Andrei613 (December 31, 1969 at 4:59 pm)

This footage is of the later Vanguard satellite, and does not show the test satellites, one of which suffered a launch failure on Dec 7,1957, and the other made it to orbit on Mar 17, 1958, and which is still up there, being the oldest satellite still up.

upuautiii (December 31, 1969 at 4:59 pm)

If he's talking about the launching of the first US satellite on the back of the modified Navy Vanguard TV-3 rocket, well, it exploded 4 feet above the ground on Dec 6th 1957, while cameras were rolling. This was the US' response to Sputnik shot into space 2 months earlier. The failed Vanguard launch was called many things, like the Dudnik, Flopnik, or the Kaputnik.