Who launched the first satellite?
Earth observation satellite
Earth observation satellites or Earth remote sensing satellites are satellites specifically designed for Earth observation from orbit, similar to spy satellites but intended for non-military uses such as environmental monitoring, meteorology, map making etc. 
The first occurrence of satellite remote sensing can be dated to the launch of the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957. Sputnik 1 sent back radio signals, which scientists used to study the ionosphere.
NASA launched the first American satellite, Explorer 1, in January 31, 1958. The information sent back from its radiation detector led to the discovery of the Earth's Van Allen radiation belts.
The TIROS-1 spacecraft, launched on April 1, 1960 as part of NASA's TIROS (Television Infrared Observation Satellite) Program, sent back the first television footage of weather patterns to be taken from space.
, more than 150 Earth observation satellites were in orbit, recording data with both passive and active sensors and acquiring more than 10 terabits of data daily.
Kosmos 6
Kosmos 6 ( meaning "Cosmos 6"), also known as DS-P1 No.1 and occasionally in the West as Sputnik 16 was a prototype radar target satellite for anti-ballistic missile tests, which was launched by the Soviet Union in 1962. It was the sixth satellite to be designated under the Kosmos system, and the second spacecraft launched as part of the DS programme to successfully reach orbit, after Kosmos 1. Its primary mission was to demonstrate the necessary technologies for radar tracking of spacecraft, which would allow future satellites to function as targets. It was the first solar-powered satellite manufactured by Yuzhnoye.
Timeline of first orbital launches by country
Many other countries have launched their own satellites on one of the foreign launchers listed above (the first being the British owned and operated, although American-built satellite Ariel 1, was launched by a US rocket in April 1962. In September 1962 the Canadian satellite, Alouette-1, was launched by a US rocket, but unlike Ariel 1 it was constructed by Canada.
Walter Scott Houston
In 1955, Houston recruited a few dozen people as satellite spotters for Operation Moonwatch. In 1958, his Moonwatch station in Manhattan, Kansas was the first to catch sight of Explorer I, the United States' first satellite.
Spacecraft
A German V-2 became the first spacecraft when it reached an altitude of 189 km in June 1944 in Peenemünde, Germany. Sputnik 1 was the first artificial satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit (LEO) by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957. The launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments; while the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the Space Age. Apart from its value as a technological first, Sputnik 1 also helped to identify the upper atmospheric layer's density, through measuring the satellite's orbital changes. It also provided data on radio-signal distribution in the ionosphere. Pressurized nitrogen in the satellite's false body provided the first opportunity for meteoroid detection. Sputnik 1 was launched during the International Geophysical Year from Site No.1/5, at the 5th Tyuratam range, in Kazakh SSR (now at the Baikonur Cosmodrome). The satellite travelled at 29,000 kilometers (18,000 mi) per hour, taking 96.2 minutes to complete an orbit, and emitted radio signals at 20.005 and 40.002 MHz
Prospero (satellite)
The Prospero satellite, also known as the X-3, was launched by the United Kingdom in 1971. It was designed to undertake a series of experiments to study the effects of space environment on communications satellites and remained operational until 1973, after which it was contacted annually for over 25 years. Although Prospero was the first British satellite to have been launched successfully by a British rocket, the first British satellite placed in orbit was Ariel 1, launched in April 1962 on a U.S. rocket.
Kosmos 1
Kosmos 1 ( meaning "Cosmos 1"), also known as DS-2 No.1 and occasionally in the West as Sputnik 11 was a technology demonstration and ionospheric research satellite launched by the Soviet Union in 1962. It was the first satellite to be designated under the Kosmos system, and the first spacecraft launched as part of the Dnepropetrovsk Sputnik programme to successfully reach orbit. Its primary missions were to measure the performance of its carrier rocket, and to conduct research into the ionosphere.
Space program of the Philippines
The first satellite under this program Diwata-1, the first satellite designed and assembled by Filipinos, with cooperation from the Hokkaido University and Tohoku University. One of the major goals of the PHL-Microsat program is to boost the progress on the creation of the Philippine Space Agency. The satellite was deployed from the International Space Station on April 27, 2016. The first nanosatellite, Maya-1 was also deployed from the ISS along with two other satellites on August 10, 2018.
