Alright, listen up. Let’s talk about space. Not the kind you need when someone’s breathing down your neck on the subway—no, real space. Outer space. The final frontier. And back in 1958, America was in a real hurry to get up there. Because, let’s be honest, the Russians were showing off.
First, they hit us with Sputnik, right? Boom—metal basketball floating over our heads, beeping like a car alarm nobody could turn off. Then they did it again with Sputnik 2, and this time, they even put a dog in it. A dog. Now, America loves two things—winning and dogs—so this was personal.
So what do we do? We throw our own little metal ball into space. Vanguard 1. But here’s the thing—it was solar-powered. In 1958! Let me put that in perspective: back then, people still thought smoking was good for you. Meanwhile, we had scientists saying, “Forget batteries, this thing’s gonna run on the sun.” Which, let’s be real, is a flex.
And guess what? That little dude is still up there. I’m not kidding. It’s the oldest human-made thing in space that’s still in orbit. NASA built this tiny grapefruit-sized satellite in the 50s, and it outlasted half the marriages from that era.
Now, Vanguard 1 wasn’t just floating around looking cute—it was up there doing science. It helped us figure out that Earth isn’t a perfect sphere. (Which, side note, flat-earthers, you good? You still holding onto that?) It also proved that solar energy works. And this was way before Teslas and overpriced Whole Foods granola.
So while Vanguard 1 may not have had a flashy name like Sputnik, and it didn’t bring a dog (which, again, the Russians really went for the heart with that one), it did something even crazier: it lasted. And it showed the world that America wasn’t just here to participate in the space race—we were here to win.
Sixty-seven years later, it’s still up there, orbiting, looking down at us like, “Damn… y’all still arguing about climate change? I told you solar works!”
