Explorer I Launch Celebration

Rocket scientists William Pickering, left, James Van Allen, center, and Wernher von Braun celebrate the launching of Explorer I satellite by a Jupiter C rocket in January 1958. Explorer I was the first U.S. satellite in Earth orbit and the Jupiter C rocket was developed at the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (present-day Marshall Space Flight Center) in Huntsville, Madison County.

Courtesy of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

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