Vanguard 1 spotted, still circling the early nearly 54 years after it was launched, page
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Topic started on 31-1-2012 @ 12:43 AM by ngchunter
It's like spotting a metallic grapefruit in Las Vegas while standing in Washington DC. As far as I can tell, it's the only video out there showing direct tracking of Vanguard 1.

It's the oldest satellite still in orbit. NASA didn't even exist yet when this satellite was launched. It turns 54 this year. An identical backup satellite can be seen on display in Kansas. I put my hand up to the display to give an idea of the scale.


reply posted on 31-1-2012 @ 01:09 AM by swampcricket
reply to post by ngchunter


Gotcha I figured it couldn't be too advanced to to the date of launch but wasn't quite sure. If I recall correctly Sputnik was basically just sending radio signals right?


reply posted on 31-1-2012 @ 01:29 AM by Saint Exupery
Heh, I'm so used to seeing the original Vanguard fall-back/explosion, I was actually surprised when the rocket in your video left the pad!

Great tracking footage. Congratulations!


reply posted on 4-2-2012 @ 02:16 AM by wulff
reply to post by ngchunter


I did a lot of research on the 'grapefruit' when I was a kid and found a lot of info. It was supposed to be the 1st American artificial satellite as they thought "Explorer I" would make orbit first (hence the name Vanguard, Explorer was the upper stage of a rocket and was long and cylindrical) as it turned out it the "grapefruit" became our 2nd satellite) also it only had a simple transmitter that beeped, they were going to use batteries but during testing solar cells were developed and they put these (I believe 7 small panels) and they figured a few weeks at most they would receive the signal but it beeped for 6 or 7 years! They had put it in such a stable orbit there is no danger of re-entry for something like 100K years!
When they were testing it during an attempted launch they said it 'popped' out of the nosecone (it had a spring to 'pop' it out once orbit was reached) and the receiving station (which wasn't in direct contact with the launch crew) reported they were getting a good signal not knowing the launch was scrubbed. It was said an engineer walked into the communication building carrying the small satellite!
During another satellite launch, they were tracking the trajectory of the rocket and all the electronics in the room went dead! A little later they came back on... the cause? A soft drink company was putting a coke machine in the break room and accidentally shut off the power to the room!
These stories came from a first hand account that was published in a book in the mid 70's called "a funny thing happened on the way to the moon!" my brother bought me the book and I don't know if it's still available but it is full of funny stories like this showing how crude our first steps in space exploration was!

edit on 4-2-2012 by wulff because: (no reason given)

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