In 1954, before Project Vanguard’s birth, the Army and Navy jointly undertook a satellite project thought up by Engineer Wernher Von Braun, captured German V-2 expert turned U.S. Army missile brain.

At Cape Canaveral, Project Vanguard scientists and Pentagon aides briefed 127 U.S. and foreign newsmen on the hopes, the postponements, the new times of firing and even the homely housekeeping ...