Today in History March 17: First solar-powered satellite

In 17 March 1958, the U.S. launched the Vanguard I satellite, from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The 3-lb satellite was the first to be solar-powered, carried a radio transmitter and orbited every 107.9 minutes.

This was the U.S.A.'s late entry into the Space Race, its second successful satellite launch, following the two Soviet successes with their satellites Sputnik I (184-lb pounds) launched 4 Oct 1957 and Sputnik II (1120-lb) launched 3 Nov 1957. For Vanguard I, the U.S. in only 2 years, 6 months, and 8 days had developed from scratch a complete high-performance three-stage launching vehicle, a highly accurate worldwide satellite tracking system.