Sputnik 3
In July 1956, the Soviet Union's OKB-1 completed the preliminary design for the first Earth satellite, designated ISZ (Artificial Earth Satellite). ISZ was known to its designers as "Object D." Design of Object D had begun in January 1956 with intent to launch it during the International Geophysical Year. Object D was planned to be the first satellite launched by the Soviet Union but ended up being the third following delays due to problems developing the extensive scientific experiments and their telemetry system. The new R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile, also known by its GURVO designation 8K71, was ready to launch before Object D was finished. Worried at the prospect of America launching a satellite before he did, Sergei Korolev substituted the relatively simple "Prosteyshiy "Sputnik-1"" meaning "Simple Satellite 1", or "PS-1", which was labeled "Sputnik 1" by the Soviet Government, as the first satellite to be launched instead. The "Sputnik 2" ("PS-2") was also ready and launched earlier than Object D.
Samuel Shenton
Despite the launch in October 1957 of Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite, Shenton proved a popular speaker to small groups, enjoying particularly talking to children, never declining an invitation. He claimed that satellites simply circled over a flat disc-world: "Would sailing round the Isle of Wight prove that it were spherical?", he demanded. As manned space flight started in 1961, Shenton began to attract international media attention with his denials, telling the "Coshocton Tribune" on 10 May that the astronauts could never travel into orbit.
Communications satellite
The first satellite purpose-built to relay communications was NASA's Project SCORE in 1958, which used a tape recorder to store and forward voice messages. It was used to send a Christmas greeting to the world from U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Courier 1B, built by Philco, launched in 1960, was the world's first active repeater satellite.
Space policy
Although Chairman Mao Zedong planned after Russia's Sputnik 1 launch to place a Chinese satellite in orbit by 1959 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC), China did not successfully launch its first satellite until 24 April 1970. Mao and Zhou Enlai decided on 14 July 1967 that the PRC should not be left behind, and started China's own human spaceflight program. The first success came on 15 October 2003 when China sent its first astronaut into space for 21 hours aboard Shenzhou 5.
Satellite geodesy
Satellite geodesy began shortly after the launch of Sputnik in 1957. Observations of Explorer 1 and Sputnik 2 in 1958 allowed for an accurate determination of Earth's flattening. The 1960s saw the launch of the Doppler satellite Transit-1B and the balloon satellites Echo 1, Echo 2, and PAGEOS. The first dedicated geodetic satellite was ANNA-1B, a collaborative effort between NASA, the DoD, and other civilian agencies. ANNA-1B carried the first of the US Army's SECOR (Sequential Collation of Range) instruments. These missions led to the accurate determination of the leading spherical harmonic coefficients of the geopotential, the general shape of the geoid, and linked the world's geodetic datums.
Astérix (satellite)
Astérix, the first French satellite, was launched on November 26, 1965 by a Diamant A rocket from the CIEES launch site at Hammaguir, French Algeria. With "Astérix", France became the sixth country to have an artificial satellite in orbit after the USSR ("Sputnik 1", 1957), the United States ("Explorer 1", 1958), the United Kingdom ("Ariel 1", 1962), Canada ("Alouette 1", 1962), and Italy ("San Marco 1", 1964), and the third to launch a satellite on its own (the UK, Canada and Italy's satellites were launched on American rockets).
Technological and industrial history of the United States
At the close of World War II, both the American and Russian forces recruited or smuggled top German scientists like Wernher von Braun back to their respective countries to continue defense-related work.
Expendable rockets provided the means for launching artificial satellites, as well as manned spacecraft. In 1957 the Soviet Union launched the first satellite, Sputnik I, and the United States followed with Explorer I in 1958. The first manned space flights were made in early 1961, first by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and then by American astronaut Alan Shepard.
Kosmos (satellite)
Kosmos (, , "Cosmos") is a designation given to a large number of satellites operated by the Soviet Union and subsequently Russia. Kosmos 1, the first spacecraft to be given a Kosmos designation, was launched on 16 March 1962.
