The Flickr Lc18A Image Generatr

“Test sphere mounted on the end of the third stage of the Vanguard rocket at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The 3¼-pound, 6.4-inch sphere, designed and built at the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D. C., has six antennas and two radio transmitters capable of sending signals to tracking station on the ground hundreds of miles away. The six rectangular objects on the surface of the aluminum sphere are solar batteries which will power the radio transmitters.”

Note the reflections in the satellite…a parking lot, with cars visible. So, possibly taken at the NRL prior to shipment to Cape Canaveral, or somewhere on Cape Canaveral (other than LC-18) during preflight testing, inspection, transport…or not. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Much more amusingly...although it might not've been "flight-rated", and merely used here to temporarily secure the satellite, check out the good, old-fashioned hose clamp! Regardless, I LOVE IT.
Hmm...note in this diagram that the "shaft" to which the hose clamp is attached, is indeed part of the satellite/launch vehicle, labeled as the "SEPARATION MECHANISM". Maybe it did fly:

www.americaspace.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/vanguard1...
Credit: AmericaSpace website

I remember seeing this photograph, or variants of it, in countless books, magazines, etc., from childhood on. Hence, a very nostalgic photograph for me. And now, seeing it for the first time at such high resolution, a very nice photo indeed.

Additionally, per the NSSDCA website, at:

nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=VAGT3

"Vanguard Test Vehicle 3 (TV3) was the first U.S. attempt to launch a satellite into orbit around the Earth. It was a small satellite designed to test the launch capabilities of a three-stage launch vehicle and study the effects of the environment on a satellite and its systems in Earth orbit. It also was to be used to study micrometeor impacts and to obtain geodetic measurements through orbit analysis. The IGY Vanguard satellite program was designed with the purpose of launching one or more Earth orbiting satellites during the International Geophysical Year (IGY).

At launch on 6 December 1957 at 16:44:34 UT at the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida, the booster ignited and began to rise but about 2 seconds after liftoff, after rising about a meter, the rocket lost thrust and began to settle back down to the launch pad. As it settled against the launch pad the fuel tanks ruptured and exploded, destroying the rocket and severely damaging the launch pad. The Vanguard (Vanguard 1A) satellite was thrown clear and landed on the ground a short distance away with its transmitters still sending out a beacon signal. The satellite was damaged, however, and could not be reused. It is now on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

[airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/satellite-vanguard-...
Credit: NASM website]

The exact cause of the accident was never determined, presumably it was due to a fuel leak between the fuel tank and the rocket engine, possibly due to a loose connection in a fuel line or low fuel pump inlet pressure allowing some of the burning fuel in the thrust chamber to leak back into the fuel tank."

Additional excellent & pertinent Vanguard reading:

www.spaceflighthistories.com/post/vanguard
Credit: “SPACEFLIGHT HISTORIES” website

And:

www.drewexmachina.com/2017/12/06/vanguard-tv-3-americas-f...
Credit: Andrew LePage/Drew Ex Machina website

Finally…interesting:

www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum14/HTML/000241.html
Credit: collectSPACE website

“Vanguard rocket on launching pad.”

Based on the appearance of the rocket in the below linked photos, I think this is Vanguard Test Vehicle-Two/Vanguard TV-2. Since it’s venting, possibly taken the night/early morning of its October 23, 1957 launch?

Per Wikipedia:

“Vanguard TV-2, also called Vanguard Test Vehicle-Two, was the third suborbital test flight of a Vanguard rocket as part of Project Vanguard. Successful TV-2 followed the successful launch of Vanguard TV-0, a one-stage rocket launched in December 1956 and Vanguard TV-1, a two-stage rocket launched in May 1957.

Project Vanguard was a program managed by the United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and designed and built by the Glenn L. Martin Company (now Lockheed-Martin), which intended to launch the first artificial satellite into Earth orbit using a Vanguard rocket.[1] as the launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral Missile Annex, Florida.

Vanguard TV-2 arrived at Cape Canaveral in June 1957. Vanguard TV-2 was a prototype as it had a liquid rocket first stage, a dummy (no fuel) second stage, and a dummy (no fuel) third stage. Three Vanguard stages were needed to put a satellite in orbit, the final goal of the Vanguard project. Since stage two and three had no power, the test flight would not achieve the same height as Vanguard TV-1.

Vanguard TV-2 lifted off on 23 October 1957 from Cape Canaveral from launch pad LC-18A. Launch pad 18A was an older Viking launch stand that was shipped from White Sands Missile Range for use at the Cape Canaveral. Pad 18A was also used on Vanguard TV-0 and TV-1. The goal of TV-2 was to test the final Vanguard first stage, as well as to test the retrorocket system of stage two and spin-up of stage three. Also new to test on TV-2 flight was a super high frequency (SHF) C-band radio beacon on the rocket and ground tracking radar gear, used to track proper propulsion and trajectory. The telemetry was picked up at the Air Force Missile Test Center's (AFMTC) tracking station.

