Explorer I

The United States answered back with the launch of Explorer I on January 31, 1958, from Cape Canaveral (now Cape Kennedy) in Florida. Explorer was launched by Jupiter-C, a direct descendant of the German A-4 (V-2) rocket. Explorer carried a small payload of scientific instruments that eventually discovered the magnetosphere, the magnetic radiation belts around the Earth. About 80 additional missions have taken place in the Explorer program since the initial launch in 1958.

Later that same year, Congress passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which established NASA as a government agency beginning October 1.