A new chapter in space flight began on 1950 July with the launch of the first rocket from Cape Canaveral [ http://www.spacelin…], Florida [ http://en.wikipedia…]: the Bumper 2. Shown above [ http://grin.hq.nasa…], the Bumper [ http://www.wsmr.arm…] 2 was an ambitious two-stage rocket program that topped a V-2 [ http://en.wikipedia…] missile base with a WAC Corporal [ http://www.designat…] rocket. The upper stage was able to reach then-record altitudes of almost 400 kilometers, higher than even modern Space Shuttles [ http://en.wikipedia…] fly today. Launched [ http://www.spacelin…] under the direction of the General Electric Company [ http://ge.com/], the Bumper 2 was used primarily for testing rocket systems and for research on the upper atmosphere [ http://csep10.phys.…]. Bumper 2 rockets carried small payloads that allowed them to measure attributes including air temperature and cosmic ray [ http://www.ngdc.noa…] impacts. Seven years later, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I and Sputnik II [ http://www.hq.nasa.…], the first satellites [ http://liftoff.msfc…] into Earth orbit. In response, in 1958, the US created NASA [ http://www.hq.nasa.…].
Explanation
A new chapter in space flight began on 1950 July with the launch of the first rocket from Cape Canaveral [ http://www.spacelin…], Florida [ http://en.wikipedia…]: the Bumper 2. Shown above [ http://grin.hq.nasa…], the Bumper [ http://www.wsmr.arm…] 2 was an ambitious two-stage rocket program that topped a V-2 [ http://en.wikipedia…] missile base with a WAC Corporal [ http://www.designat…] rocket. The upper stage was able to reach then-record altitudes of almost 400 kilometers, higher than even modern Space Shuttles [ http://en.wikipedia…] fly today. Launched [ http://www.spacelin…] under the direction of the General Electric Company [ http://ge.com/], the Bumper 2 was used primarily for testing rocket systems and for research on the upper atmosphere [ http://csep10.phys.…]. Bumper 2 rockets carried small payloads that allowed them to measure attributes including air temperature and cosmic ray [ http://www.ngdc.noa…] impacts. Seven years later, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I and Sputnik II [ http://www.hq.nasa.…], the first satellites [ http://liftoff.msfc…] into Earth orbit. In response, in 1958, the US created NASA [ http://www.hq.nasa.…].
