In the wake of the Russian moon triumph, U.S. spacemen had two failures and one success last week. A Jupiter rocket blew up, and a Thor Able navigation satellite failed to orbit. The bright spot was the last of the much-criticized Vanguards, which put a 50-lb. payload in a high orbit expected to last 30 years or more.
This made nine satellites circling the earth. Eight of them are American: three Vanguards, three Explorers, and two Discoverers. They range in weight from a 3.25-lb. instrumented Vanguard to an empty 1,700-lb. second stage of a Discoverer. The other is Russia's massive space body....