LAUNCH COMPLEX 26: THE PAD THAT LAUNCHED AMERICA'S FIRST SATELLITE

On the night of January 31, 1958, America's answer to Sputnik left Earth from a pad you can still stand on today. This is the story of Explorer 1 — and the ground it left from.

THE NIGHT AMERICA ANSWERED

Sputnik had been circling overhead since October 1957, and the Navy's televised Vanguard attempt had failed spectacularly in December.

The pressure landed on the Army Ballistic Missile Agency and its Jupiter-C rocket — a direct descendant of the Redstone — with a small satellite built by JPL riding on top.

EIGHTY-FOUR LONG MINUTES

Explorer 1 lifted off from Launch Complex 26 at 10:48 p.m.

Then came the wait: nearly an hour and a half before a tracking station confirmed the satellite had come around on its first orbit. When it did, America was officially in the Space Age.

THE DISCOVERY NOBODY EXPECTED

Explorer 1 wasn't just a political answer — it carried a cosmic ray detector designed by James Van Allen.

Its data revealed belts of charged particles trapped by Earth's magnetic field: the Van Allen radiation belts, the first major scientific discovery of the Space Age.

STAND WHERE IT HAPPENED

Launch Complex 26 is preserved today as part of the Air Force Space & Missile Museum, blockhouse and all.

You can stand in the room where the launch was run — and see how small the beginning of the Space Age really was.

AMERICA'S SPACE AGE DIDN'T START ON A TELEVISION STAGE — IT STARTED ON A QUIET PAD AT THE CAPE, AT NIGHT.