Spaceflight
Tsiolkovsky's rocketry work was not fully appreciated in his lifetime, but he influenced Sergey Korolev, who became the Soviet Union's chief rocket designer under Joseph Stalin, to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles to carry nuclear weapons as a counter measure to United States bomber planes. Derivatives of Korolev's R-7 Semyorka missiles were used to launch the world's first artificial Earth satellite, Sputnik 1, on October 4, 1957, and later the first human to orbit the Earth, Yuri Gagarin in Vostok 1, on April 12, 1961.
History of television
Satellite television had also developed in Europe but it initially used low power communication satellites and it required dish sizes of over . On December 11, 1988 Luxembourg launched Astra 1A, the first satellite to provide medium power satellite coverage to Western Europe. This was one of the first medium-powered satellites, transmitting signals in K band and allowing reception with small dishes (90 cm). The launch of Astra beat the winner of the UK's state Direct Broadcast Satellite licence holder, British Satellite Broadcasting, to the market.
Television Infrared Observation Satellite
TIROS, or Television Infrared Observation Satellite, is a series of early weather satellites launched by the United States, beginning with TIROS-1 in 1960. TIROS was the first satellite that was capable of remote sensing of the Earth, enabling scientists to view the Earth from a new perspective: space. The program, promoted by Harry Wexler, proved the usefulness of satellite weather observation, at a time when military reconnaissance satellites were secretly in development or use. TIROS demonstrated at that time that "the key to genius is often simplicity." TIROS is an acronym of "Television InfraRed Observation Satellite" and is also the plural of "tiro" which means "a young soldier, a beginner".
Canadian Space Agency
With the launch of Alouette 1 in September 1962 Canada became the third country to put an artificial satellite into space. At the time, Canada only possessed upper atmospheric launch capabilities (sounding rockets), therefore, Alouette 1 was sent aloft by the American National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc, California. The technical excellence of the satellite, which lasted for ten years instead of the expected one, prompted the further study of the ionosphere with the joint Canadian-designed, US-launched ISIS satellite program. This undertaking was designated an International Milestone of Electrical Engineering by IEEE in 1993. The launch of Anik A-1 in 1972 made Canada the first country in the world to establish its own domestic geostationary communication satellite network.
Apollo 11
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the United States was engaged in the Cold War, a geopolitical rivalry with the Soviet Union. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite. This surprise success fired fears and imaginations around the world. It demonstrated that the Soviet Union had the capability to deliver nuclear weapons over intercontinental distances, and challenged American claims of military, economic and technological superiority. This precipitated the Sputnik crisis, and triggered the Space Race. President Dwight D. Eisenhower responded to the Sputnik challenge by creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and initiating Project Mercury, which aimed to launch a man into Earth orbit. But on April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space, and the first to orbit the Earth. It was another body blow to American pride. Nearly a month later, on May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American in space, completing a 15-minute suborbital journey. After being recovered from the Atlantic Ocean, he received a congratulatory telephone call from Eisenhower's successor, John F. Kennedy.
Satellite television
The world's first commercial communications satellite, called Intelsat I and nicknamed "Early Bird", was launched into geosynchronous orbit on April 6, 1965. The first national network of television satellites, called Orbita, was created by the Soviet Union in October 1967, and was based on the principle of using the highly elliptical Molniya satellite for rebroadcasting and delivering of television signals to ground downlink stations. The first commercial North American satellite to carry television transmissions was Canada's geostationary Anik 1, which was launched on 9 November 1972. ATS-6, the world's first experimental educational and direct broadcast satellite (DBS), was launched on 30 May 1974. It transmitted at 860 MHz using wideband FM modulation and had two sound channels. The transmissions were focused on the Indian subcontinent but experimenters were able to receive the signal in Western Europe using home constructed equipment that drew on UHF television design techniques already in use.
