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On This Day In Space: March 26, 1958: US Army launches Explorer 3 satellite

On March 26, 1958, the United States launched its third satellite into space. Explorer 3 was almost identical to Explorer 1, the first satellite the U.S. ever launched. Explorer 3 was the first successful launch in the series after Explorer 1.

Explorer 3 launched on a Juno I rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida and entered an eccentric orbit. This means it was following a long elliptical path around the Earth. Its payload included a cosmic ray counter and a micrometeorite detector.  

Titan as it appears from space in visible light. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft captured this view in January 2013, when it was about 895,000 miles (1.44 million kilometers) from the big moon. (Image credit: NASA)

The data from Explorer 3 and Explorer 1 led to the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belt. This is a region around the Earth where charged particles from the sun get trapped by Earth’s magnetic field. Explorer 3 spent 93 days orbiting the Earth before its orbit decayed.

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