Topic: [Video] Vanguard 1 launch with audio (3/17/1958)
Richard Easton Member
Posts: 175 From: Winnetka, IL USA Registered: Jun 2006
posted 04-21-2009 06:34 PM
It must have been a long couple of seconds for the folks in the blockhouse before it took off:
ilbasso Member
Posts: 1522 From: Greensboro, NC USA Registered: Feb 2006
posted 04-21-2009 07:49 PM
I love the repeated exhortations "Keep goin', boy!" and "Keep goin', baby!" you hear in the background!
Richard Easton Member
Posts: 175 From: Winnetka, IL USA Registered: Jun 2006
posted 04-21-2009 07:56 PM
My dad recently told me that they'd all been up all night and were exhausted by the time of launch.
art540 Member
Posts: 432 From: Orange, California USA Registered: Sep 2006
posted 04-22-2009 01:45 PM
Thanks for the video, Richard. Never heard the blockhouse commentary before. It seems like the time of umbilical drop/ignition to full thrust and lift off was 5 seconds. You can see the roll jets on the first stage come on just after liftoff.
I came home from school on that Monday and the afternoon newspaper headline read: VANGUARD HITS SPACE ROAD.
Many thanks!
Charles Boyer New Member
Posts: 4 From: Raleigh, NC USA Registered: May 2009
posted 05-06-2009 02:38 PM
quote:Originally posted by Richard Easton: My dad recently told me that they'd all been up all night and were exhausted by the time of launch.
My grandfather's description was "puckered up." He was one of the telemetry guys for that particular flight.
Richard Easton Member
Posts: 175 From: Winnetka, IL USA Registered: Jun 2006
posted 05-08-2009 09:24 PM
Charles, what was your grandfather's name? I would like to forward it to Vanguardians.
dwmzmm Member
Posts: 82 From: Katy, TX USA Registered: Dec 2006
posted 05-08-2009 09:52 PM
Wow, great video! The only Vanguard clips I've seen is the very first one (that falls back and explodes on the pad). The Vanguard does have a very graceful, fluid motion as it's moving through the atmosphere.
Charles Boyer New Member
Posts: 4 From: Raleigh, NC USA Registered: May 2009
posted 06-30-2009 11:45 AM
V. L. Pinson Sr., Richard.
He was at MILA and then the Cape from 1954-1969.
rafefour New Member
Posts: 2 From: Palm Springs, CA Registered: Aug 2009
posted 08-04-2009 10:54 AM
Thank you for the video and audio blockhouse commentary.
I was a senior in high school and only ever saw Vanguard failures. I am happy to know, at last,the success of the rocket and the work of the engineers.
It is still exciting to see and experience.
art540 Member
Posts: 432 From: Orange, California USA Registered: Sep 2006
posted 08-10-2009 11:19 PM
As Time magazine wrote so aptly one week later: "Vanguard's farewell roar reverberated across the Cape".
Richard Easton Member
Posts: 175 From: Winnetka, IL USA Registered: Jun 2006
posted 03-17-2014 04:34 AM
Happy 56th birthday to Vanguard 1.
Headshot Member
Posts: 864 From: Vancouver, WA, USA Registered: Feb 2012
posted 04-11-2014 01:44 PM
What a great video! I still have my Geobra Vanguard model from the late '50s. I thought the inside of the rocket was sooo complicated! Thanks for posting the video.
Richard Easton Member
Posts: 175 From: Winnetka, IL USA Registered: Jun 2006
posted 03-17-2015 06:53 AM
Happy 57th to Vanguard 1, the first satellite to carry solar cells. I'm wearing the red coat in the first six seconds of this video (that's the Vanguard 1 a week or two before its launch).
posted 04-21-2009 06:34 PM
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