Feb 9, 2019
From 1954 until 1957, while lighter tanks and better engines for getting into orbit were developed, sounding rocket contracts were completed by a larger version of the Belemnite II, the Belemnite III. It was able to get higher than before, with much more payload, but still nowhere near orbit.
Finally, in early 1957, the LR-79 and the AJ-10-37, long in development, were unlocked, and an attempt could be made to get the first satellite into orbit. A very light satellite with some experiments, like a geiger counter and a micrometeorite detector, was placed into a fairly circular low earth orbit by the Charnia I rocket on the 27th June 1957, launching from Cape Canaveral.
