Status
Success
Rocket
Mission Details
Explorer 4
Explorer 4 was instrumented by Dr. James van Allen's group. The Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency had initially planned two satellites for the purposes of studying the Van Allen radiation belts and the effects of nuclear explosions upon these belts (and the Earth's magnetosphere in general), however, Explorer 4 was the only such satellite launched as the other, Explorer 5, suffered launch failure.
Payloads: 1
Total Mass: 26.0 kg
Medium Earth Orbit
Location
LC-5, Cape Canaveral SFS, Florida, USA
Stats
1958
12th orbital launch attempt
Juno I
4th mission
4th mission of 1958
3rd successful mission
2nd consecutive successful mission