The first Saturn C-1 three-stage heavy-lift rocket, SA-1, on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, 27 October 1961. The gantry tower has been pulled back. (NASA)
27 October 1961: At 15:06:04 UTC, (10:06 a.m., EST), 3.97 seconds after ignition, the first Saturn C-1 heavy launch vehicle (Saturn I, SA-1) lifted off from Launch Complex 34 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on the east coast of Florida. This was a test of the first stage, only. The rocket’s upper stages were dummies.
At about 109 seconds after liftoff, four inner engines of the first stage shut down, followed 6 seconds later by the outer four. The rocket continued on a ballistic trajectory.
SA-1 reached a maximum speed of 3,607 miles per hour (5,805 kilometers per hour), and a peak altitude of 84.813 miles (136.493 kilometers). It impacted in the Atlantic Ocean 214.727 miles (345.570 kilometers) down range. The duration of the flight was 15 minutes, 0 seconds. The flight was considered to be nearly flawless.
A Saturn I on the launch pad at Launch Complex 34, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. (NASA)
The Saturn C-1 was bigger than any rocket built up to that time. Early versions of the three-stage rocket were 162 feet, 8.90 inches (49.6037meters) tall, with a maximum diameter of 21 feet, 5.0 inches (6.528 meters). The all-up weight was 1,124,000 pounds (509,838 kilograms).
Saturn S-I first stage at MSFC. (NASA)
The first stage of SA-1 was built by the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) at Huntsville, Alabama. The S-I stage was built up with a Jupiter rocket fuel tank in the center for liquid oxygen, surrounded by eight Redstone rocket tanks. Four were filled with RP-1 propellant, alternating with four filled with LOx. The first stage was powered by eight Rocketdyne Division H-1 engines rated at 165,000 pounds of thrust (733.96 kilonewtons), each. Total thrust for the first stage was 1,320,000 pounds (5,871.65 kilonewtons). The outer four engines were gimbaled to steer the rocket. (The S-I Block I stage had no fins.)
The first stage had been test fired 20 times before being transported to Cape Canaveral by barge.
For the first flight, SA-1, the S-IV second stage and S-V third stage were dummies. The S-IV was filled with 90,000 pounds (40,823 kilograms) of water for ballast. The S-V third stage, carried 100,000 pounds (45,359 kilograms) of water. Mounted above the third stage was a Jupiter nose cone.
The Saturn C-1 weighed 925,000 pounds (419,573 kilograms). It contained 41,000 gallons (155,200 liters) of RP-1, a refined kerosene fuel, with 66,000 gallons (249,837 liters) of liquid oxygen oxidizer— 600,000 pounds (272,155 kilograms) of propellants.
At Launch Complex 34, the eight Rocketdyne H-1 engines of Saturn C-1 SA-1 are firing. The hold down arms have not yet released. 15:06:04 UTC, 27 October 1961. (NASA)Saturn SA-1 accelerates after liftoff, 27 October 1961. (NASA 0102626)Saturn SA-I leaves a trail of fire from the launch pad. (NASA)
Vanguard 3 is launched aboard Vanguard SLV-7 from Launch Complex 18A at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, 12:20:07 a.m., EST, 18 September 1959. (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center MSFC-9139356)
18 September 1959: At 12:20:07 a.m., Eastern Standard Time (05:20:07 UTC), a three-stage Vanguard Satellite Launch Vehicle lifted off from Launch Complex 18A at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on the eastern coast of Florida. The rocket placed a 50 pound (22.7 kilogram) scientific satellite, Vanguard 3 (also known as Vanguard III) into Earth orbit. Orbital injection occurred at 05:29:49, 9 minutes, 35 seconds after launch, at 27,195 feet per second (98,239 meters per second). The orbit was inclined 33.350°. The satellite’s perigee, the closest point in its orbit to Earth, was 512.00 kilometers (318.142 statute miles), and its apogee, 3,750.00 kilometers (2,330.142 statute miles). The orbital period was 2 hours, 10 minutes, 9 seconds.
Vanguard III flight backup. (NASA)Vanguard 3 being installed on the Vanguard SLV-7 launch vehicle by NASA engineer R.J. Andryshak (left) and D.R. Corbin. (NASA)
Contained inside the satellite’s 1 foot, 8.0 inch (50.8 centimeter) diameter magnesium spherical outer shell were sensors and transmitters. The satellite collected data on the Earth’s magnetic field, the Van Allen Radiation Belt, micrometeorite impacts on the satellite, and measured drag acting to slow the satellite in its orbit. The 2 foot, 2 inch (0.66 meter) cone-shaped structure at the top of the satellite contains a magnetometer.
Vanguard 3 transmitted data for 84 days before its batteries failed. It is estimated that it will remain in orbit around the Earth for 300 years.
The Vanguard Satellite Launch Vehicle was a three-stage rocket, using liquid fuel for the first and second stages, while the third stage used a solid fuel rocket motor. It was built by the Glenn L. Martin Company at Baltimore, Maryland. The rocket had a total length of 71 feet, 6.721 inches (21.8115 meters), including the payload fairing. SLV-7 (also known as TV-4BU) was an unused test article. The all-up vehicle weighed 23,143 pounds (10,497.488 kilograms) at the time of the firing signal.
