the launch pad, and then fell back and blew up. Washington's officials then turned to the Army, where a group of booster pioneers were creating a satellite at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Al. On January 31, 1958, it launched its Explorer I satellite from Cape Canaveral on a modified Redstone ballistic missile. The thirty-one pound Explorer I was considerably smaller that Sputnik I, but its orbit was much higher than Sputniks. Explorer I also carried a Geiger counter designed to detect the presence of cosmic rays. Explorer I's instruments recorded an increasing number of cosmic particles as its altitude increased. Eventually James Van Allen described the discovery as zones or belts of electrically charged particles trapped by Earth's magnetic field. By the first anniversary of the Sputnik I launch, the United States was closing the gap in the space race. America had launched three Explorers and one Vanguard, while the Soviets had launched three Sputniks. However the Russians could not only claim the first launch of an artificial object, but it could also claim the first launch of a living creature as well. Also, at 185 pounds, Sputnik I weighed more that all four US satellites combined and Sputnik III weighed more than 2,950 pounds. Although the Sputnik I launch is widely believed to have signaled the start of the space race, some space policy historians do not believe that the real competition actually started until seven years later. Some say that initially, Eisenhower attempted to avoid an overreaction to the Soviet accomplishments in order to foster a strong US program based on the United State's own goals and abilities.A new rivalry began on April 12, 1961, when Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin made the first manned space flight, an orbital mission in Vostok I. A month later, NASA astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in space. He made a brief suborbital flight. On February 29, 1962, astronaut John Glenn ...
