Miscellaneous - This Day That Age   

dated February 2, 1958: U.S. satellite launched

America’s first earth satellite is circling the earth after being launched at the missile testing site in Cape Canaveral (Florida) on January 31. It completed its first revolution around the earth 106 minutes after its launching, it was announced on February 1. The 30-pound satellite, christened “Explorer”, is shaped like an artillery shell, moving round the earth every 90 minutes as a unit with the final stage of rocket. Its launching comes exactly 17 weeks after Russia raised her first Sputnik. About two hours after it was fired, President Eisenhower announced at Augusta, Georgia, that the satellite was actually in orbit around the earth. The National Academy of Sciences said that scientific information obtained from the satellite would be shared with all nations taking part in the International Geophysical Year. This includes the Soviet Union.

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