On this day in space: March 17, 1958: US launches its second satellite, Vanguard 1

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On St. Patrick's Day in 1958, the U.S. Navy launched Vanguard 1, the first solar-powered satellite and the oldest artificial satellite currently orbiting Earth.

On St. Patrick's Day in 1958, the U.S. Navy launched Vanguard 1, the first solar-powered satellite and the oldest artificial satellite currently orbiting Earth. The main purpose of this mission was to test a new three-stage rocket.

a thin rocket with a sharp nose cone lifts off in a black and white photograph

U.S. Navy launches Vanguard 1. (Image credit: Naval Research Laboratory)

Vanguard 1 was the fourth satellite ever launched into space (following Sputniks 1 and 2 and Explorer 1). It looks a lot like a miniature version of Sputnik. Vanguard 1 was tiny compared to the satellites that came before it. It's about the size of a grapefruit and weighs only 3 lbs.

Solar technology allowed the satellite to transmit signals to Earth for seven years, while battery-powered satellites couldn't even last a month. Scientists think the satellite will deorbit by the year 2198 after spending 240 years in space.

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Hanneke Weitering
Hanneke Weitering
Contributing expert

Hanneke Weitering is a multimedia journalist in the Pacific Northwest reporting on the future of aviation at FutureFlight.aero and Aviation International News and was previously the Editor for Spaceflight and Astronomy news here at Space.com. As an editor with over 10 years of experience in science journalism she has previously written for Scholastic Classroom Magazines, MedPage Today and The Joint Institute for Computational Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After studying physics at the University of Tennessee in her hometown of Knoxville, she earned her graduate degree in Science, Health and Environmental Reporting (SHERP) from New York University. Hanneke joined the Space.com team in 2016 as a staff writer and producer, covering topics including spaceflight and astronomy. She currently lives in Seattle, home of the Space Needle, with her cat and two snakes. In her spare time, Hanneke enjoys exploring the Rocky Mountains, basking in nature and looking for dark skies to gaze at the cosmos. 

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