EXPLORER 1: THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL UNITED STATES SATELLITE, LAUNCHED INTO SPACE 60 YEARS AGO

THE US LAUNCHED ITS FIRST successful artificial satellite, Explorer 1, on January 31, 1958. By February 1, it was in orbit, becoming the third satellite, after the Soviet Sputnik 1 and Sputnik 2.

RECALLING EARLY US SPACEFLIGHT WITH THE GLENCOE VANGUARD LAUNCH ROCKET

 

THIS MODEL IS BASED ON AN ORIGINAL ADAMS KIT that dates back to 1958, the year that the Vanguard rocket sent a small satellite into orbit.

SPACE TECHNOLOGY FROM SIX DECADES AGO - 1:5 SCALE HAWK PROJECT VANGUARD SATELLITE.

PROJECT VANGUARD WAS THE FIRST US space launch programme. Now Round 2 has released the 1958 Hawk kit of this most important pioneer of spaceflight’s early years.

INCOMING ROCKET - GLENCOE MODELS THOR MISSILE TO 1:87 SCALE

I HAVE BEEN ASSISTING Glencoe Models with up-and-coming reissues of two Adams launch rocket kits, Thor and Vanguard. Here is an exclusive first look at one of these, the Thor IRBM (Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile), a kit that was first released in 1958, along with the Vanguard.