The Navy failed last night in an attempt to orbit its second Vanguard satellite, the Smithsonian Observatory in Cambridge announced last night.
Test instruments revealed that the third stage of the rocket did not fire, and as a result, the projectile "failed to attain the speed required to send an object into orbit around the earth."
According to a Naval spokesman, the satellite contained an instrument designed to measure the sun's output of X-rays and broadcast its findings to earth. This research would aid in discovering the cause of sun-spot interference on radio waves.
Launched at 10:53 E.D.T., the 20-inch satellite was carried aloft by a Vanguard rocket weighing 22,000 pounds.
At an altitude of 38 miles, the first stage, more than half the projectile, apparently disintegrated after depleting its fuel supply; and after leaving the launching pad vertically, the rocket arched to a more level course almost a mile up and then disappeared in the southeastern skies.
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