1958 INT'L GEOPHYSICAL YEAR EXPLORER 1 SATELLITE LAUNCH ABOARD JUNO-1 BOOSTER 81184

Want to support this channel and help us preserve old films? Visit https://www.patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm Browse our products on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2YILTSD This newsreel style, U.S. Army film, made in conjunction with the Jet Propulsion Lab, is titled “X Minus 80 Days”. It details the 80 days preceding the launching of the IGY Satellite 1958 Alpha which was the “free world’s” first Earth satellite. After many design and planning meetings between the US Army, scientists from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at the California Institute of Technology, and the United States Army Ballistic Missile Agency the satellite was officially launched from Cape Canaveral on January 31st. The film’s story is by Irl E. Newland and Norman E. White and produced by Raphael S. Wolf Studios, Inc. Hollywood. The film also features Philip Callahan as executive producer and Jack Taylor as editor. United States of America War Office U.S. Army seal (0:07). Animation of shooting star and title page (0:13). Car pulls up to a security gate and checks-in with an officer (0:29). Opening credits and voice over beings (0:38). Army officials meet with engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at the California Institute of Technology announcing army participation in the International Geophysical Year satellite program by using Jupiter-C missile (1:03). Major General Medaris, commanding general of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency, at a meeting with Dr. Wernher von Braun, director of ABMA development operation, and JPL scientists about using rockets to launch satellites (2:00). Clips of planning conferences in Washington D.C., Huntsville, Alabama and Pasadena, California (2:25). Dr. WH Pickering, director of Jet Propulsion Laboratory, makes an announcement (2:37). Flight test of the first Jupiter-C that demonstrated a new radio receiving technique called micro lock (3:06). Footage from subsequent tests of the Jupiter-C specifically of the nose cone (3:53). Presentation of developments (4:15). Final design changes on the missile at headquarters of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (4:52). Full-scale static motor tests (5:26). Cooper Development Corporation and JPL fabricating and loading rocket motors (5:44). Manufacture of structure that supports the last stage rocket (6:33). Rocket motor case and supporting structures assembled (6:44). Close-up and explanation of the transmitter that acted as voice of the 1958 Alpha (7:02). Radio receiving equipment built in Monrovia, California (8:17). Explanation of the Cosmic Ray Experiment by Dr. James A. Van Allen of State University of Iowa and the Micro-Meteorite experiment of Air Force Cambridge Research Center contributions to development of the satellite (8:50-9:49). Assembled Explorer Satellite with breakdown of structure (9:57). Test of rocket motors (11:09). Transmitter being tested in simulated missile environment (11:44). Trucks transporting various parts to the launch location (12:04). Rocket’s journey from ABMA l