Part 1: Vanguard - America's Failed Answer to Sputnik

Project Vanguard, the US Navy's plan to put a satellite in orbit, isn't one of those space stories that's well-remembered and with good reason - it was a historic failure and a national embarrassment. Needless to say, we were interested. In this episode, America tries to beat the Soviets to orbit with three (3) competing space programs, Navy engineers discover possibly the most dangerous chemicals on the planet, and an unfinished, untested, underfunded, and mismanaged rocket is forced to perform "the wettest dry run in history".

P.S. Thank you to Sarah from the It Came From The Sea podcast for the intro (the annoyed tone is intentional and hopefully not directed at us)

Sources:
Red Moon Rising, Matthew Brzezinski
Ignition, John D. Clark
Vanguard: A History, NASA