[Night Owl]

Originally Posted by wasyoungonce

Whilst not a rocket...the reportedly 1st man made object in space was a manhole cover from Operation Plumbob

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Plumbbob

Yeah, heard this years ago. The super slo mo camera they had on this metal plate placed over the shaft head of an underground nuclear test only showed in 1 frame, as it took off for destination unknown.

But there is serious doubt that it ever made it to space as the velocity it had would have had a launch would have caused it to melt / vapourise well before hand.

http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/Plumbob.html

Scroll down the Pascal B test.