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On January 31, 1958 - Reacting swiftly to the Soviet success with Sputnik I, the United States makes its first foray into space a highly successful one.

http://feeds.wired.com/~r/wired/index/~3/0HfWdXXPRWY/

WIRED Magazine - First U.S. Satellite Discovers Van Allen Belt

Other significant space missions took place on this day.

1961-01-31: Space chimp Ham launched on board Mercury-Redstone 2

1971-01-31: Apollo 14/Kitty Hawk/Antares (Alan Shepard, Ed Mitchell, and Stu Roosa) launched, nearly 10 years after Shepard's Mercury/Freedom 7 flight

http://www.universetoday.com/82960/more-space-anniversaries-apollo-14-and-ha...