Rocket file · LV-449
Vanguard
Photograph: NASA · NASA Image and Media Guidelines · licence
Vanguard is an expendable launch vehicle built by Lockheed Martin. It stands 23.0 m tall, lifts 9 kg to low Earth orbit, first flew on 23 October 1957. It has flown 11 times with 3 successes, a success rate of 27.3%. It has nothing on the Launch Library 2 schedule right now.
Specification
Vehicle spec sheet
As listed by Launch Library 2. The cost is Launch Library’s figure, not a quoted price. Figures for rockets outside the sixty most-flown were last read on 2026-11-05.
Flight record
Reliability
About Vanguard
The Vanguard rocket was intended to be the first launch vehicle the United States would use to place a satellite into orbit. Instead, the Sputnik crisis caused by the surprise launch of Sputnik 1 led the U.S., after the failure of Vanguard TV3, to quickly orbit the Explorer 1 satellite using a Juno I rocket, making Vanguard I the second successful U.S. orbital launch.
Upcoming flights
Manifest
Vanguard is retired, and no flight is filed.
All upcoming launchesVanguard in the archive
From NASA's public image library and Wikimedia Commons. Each photo shows the credit its licence asks for and links back to where it came from.
Orbitburn is a gravity lander game with 25 ships. It's free on Android, and you can play it in your browser.Get it free on Google Play
Common questions
- How many times has Vanguard flown?
- 11 times, with 3 successes and 8 failures.
- What is Vanguard's success rate?
- 27.3%. That's 3 successful flights out of 11 attempts.
- How much can Vanguard lift to orbit?
- Launch Library 2 lists Vanguard at 9 kg to low Earth orbit.
- Is Vanguard reusable?
- No. Launch Library 2 lists Vanguard as expendable, so no stage is recovered to fly again.