Rocket launches in1956

A Jupiter C lifts off from Cape Canaveral on September 20 with its fourth stage filled with sand — Eisenhower has ordered the Army not to reach orbit before the civilian Vanguard programme can. With a live stage, it could have orbited a satellite a year before Sputnik.

apogee
1,098 km
downrange
5,367 km
of payload
39.2 kg

The only launch of 1956

The satellite was a dummy, and that was the point