 Although that proposal was rejected in favor of the U.S. Navy's Project Vanguard, which made the first sub-orbital flight Vanguard TV0 in December 1956, the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957 (and the resulting "Sputnik crisis") and the failure of the Vanguard 1 launch attempt resulted in the Army program being funded to match the Soviet space achievements.The rocket family is named for the Roman goddess and queen of the gods Juno for its position as the satellite-launching version of the Jupiter-C.The name was proposed by JPL Director Dr. William Pickering in November 1957.