Editing Juno I (section)

== History ==
Developed as a part of the  [[Explorers Program|Explorer Project]], the original goal for the launch vehicle was to place an [[satellite|artificial satellite]] into [[orbit]]. Following the [[Soviet Union]]'s launch of [[Sputnik 1]] on October 4, 1957 (and the resulting "[[Sputnik crisis]]") and the failure of the [[Vanguard 1]] launch attempt, the program received funding to match the Soviet space achievements. The launch vehicle family name was suggested in November 1957 by [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]] (JPL) Director [[Bill Pickering (rocket scientist)|Dr. William Pickering]], who proposed the name [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]], after the Roman goddess and queen of the gods, as well as for its position as the satellite-launching version of the [[Jupiter-C]]. The fourth stage for the Juno I launch vehicle was derived following the September 1956 test launch of a Jupiter-C for the [[Army Ballistic Missile Agency]], which could have been the world's first satellite launch, had a fourth stage been loaded and fueled. A fourth stage would have allowed the nose cone to overshoot the target and enter orbit.<ref name="bello1959">{{cite news|author=Bello, Francis|year=1959|title=The Early Space Age|work=Fortune |url=http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2012/06/03/the-early-space-age-fortune-1959/?section=magazines_fortune|url-status=dead|access-date=June 5, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103053024/http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2012/06/03/the-early-space-age-fortune-1959/?section=magazines_fortune|archive-date=November 3, 2013}}</ref>

The first launch of a Juno I launch vehicle was in early 1958, with the successful launch of [[Explorer 1]] satellite on February 1, 1958, at 03:47:56 [[Greenwich Mean Time|GMT]], after the Soviet Union's [[Sputnik 1]] on October 4, 1957.<ref name="bello1959"/> The launch had been scheduled for January 29, 1958, but was scrubbed twice. Explorer 1 was the first U.S. satellite, and it confirmed the existence of the [[Van Allen radiation belt]]. Following the first successful launch, five more Juno I launch attempts occurred with two successes and three failures. The final launch attempt was on October 23, 1958, from [[Cape Canaveral Space Force Station|Cape Canaveral Launch Pad 5]], which ended in failure.<ref>{{cite web|title=JUNO I FACT SHEET |url=https://www.spaceline.org/cape-canaveral-rocket-missile-program/juno-i-fact-sheet/|publisher=Spaceline|access-date=2021-08-01}}</ref>