America launched its first satellite, Explorer 1, #OTD in 1958, a mere four months after the Soviets launched Sputnik. But what if the Navy's December 1957 launch of Vanguard had been successful? Would NASA have been created? Travel back to the 1950s with this Explorer 1 documentary on NASA ▶️ https://go.nasa.gov/4hcf5Kk | NASA History

On Dec. 16, 1962, NASA launched the Explorer 16 spacecraft to study micrometeoroids near Earth. Discover more space history 👉 https://trib.al/nEo2efe The mission would determine how likely it would be for spacecraft to get damaged by the small space rocks and dust particles around the Earth, The cylindrically shaped spacecraft measured about 6 feet long and 2 feet in diameter. It carried instruments that could detect when meteoroids hit the spacecraft and assess the resulting damage. Data from

🇺🇸 America’s Leap – The Explorer 1 Mission (1958) 🚀 Explorer 1: America’s First Step Into Space #nasa #NASA #astronomy #spaceexploration | Space Xplore