TJL - 9/10/2007 5:39 PMWith all the talk this month regarding the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the space age, it dawned on me that the first (successful) satellite launch by the United States took place at night.Was wondering why they didn't feel it was important to have as much visibility as possible on that launch?Thank you
Andy_Small - 9/10/2007 8:26 PMwhen Explorer I launched did it have as much TV coverage as say a Freedom 7 Launch?
edkyle99 - 9/10/2007 6:49 PMQuoteTJL - 9/10/2007 5:39 PMWith all the talk this month regarding the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the space age, it dawned on me that the first (successful) satellite launch by the United States took place at night.Was wondering why they didn't feel it was important to have as much visibility as possible on that launch?Thank youMy recollection is that a night launch was performed to allow visual tracking further down range. Three previous suborbital Jupiter-C launches had also been at night, to allow visual tracking of the test nose cones during reentry. - Ed Kyle