1.2 meters (4 ft), fell and exploded. The satellite was thrown clear, bleeping pathetically as it rolled away. The American press called it Kaputnik.
Flight TV-3BU (BU = Backup) on February 5, 1958 broke up after 57 seconds because of a control system malfunction, but TV-4 on March 17, 1958 finally succeeded in placing a "Grapefruit"-type satellite into orbit. By that time, however, the Army's Juno
Juno I
The Juno I was a four-stage American booster rocket which launched America's first satellite, Explorer 1, in 1958. A member of the Redstone rocket family, it was derived from the Jupiter-C sounding rocket...
(Jupiter-C
Jupiter-C
The Jupiter-C was an American sounding rocket used for three sub-orbital spaceflights in 1956 and 1957 to test re-entry nosecones that were later to be deployed on the more advanced PGM-19 Jupiter mobile missile....
) had already launched the United States' first satellite. The TV-4 satellite, labeled Vanguard 1
Vanguard 1
Vanguard 1 was the fourth artificial Earth satellite launched and the first satellite to be solar powered. Although communication with it was lost in 1964, it remains the oldest manmade satellite still in orbit...
, reached a relatively high orbit (3966 km (2465 miles) x 653 km (405.8 mi)) and is currently the oldest human artifact in space. The following four flights, TV-5 and SLV (Satellite Launch Vehicle)-1 through -3 all failed, but on February 17, 1959, SLV-4 launched Vanguard 2
Vanguard 2
Vanguard 2 or Vanguard II is an earth-orbiting satellite launched February 17, 1959 aboard a Vanguard SLV 4 rocket as part of the United States Navy's Project Vanguard...
(weighing 10.8 kg (23.7 lb)) into orbit. The SLVs were the "production" Vanguard rockets. SLV-5 and -6 also failed, but the final flight on September 18, 1959 successfully orbited the 23.6 kg (52 lb) Vanguard 3
Vanguard 3
Vanguard 3 is a scientific satellite that was launched into Earth orbit by a Vanguard rocket on September 18, 1959, the third successful Vanguard launch out of eleven attempts.-Mission Objectives:...
satellite. That last mission was designated TV-4BU, because it used a remaining test vehicle, which had been upgraded with a new third stage, the Allegheny Ballistics Lab X-248A2 Altair. This more powerful motor enabled the launch of the heavier payload. The combination of the AJ10 liquid engine and X-248 solid motor was also used, under the name Able, as an upper stage combination for Thor and Atlas space launch vehicles.
Launches
Vanguard launched 3 satellites out of 11 launch attempts:- Vanguard TV3Vanguard TV3Vanguard TV3 was the first attempt of the United States to launch a satellite into orbit around the Earth. It was a small satellite designed to test the launch capabilities of the three-stage Vanguard rocket and study the effects of the environment on a satellite and its systems in Earth orbit...
- December 6, 1957 - Failed to orbit 1.36 kg (3 lb) satellite - Vanguard TV3 Backup - February 5, 1958 - Failed to orbit 1.36 kg (3 lb) satellite
- Vanguard 1Vanguard 1Vanguard 1 was the fourth artificial Earth satellite launched and the first satellite to be solar powered. Although communication with it was lost in 1964, it remains the oldest manmade satellite still in orbit...
- March 17, 1958 - Orbited 1.47 kg (3.25 lb) satellite - Vanguard TV5 - April 28, 1958 - Failed to orbit 10.0 kg (22 lb) satellite
- Vanguard SLV 1 - May 27, 1958 - Failed to orbit 10.0 kg (22 lb) satellite
- Vanguard SLV 2 - June 26, 1958 - Failed to orbit 10.0 kg (22 lb) satellite
- Vanguard SLV 3 - September 26, 1958 - Failed to orbit 10.0 kg (22 lb) satellite
- Vanguard 2Vanguard 2Vanguard 2 or Vanguard II is an earth-orbiting satellite launched February 17, 1959 aboard a Vanguard SLV 4 rocket as part of the United States Navy's Project Vanguard...
- February 17, 1959 - Orbited 9.8 kg (21.6 lb) satellite - Vanguard SLV 5 - April 13, 1959 - Failed to orbit 10.3 kg (22.7 lb) satellite
- Vanguard SLV 6 - June 22, 1959 - Failed to orbit 10.3 kg (22.7 lb) satellite
- Vanguard 3Vanguard 3Vanguard 3 is a scientific satellite that was launched into Earth orbit by a Vanguard rocket on September 18, 1959, the third successful Vanguard launch out of eleven attempts.-Mission Objectives:...
- September 18, 1959 - Orbited 22.7 kg (50 lb) satellite
Specifications
- Stage Number: 1 - Vanguard
- Mass: 7,661 kg
- Empty Mass: 811 kg
- Thrust (vac): 134.7 kN
- Isp: 270 s (2.6 kN·s/kg)
- Burn time: 145 s
- Isp (sea level): 248 s (2.4 kN·s/kg)
- Diameter: 1.14 m
- Span: 1.14 m
- Length: 12.20 m
- Propellants: Lox/Kerosene
- Engines: General Electric X-405
- Stage Number: 2 - Delta A
- Mass: 2,164 kg
- Empty Mass: 694 kg
- Thrust (vac): 33.8 kN
- Isp: 271 s (2.7 kN·s/kg)
- Burn time: 115 s
- Diameter: 0.84 m
- Span: 0.84 m
- Length: 5.36 m
- Propellants: Nitric acid/UDMH
- Engines: Aerojet AJ10-37
- Stage Number: 3 - Vanguard 3
- Mass: 210 kg
- Empty Mass: 31 kg
- Thrust (vac): 11.6 kN
- Isp: 230 s (2.3 kN·s/kg)
- Burn time: 31 s
- Isp (sea level): 210 s (2.1 kN·s/kg)
- Diameter: 0.50 m
- Span: 0.50 m
- Length: 2.00 m
- Propellants: Solid
- Engines: Grand Central 33KS2800
See also
- Vanguard 1Vanguard 1Vanguard 1 was the fourth artificial Earth satellite launched and the first satellite to be solar powered. Although communication with it was lost in 1964, it remains the oldest manmade satellite still in orbit...
Satellite - Vanguard 2Vanguard 2Vanguard 2 or Vanguard II is an earth-orbiting satellite launched February 17, 1959 aboard a Vanguard SLV 4 rocket as part of the United States Navy's Project Vanguard...
Satellite - Vanguard 3Vanguard 3Vanguard 3 is a scientific satellite that was launched into Earth orbit by a Vanguard rocket on September 18, 1959, the third successful Vanguard launch out of eleven attempts.-Mission Objectives:...
Satellite - Explorer programExplorer programThe Explorer program is a United States space exploration program that provides flight opportunities for physics, heliophysics, and astrophysics investigations from space. Over 90 space missions have been launched from 1958 to 2011, and it is still active...
- Sputnik program
- Viking rocketViking rocketThe Viking rocket series of sounding rockets were designed and built by the Glenn L. Martin Company under the direction of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory . Twelve Viking rockets flew from 1949 to 1955.- Origins :...