The Flickr Vanguardrocket Image Generatr

“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...

“The 72-foot, 11-ton Vanguard reaches a height of from 30 to 40 miles on the thrust of the first stage rocket. The International Geophysical Year Project is under U.S. Navy management.

11/29/57”

The waviness along the top of the photo paper is due to the adhesive, possibly requiring water, used to affix the caption. Sure enough, at 64 years and counting, it’s definitely not coming off, at all, ever.

The Cape appears to be – very nicely – directly under the tail-end of the exhaust plume. Also, for 1957, for the artist to incorporate not only clouds, but their shadows, along with the terminator...with cloud tops still illuminated, is pretty savvy & advanced. Granted, that close to the terminator, the shadows should be substantially more offset…forgivable. 😉
Thanks to the signature being present in another in this sequence of works, I’m sure this is by Nick Stanilla. A WIN.

The image was apparently the second of six, as part of a story/article entitled “Shooting The Moon”.

“VIKING – VANGUARD – TITAN: The Air Force TITAN’s first complete two-stage flight was a major advancement in the development of this newest ICBM. For the free world, it was a giant step into space, and for the Martin Company, it was another significant contribution to the advancement of U. S. missile design.
As this two-stage TITAN rose from Cape Canaveral, starting its epic flight, it cast a familiar silhouette against the sky – for the sleek, uncluttered lines of the Air Force TITAN are a trade-mark of Martin rockets.”

Artwork by James Boren, and another small “WIN”:

www.nygardgallery.com/boren.html
Credit: Thomas Nygard gallery website

See also. The two on the left?:

space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau/titan-1.htm
Credit: the irrepressible site of Gunter, at:
space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau/titan-1.htm
A fantastic site!

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.

PictionID:54062418 - Catalog:14_033459 - Title:GD/Astronautics Details: Missile Space Transport; Vanguard 1 Date: 1958 - Filename:14_033459.tif - - Images from the Convair/General Dynamics Astronautics Atlas Negative Collection. The processing, cataloging and digitization of these images has been made possible by a generous National Historical Publications and Records grant from the National Archives and Records Administration---Please Tag these images so that the information can be permanently stored with the digital file.---Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum

This engine powered the second state of the three-stage Vanguard rocket of 1957. Built by General Electric, this little guy produced 33,840 lb thrust, a huge amount for the time.

Sisters of the Society of the Sacred Heart were best known for their "Convent of the Sacred Heart Schools" around the world, educating children of the Elite.

1) On the left, Hubble Space Telescope Structural Dynamic Test Vehicle

2) On the right,and above, various rockets and missiles

3) Lower left, Apollo-Soyuz Test Project




On the left, Hubble Space Telescope Structural Dynamic Test Vehicle

Prior to undertaking construction of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) the Lockheed Missile and Space Company built a full-scale mockup in 1975 for conducting various feasibility studies. Initially a low-fidelity metal cylinder for testing handling procedures for the proposed spacecraft, the test vehicle evolved continuously as Lockheed proceeded through its feasibility studies and was awarded the contract to build the actual spacecraft. The test vehicle eventually served as a frame on which the cables and wiring harnesses for the actual spacecraft were fabricated. It was also used for simulations in developing maintenance and repair activities in orbit. Dynamic studies on the test vehicle including vibration studies and thermal studies led to its being designated the Hubble Space Telescope Structural Dynamic Test Vehicle (SDTV).

The artifact was stored outdoors at Lockheed in Sunnyvale Ca., until it was donated to NASM in June 1987 and shipped to the Garber facility. There it was refurbished and restored to its 1976 configuration. It went on display in the Space Hall in March 1989.

In 1996 the SDTV was removed from exhibit in order to upgrade the object to simulate the actual HST as it was being deployed from the Shuttle. This major upgrade, generously supported and executed by Lockheed, HST subcontractors, the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, and NASM staff and volunteers, involved fabricating the equipment section for the Optical Telescope Assembly, the aperture door, high gain antennae, solar arrays, aft shroud handrails, and numerous other details.

A major addition was realistic multi-layer (non-flight) thermal blanketing and taping, interface hardware, wave guides, and the umbilical. NASA also provided a large equipment cradle to allow the upgraded object to be displayed from the floor at a dramatic angle.
The completed artifact was reinstalled in Space Hall in early 1997.


Gift of the Lockheed Missile and Space Corporation


Country of Origin: United States of America

Manufacturer: Lockheed Martin Missile and Space Corporation

Location: National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC

Exhibition: Space Race

Type: SPACECRAFT-Unmanned

Materials: Mixed metals, aluminized Mylar

Dimensions: Overall: 14 ft. wide x 42 ft. 4 in. tall (426.7 x 1290.3cm)


airandspace.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?object=nasm_A...


2) On the right, and above, various rockets and missiles
See comment section below for link to more information


3) Lower left, a recreation of the Apollo-Soyuz rendezvous, on display in the Space Race gallery


In July 1975 two manned spacecraft were launched into Earth orbit--one from Kazakstan, the other from Florida. Their rendezvous in orbit fulfilled a 1972 agreement between the Soviet Union and the United States to participate in a joint venture in space.

Five astronauts and cosmonauts participated in the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, the first international joint human spaceflight mission.

airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/multimedia/detail.cf...

Looking up the body of a Vanguard rocket in the Space Hall at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

In 1955, the United States announced that it would put the first artificial satellite into orbit in time for the start of the International Geophysical Year in June 1957. But with no civilian space program, the U.S. had only three options for a rocket: the Atlas ICBM (inter-continental ballistic missile); the Redstone intermediate-range ICBM; and a U.S. Navy proposal to put the Viking sounding rocket on steroids. (A sounding rocket is a rocket designed to carry instruments high into the atmosphere, but not reach outer space.)

With the military unwilling to part with any Atlases or Redstones, the Viking project -- now named Project Vanguard -- became the rocket of choice.

Design work began in August 1955 under the auspices of the Glenn Martin Company. Vanguard would have three stages: A first stage derived from the Viking rocket motor, a second stage based on the Aerobee sounding rocket motor, and a brand-new solid-fuel third stage rocket motor designed by the Grand Central Rocket Company. Vanguard had no steering fins or exhaust vanes to control it, and instead was steered by moving the exhaust nozzles. The second stage housed an inertial guidance system. The third stage was spun on a turn-table before it separated from the second stage to impart stability to it. This would allow the satellite to be spun as well, so it would be stable when released.

Sadly, the Vanguard never worked. It only launched 3 satellites out of 11 tries. The first American satellite was Explorer 1, which launched on January 23, 1958, aboard a Juno-I rocket (the civilian name for a Jupiter-C rocket). Vanguard's first successful launch did not occur until March 17, 1958.

Vanguard was cancelled in 1959.

Looking southwest across the Space Hall at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

This is "Rocket Row" -- a grouping of famous missiles and rockets. When the Air & Space Museum was in smaller quarters behind the Smithsonian Castle (prior to the opening of its current building in 1976), these stood in a row outdoors. They are now grouped in a major exhibit in the Space Hall.

Left to right, they are: Vanguard (tall with black nosecone), Scout-D (with "United States" markings), Jupiter-C (the "UE" marking), Aerobee-150 (tiny and slendeer), and the Viking (with hull cutaway to show interior).