Suggested Searches

History

The 60th anniversary of the launch of Explorer 1 was an opportunity to celebrate the achievement that sent America into the Space Age, as well as to embrace the promises of future exploration and discoveries yet unknown. Several events were held in historically significant venues, including the building in Washington where the iconic image of its developers hoisting a model of Explorer 1 at the press conference announcing the launch was taken, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California where the satellite was designed and built, and at the blockhouse and launch pad in Florida from which the rocket that carried Explorer 1 into space was launched.

Blockhouse at Cape Canaveral
Activities in a blockhouse at Cape Canaveral during the launch of the Jupiter-C rocket carrying Explorer 1 on Jan. 31, 1958. On the 50th anniversary of the launch, a marker was unveiled declaring Cape Canaveral Air Force Station as a National Historic Aerospace Site by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
NASA

Anniversary Events

A smiling man with glasses, a suit, and a yellow-and-blue striped tie stands with his arms outstretched behind a large model of the Explorer 1 satellite. He is positioned in a grand, stone-walled hall featuring an inscription on the upper wall and a large wooden doorway in the background. The rocket model is white and black with thin wire antennas extending from its midsection, resting on black display stands in the foreground.

Washington, D.C.: Explorer 1, the Van Allen Belts and a Look to the Future

NASA science leadership ― including NASA Planetary Science Director Jim Green, seen here with an original model of Explorer 1 ― participated in a daylong conference looking at the history of and future potential for Earth science and heliophysics, hosted by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. Photo credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky

A high-angle view from a stage shows two men in suits seated and facing each other in conversation, with one holding a clipboard. They are positioned in the foreground, overlooking a large, seated audience in a dimly lit auditorium. A small monitor displaying a video feed sits on a table between the speakers, while a long center aisle divides the crowd, leading toward the back of the room where various scientific displays are visible.

Pasadena, California: The von Kármán Lecture

Explorer 1 marked the start of the Space Age for America, and heralded the study of Earth from space. The JPL-built satellite confirmed the existence of the Van Allen radiation belts, the very first space science discovery.

A man in a tan suit, red tie, and sunglasses stands at a clear podium speaking into a microphone outdoors. Behind him is a large brown sign that reads "COMPLEX-26 Launch site of EXPLORER - I America's first Satellite." The NASA logo and the 45th Space Wing emblem are visible on the front of the podium, and several historical plaques and dark rocks sit on the ground in the background.

Cape Canaveral, Florida: History at Complex 26

The Jupiter-C rocket that carried Explorer 1 into space launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 26, which made it the perfect location for NASA officials, including Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana, seen here, and others, including some of the men who were onsite 60 years ago, to celebrate the launch anniversary and dedicate a historic site marker.

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Earth

Your home. Our Mission. And the one planet that NASA studies more than any other.

Explore NASA’s History

Get Your Daily Dose of NASA History

Explorer 1

America's first satellite, Explorer 1. America joined the space race with the launch of this small, but important spacecraft.