Vanguard TV-2 was successful, the three-stage rocket achieved an altitude of 175 km (109 mi), a down range of 539 km (335 mi), and a top speed of 6,840 km/h (4,250 mph). TV-2 landed in the Atlantic Ocean. First and second stage separated on time, all controls and tracking worked. The only problems TV-2 had were on the ground getting ready for the flight, as there were many delays. TV-2 was shipped to the Cape not working (agreed and known by all parties). It took from early June to late October in 1957 at the Cape to work out all the problems that were not fixed in the manufacturing. For contrast TV-1 arrived at the cape in February 1956 and lifted off in early May 1956. The delay of TV-2 along with the failure of TV-3, put the United States behind in the Space Race. On 4 October 1957, 19 days before TV-2's lift off, a Soviet Union Sputnik rocket was used to perform the world's first satellite launch, taking away some of the joy of TV-2's success.”

Above at:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanguard_TV-2

The linked images/associated descriptions upon which my identification is based:

“First stage of one of the Vanguard rockets being erected in the gantry at the Navy's launching site at the Air Force Missile Test Center. After the rocket has undergone tests, it is combined with "dummy" second and third stages and fired sometime soon to test its new GE 27,000 pound thrust engine under actual flight conditions. U.S plans to send earth satellite during IGY with this missile.”

www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/first-stage-of-one-...

“Satellite test rocket to be fired soon. This Vanguard rocket is known as TV-2.”

www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/satellite-test-rock...

www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/satellite-test-rock...

www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/satellite-test-rock...

www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/satellite-test-rock...

“VANGUARD TV-2: LAUNCH, 1957 Liftoff of the Vanguard TV-2 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Photograph, 23 October 1957.”

www.bridgemanimages.com/en/noartistknown/vanguard-tv-2-la...

Vanguard TV-0 (Vanguard Test Vehicle Zero), a refurbished Viking 13 rocket, is prepared for its 8 December, 1956 launch from Cape Canaveral, Launch Complex 18A. The successful flight was the first sub-orbital test flight of a Vanguard rocket as part of Project Vanguard.

See/read also:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanguard_TV0
Credit: Wikipedia

www.postwarv2.com/viking/photos/glmmam_viking_13_photo_se...
Credit: the superlative Beggs Aerospace website

Actual caption:

"The ground-controlled Viking rocket which achieved one of the world's altitude records for single stage vehicles is shown on its stand shortly before take-off at Cape Canaveral, Fla. The launching installation was built by Loewy-Hydropress, Div. Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton, New York."

“Navy’s big pencil writing “success” on the sky -- Cape Canaveral, Fla…..This three-picture sequence shows the launching of the Navy’s pencil-shaped Vanguard rocket, carrying a 6.4 inch spherical satellite in its nose, blasting into the sky after launching at Cape Canaveral, Florida, yesterday. It was the Navy’s third attempt to put a satellite into orbit. The other two attempts failed.
Left: The Vanguard leaves its launching pad with a thunderous roar on its three-stage journey into outer-space:
Center: The rocket leaves a thick cloud of smoke behind as it continues its flawless takeoff and at right as observers watched it go straight and true until it became a dot of fire in the cloudless sky. It was launched at 7:16 a.m. (EST) and at 9:40 a.m. The White House announced that the satellite was in orbit and circling the earth.”

7" x 9".

Extract from SP-4202 (Vanguard: A History),
by Constance McLaughlin Green and Milton Lomask:

"The seventeenth of March 1958, was a beautiful day. At 7:15:41 a.m. after a nervewrackingly reluctant start that came close to carrying the launch stand itself into the air, TV-4 rose into a brilliantly sunny sky flecked with small white clouds. Now began the post-launch countdown. At the open-air communications center that the crew had improvised a thousand yards or so northwest of the blockhouse, Paul Walsh was again on the telephone to John Hagen in Washington. At approximately T + l second he was shouting into the receiver, "There she goes, John ...the flame is wonderful. Engine is burning smoothly." At T + 150 seconds, he was telling the project director, "John, the second stage is separated." And at T+490 seconds, triumphantly, "John, the third stage has separated." There was reason now to believe that the payload was in orbit, but already long-deferred plans for victory celebrations remained in abeyance while, "like expectant fathers," everybody involved waited for confirmation from the Minitrack station at San Diego, California. In Washington, about 9:30 a.m., there was a clatter on the teletype linking the NRL control room with the California station. "We have got no signal yet," San Diego reported. Then: "Stand by, we may have it." The NRL operator tapped out a return message: "Give us the word ASAP [as soon as possible]." San Diego came back immediately: "This is it. We have 108.03 … also 108.00 [the two radio frequencies of the satellite]…Good signal … no doubt … congratulations…" In his cubicle of an office John Hagen put in a phone call to Alan Waterman, Director of the National Science Foundation. "It is in orbit," Hagan said. "You can inform the President," The little sphere that would be known as Vanguard I was circling the globe every 107.9 minutes-apogee, 2,466 miles; perigee, 404 miles; expected lifetime of satellite and its trailing third-stage casing, about 2,000 years. It goes without saying that, in the eyes of the public, the members of the Army team remained the heroes of the space age; it was they who had put up America's first satellite. But the Project Vanguard people had the satisfaction of knowing that in record time-only two years, six months, and eight days-they had developed from scratch a complete high-performance three-stage launching vehicle, a highly accurate worldwide satellite-tracking system, and an adequate launching facility and range instrumentation; more to the point, they had accomplished their mission, which was to put one satellite in orbit during the International Geophysical Year."

