1957 Project Vanguard: A launchpad explosion of Vanguard TV3 thwarts the first United States attempt to launch a satellite into Earth orbit. 1958 Explorer program: ''Explorer 1'' – The first successful launch of an American satellite into orbit. 1958 The United States launches the Vanguard 1 satellite. 1958 The Soviet satellite Sputnik 2 falls from orbit after a mission duration of 162 days. 1962 First transatlantic satellite television transmission.1962 ''Alouette 1,'' the first Canadian satellite, is launched. 1962 NASA "Relay 1" launch, first active repeater communications satellite in orbit.1965 Launch of Early Bird, the first communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit. 1965 In the Hammaguir launch facility in the Sahara Desert, France launches a Diamant-A rocket with its first satellite, ''Asterix-1'' on board, becoming the third country to enter outer space. 1970 The first Chinese satellite, Dong Fang Hong I, is launched. 1971 Britain launches its first satellite, Prospero, into low Earth orbit atop a Black Arrow carrier rocket. 1972 The United States launch ''Landsat 1'', the first Earth-resources satellite. 1975 India's first satellite Aryabhata is launched. 1989 The first of 24 satellites of the Global Positioning System are placed into orbit. 1996 China launches a Long March 3 rocket, carrying the Intelsat 708 satellite. The rocket flies off course 3 seconds after liftoff and crashes into a rural village. 2006 The first Kazakh space satellite, KazSat is launched.