Explorer 1
via science.nasa.gov
Short excerpt below. Read at the original source.
Explorer 1 America’s First Satellite: The United States entered the Space Age on Jan. 31, 1958 with the successful launch of Explorer 1. Once orbit was confirmed, Jet Propulsion Laboratory Director William H. Pickering, University of Iowa physicist James Van Allen and Wernher von Braun of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (shown left-right) broke the […]