At:

history.nasa.gov/SP-4202/chap12.html

See also:

www.floridamemory.com/items/show/57411

www.nrl.navy.mil/news/releases/nrl-celebrates-60-years-sp...

“Last minute checks are made on the Vanguard missile in preparation to sending aloft the first U.S. test satellite yesterday. The countdown was nearing zero when all that remained was to press the button. Then the rocket misfired and the attempt ended in a fiery failure.”

7" x 9".

Per the NSSDCA website, at:

nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftDisplay.do?id=VAGT3

"Vanguard Test Vehicle 3 (TV3) was the first U.S. attempt to launch a satellite into orbit around the Earth. It was a small satellite designed to test the launch capabilities of a three-stage launch vehicle and study the effects of the environment on a satellite and its systems in Earth orbit. It also was to be used to study micrometeor impacts and to obtain geodetic measurements through orbit analysis. The IGY Vanguard satellite program was designed with the purpose of launching one or more Earth orbiting satellites during the International Geophysical Year (IGY).

At launch on 6 December 1957 at 16:44:34 UT at the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida, the booster ignited and began to rise but about 2 seconds after liftoff, after rising about a meter, the rocket lost thrust and began to settle back down to the launch pad. As it settled against the launch pad the fuel tanks ruptured and exploded, destroying the rocket and severely damaging the launch pad. The Vanguard satellite was thrown clear and landed on the ground a short distance away with its transmitters still sending out a beacon signal. The satellite was damaged, however, and could not be reused. It is now on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

The exact cause of the accident was never determined, presumably it was due to a fuel leak between the fuel tank and the rocket engine, possibly due to a loose connection in a fuel line or low fuel pump inlet pressure allowing some of the burning fuel in the thrust chamber to leak back into the fuel tank."

Vanguard SLV-3 launch, Launch Complex 18A, 26 September 1958. During the liftoff period, flight was normal or better than normal, but the performance of the second stage was below the anticipated minimum. The burned-out third stage and the payload reached an altitude of nearly 265 miles, but the velocity was about 250 feet per second short of the 25,000 required to orbit.

Above data from:

www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4202/chap12.html

See also (image 3):

afspacemuseum.org/missiles/Vanguard/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanguard_SLV-3

Vanguard Satellite Launch Vehicle 2 (SLV-2) lifts off from Launch Complex 18A, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, 26 June 1958, 5:00 GMT. Although hoped to be the second successful Vanguard launch - following the successful flight of Vanguard TV-4 - a premature second stage engine cut off prevented the Lyman Alpha satellite payload from reaching orbit.

The rich detail and depth of the photo, despite it's rough condition, is impressive.

“Vanguard TV-1, also called Vanguard Test Vehicle-One, was the second sub-orbital test flight of a Vanguard rocket as part of the Project Vanguard. Vanguard TV-1 followed the successful launch of Vanguard TV-0 a one-stage rocket launched in December 1956.

Project Vanguard was a program managed by the United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), and designed and built by the Glenn L. Martin Company (now Lockheed-Martin), which intended to launch the first artificial satellite into Earth orbit using a Vanguard rocket as the launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral Missile Annex, Florida.

Vanguard TV-1 arrived at Cape Canaveral in February 1957. TV-1 was a two-stage rocket. Vanguard TV-1 used a liquid rocket from a modified Viking rocket for the first stage. The second stage was made by Grand Central Rocket Company. The second stage was a prototype solid-propellant rocket. This solid-propellant second stage later became the third stage of the final three-stage Vanguard vehicle. Three stages are needed to put a satellite in orbit, the goal of Vanguard.

Vanguard TV-1 lifted off on 1 May 1957 at 01:29 local time (06:29 GMT) from Cape Canaveral from launch pad LC-18A. Launch pad 18A was an older Viking launch stand that was shipped from White Sands Missile Range for use at Cape Canaveral. Pad 18A was also used on Vanguard Test Vehicle-Zero (Vanguard TV-0).

The main goal of Vanguard TV-1 was to test the solid-propellant rocket. The solid-propellant rocket needed to spin-up, separate from the first-stage booster, ignite, provide a proper propulsion and trajectory. Another goal was to test the techniques and equipment used to launch and track the rocket. The telemetry received during flight would record the proper propulsion and trajectory. The telemetry was picked up at the Air Force Missile Test Center's (AFMTC) tracking station. Vanguard TV-1 was successful, the two-stage rocket achieved an altitude of 195 km (121 mi) and a downrange distance of 726 km (451 mi), landing in the Atlantic Ocean.

With Vanguard TV-0 and Vanguard TV-1 successes, the next sub-orbital test flight, Vanguard TV-2, was launched in October 1957.”

Above per/at:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanguard_TV-1
Credit: Wikimedia

Also:

history.nasa.gov/SP-4202/chap10.html