Project Vanguard Report of Progress, Status, and Plans, 1 June 1975
Abstract
Project Vanguard is the Department of Defense effort to put a manmade satellite in a stable orbit around the earth. This effort is planned as part of the International Geophysical Year. The National Science foundation and the National Academy of Sciences, under their Earth Satellite Program, have an ambitious scientific program to be carried out in and with the satellites. To put a satellite into a stable orbit requires a launching vehicle that can rise the object 300 miles above the surface of the earth and impart to it a forward velocity of 4.6 miles per second. Rockets are the only known means for doing this, and the present state of the art a three-stage rocket is required. The project was assigned to the DOD and in turn was assigned by DOD to the Navy Department with instructions to the Department of the Army and the Air Force to assist as required. Within the Navy Department, the assignment was made to the Naval Research Laboratory with the Chief of Naval Research retaining management control. Work on the project began with this assignment on 9 September 1955. The objectives of the project in DOD are: to place an object in an orbit around the earth, to prove that the object is in an orbit, and to conduct at least one scientific experiment using the object.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1957
- Accession Number
- AD1223395
Entities
Organizations
- United States Naval Research Laboratory