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A few months after the USSR launched Sputnik, the US's first satellite, Explorer 1, was launched into space #OTD in 1958. Explorer 1 measured the radiation environment in Earth orbit, leading to the discovery of the Van Allen Belts.

Watch the news reel: https://archive.org/details/1958-02-03_First_US_Satellite_Launched
#NASAhistory

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