Vanguard 1

SATELLITE · the oldest thing in orbit

LAUNCHED 1958SIZE like a grapefruitSTATUS silent, but still up there

A polished metal sphere the size of a grapefruit, launched in 1958, and today the oldest human made object still in space. The famous first satellites, Sputnik and Explorer 1, burned up long ago; little Vanguard just keeps circling, silent since 1964. It was also one of the first satellites powered by solar cells, the technology that now powers almost everything up there.

🚀 Fly there in the 3D universe

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