Just Another Satellite

Off a launching pad at Cape Canaveral one afternoon last week thundered an Army Jupiter-C rocket. Seven minutes later, the rocket popped a satellite into orbit. What was even more remarkable than this space-age achievement was the fact that the world accepted the news of a third U.S. orbiting moon with a great deal less flutter than that accorded the winners of Hollywood's Academy Awards (see CINEMA).

The newest satellite, Explorer III, was similar to Explorer I, fired Jan. 31, and identical to Explorer II, which miscarried and disappeared after its successful launching March 5. Explorer III, weighing 31 Ibs., carried a special tape recorder that would enable scientists to measure cosmic rays more efficiently (see SCIENCE). As it turned out. its orbit, coursing an ellipse from 110 miles at its perigee to 1,735 miles at apogee at a top speed of 18,850 m.p.h.. was less than Army scientists had hoped for--and as much as 700 miles inside the Navy's grapefruit-sized Vanguard. Early calculations showed that Explorer III might last for only a few days. Later, as the missile scientists labored over their instruments, corrections gave the Army hopes that Explorer III will stay in orbit for at least three months and perhaps six.

A key period, three months. For it was only that long ago, in the shadow of the Sputniks, that the U.S. was wringing its hands over the Russians' rocking successes. In that brief time, the nation's burst of determination and speed had erased the shadow. Now, like jaded newsmen at Cape Canaveral, the free world shrugged off its excitement by heading not for the telephone but the hot-dog van.

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