Over The Moon Photos
CBS News Anchor Walter Cronkite uses models to explain America's Explorer 1 mission to viewers in 1958. Explorer 1, officially called Satellite 1958 Alpha, was the first artificial satellite successfully put into orbit by the U.S. Launched on Jan. 31, 1958, the module discovered the Van Allen radiation belts around the Earth. The launch pre-dated the establishment of NASA by five months.
(Photo: CBS Photo Archive)
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