A Vanguard rocket (TV-2) at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Launch Complex 18A. (Dan Beaumont Space Museum)
The Vanguard first stage was powered by a General Electric Hermes X-405 (LR50-GE-1) engine, fueled by liquid oxygen and Shell Oil Company Jet B (a naptha-kerosene fuel used for turbojet engines in cold weather conditions). The propellant system was pressurized with helium. Hydrogen peroxide was used to drive the engine’s turbopump. The X-405 weighed 425 pounds (192.8 kilograms) and produced 27,835 pounds of thrust (123.816 kilonewtons) at Sea Level. The first stage was 39 feet, 7.243 inches (12.0712 meters) long and 3 feet, 9 inches (1,143 meters) in diameter. Its empty weight was 1,599 pounds (725.29 kilograms). The stage had a burn time of 2 minutes, 30 seconds.
AJ10-37
The second stage was 18 feet, 7.54 inches (5.6779 meters) long and 2 feet, 8 inches (0.8128 meters) diameter, and had an empty weight 1,013 pounds (459.49 kilograms). It was powered by an Aerojet General AJ10-37 engine, fueled by a hypergolic mixture of white inhibited fuming nitric acid (WIFNA) and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH). The engine weighed 386 pounds (175.09 kilograms). It produced 7,500 pounds (33.362 kilonewtons) thrust in vacuum. It had a burn time of 2 minutes.
The Vanguard SLV-7 third stage was 5 feet, 10.29 inches (1.7854 meters) long and 2 feet, 8 inches (0.8128 meters) in diameter. It weighed 50.9 pounds (23.09 kilograms) burn time 37 seconds. The engine was a solid fuel Allegany Ballistic Laboratory ¹ JATO X-248 A2, originally designed for rocket assisted takeoff for fixed wing aircraft. The engine was 4 feet, 10.2 inches (1.478 meters) long, 1 foot, 6.0 inches (0.457 meters) in diameter, and weighed 203 pounds (92.1 kilograms). It produced 3,070 pounds (13.656 kilonewtons) of thrust and had a burn time of 37 seconds.
Vanguard third stage X-248 A2 solid rocket motor (NASM A19680576000).
The satellite was enclosed in a conical phenolic plastic fairing, which had a titanium tip.. The fairing was 12 feet, 6.72 inches (3.8283 meters) long. The cone angled 20° from its axis.
Third stage was left attached to the satellite. The total mass placed in orbit was 94.6 pounds (42.91 kilograms).
¹ Allegany Ballistics Laboratory was a Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) facility, operated by the Hercules Powder Company.
The Thor Delta launch vehicle at Launch Complex 17A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The spherical capsule containing the Echo 1A is visible at the top of the Altair solid fuel third stage. (NASA)
12 August 1960: At 5:39:43 a.m., Eastern Daylight Savings Time, the Echo 1A experimental passive communications satellite was launched from LC-17A at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The launch vehicle was a Thor-Delta three stage rocket. It entered a nearly circular 944 mile × 1,048 mile orbit (1,519 × 1,687 kilometers). The orbital period was 118.3 minutes.
The satellite was a 100 foot diameter (30.48 meter) Mylar polyester balloon with a reflective surface. The material was just 0.0127 millimeters thick. The mass of the satellite was 66 kilograms (145.5 pounds). In orbit, the balloon envelope was kept inflated by gas from evaporating liquid. It had been constructed by the G.T. Schjeldahl Company, Northfield, Minnesota. This was the second Echo satellite. The first had failed to reach orbit when launched 13 March 1960.
Later the same day, a microwave transmission from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, was reflected off the Echo 1A satellite and received at the Bell Laboratories, Homdel, New York.
According to NASA, “The success of Echo 1A proved that microwave transmission to and from satellites in space was understood and demonstrated the promise of communications satellites. The vehicle also provided data for the calculation of atmospheric density and solar pressure due to its large area-to-mass ratio. Echo 1A was visible to the unaided eye over most of the Earth (brighter than most stars) and was probably seen by more people than any other man-made object in space.”
Echo 1A remained in Earth orbit until 24 May 1968.
An Echo satellite undergoing static inflation tests inside a blimp hangar at Weeksville NAS, North Carolina. The vehicle, which shows scale, is a 1959 Plymouth Suburban 4-door station wagon. (NASA)
The Delta was a three-stage expendable launch vehicle which was developed from the Douglas Aircraft Company’s SM-75 Thor intermediate-range ballistic missile.
Designated Thor DM-19, the first stage was 60.43 feet (18.42 meters) long and 8 feet (2.44 meters) in diameter. Fully fueled, the first stage had a gross weight of 108,770 pounds (49,337 kilograms). It was powered by a Rocketdyne LR-79-7 engine which burned liquid oxygen and RP-1 (a highly-refined kerosene rocket fuel) and produced 170,565 pounds of thrust (758.711 kilonewtons). This stage had a burn time of 2 minutes, 45 seconds.
The second stage was an Aerojet General Corporation-built Delta 104. It was 19 feet, 3 inches (5.88 meters) long with a maximum diameter of 4 feet, 6 inches (1.40 meters). The second stage had a gross weight of 9,859 pounds (4,472 kilograms). It used an Aerojet AJ10-104 rocket engine which burned a hypergolic mixture of nitric acid and UDMH. The second stage produced 7,890 pounds of thrust (35.096 kilonewtons) and burned for 4 minutes, 38 seconds.
The third stage was an Alleghany Ballistics Laboratory Altair 1. It was 6 feet long, 1 foot, 6 inches in diameter and had a gross weight of 524 pounds (238 kilograms). This stage used a solid-fuel Thiokol X-248 rocket engine, producing 2,799 pounds of thrust (12.451 kilonewtons). Its burn time was 4 minutes, 16 seconds.