Satellite imagery
The first images from space were taken on sub-orbital flights. The U.S-launched V-2 flight on October 24, 1946 took one image every 1.5 seconds. With an apogee of 65 miles (105 km), these photos were from five times higher than the previous record, the 13.7 miles (22 km) by the Explorer II balloon mission in 1935. The first satellite (orbital) photographs of Earth were made on August 14, 1959 by the U.S. Explorer 6. The first satellite photographs of the Moon might have been made on October 6, 1959 by the Soviet satellite Luna 3, on a mission to photograph the far side of the Moon. The Blue Marble photograph was taken from space in 1972, and has become very popular in the media and among the public. Also in 1972 the United States started the Landsat program, the largest program for acquisition of imagery of Earth from space. Landsat Data Continuity Mission, the most recent Landsat satellite, was launched on 11 February 2013. In 1977, the first real time satellite imagery was acquired by the United States's KH-11 satellite system.
All satellite images produced by NASA are published by NASA Earth Observatory and are freely available to the public. Several other countries have satellite imaging programs, and a collaborative European effort launched the ERS and Envisat satellites carrying various sensors. There are also private companies that provide commercial satellite imagery. In the early 21st century satellite imagery became widely available when affordable, easy to use software with access to satellite imagery databases was offered by several companies and organizations.
Carl E. Duckett
On October 4, 1957, America was shaken by the launch by the Soviet Union of the first artificial satellite, "Sputnik I". The U.S. Air Force and the CIA assembled a highly secret Telemetry and Beacon Analysis Committee (TABAC) to analyze the signals recorded from the launch at Tyuratam and those heard all over the world from "Sputnik". From his work in Jam Session, Duckett was asked to be a leader in the TABAC effort. It required about 18 months to calibrate the signals and understand how they related to the launch vehicle characteristics. The payoff, however, was significant; for the next two decades this provided the U.S a major window into the operation of Soviet missiles.
Mary Sherman Morgan
In 1957, the Russian Soviet Union and the United States had set a goal of placing satellites into Earth orbit as part of a worldwide scientific celebration known as the International Geophysical Year. In this endeavor the United States effort was called Project Vanguard. The Soviet Union successfully launched the Sputnik satellite on October 4, 1957, an event followed soon after by a very public and disastrous explosion of a Vanguard rocket. Political pressure forced U.S. politicians to allow a former German rocket scientist, Wernher von Braun, to prepare his Jupiter C rocket for an orbital flight. In the renamed launcher (now called Juno I) the propellant succeeded in launching America’s first satellite, Explorer I, into orbit on January 31, 1958.
Westar 1
Westar 1 was America's first domestic and commercially launched geostationary communications satellite, launched by Western Union (WU) and NASA on April 13, 1974. It was built by Hughes for Western Union, using the HS-333 platform of spin-stabilized satellites. Westar 1 was the first of five Westar satellites launched by Western Union from 1974 to 1982. Westars 1, 2, and 3 were 12-transponder satellites while Westar 4 and Westar 5 were launched with 24 transponders. Western Union built a teleport in Cedar Hill, Texas, to uplink content to the Westar satellites (it was interconnected to WU's existing terrestrial microwave network at the time), and another teleport that, in addition to uplink services, would become the main TT&C (telemetry, tracking & control) center for the satellite (and for all of the Westar fleet later on), in Glenwood, New Jersey. A sixth satellite, Westar 6, was launched in 1984 but failed to reach orbit and was retrieved by the STS-51-A Space Shuttle mission later that year. It was later refurbished and relaunched in orbit of Asia as AsiaSat 1 in 1990.
History of spaceflight
The Sputnik 1 became the first artificial Earth satellite on 4 October 1957. The satellite transmitted a radio signal, but had no sensors otherwise. Studying the Sputnik 1 allowed scientists to calculate the drag from the upper atmosphere by measuring position and speed of the satellite. Sputnik 1 broadcast for 21 days until its batteries depleted on 4 October 1957, and the satellite finally fell from orbit on 4 January 1958.
Kosmos 52
Kosmos 52 was launched by a Vostok-2 rocket, serial number R15002-03, flying from Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The launch took place at 09:36 UTC on 11 January 1965, with the spacecraft receiving its Kosmos designation - along with the International Designator 1965-001A and the Satellite Catalog Number 968 - upon its successful insertion into orbit. It was the first satellite to be launched in the year 1965.
Geosynchronous satellite
The first geostationary communication satellite was Syncom 3, launched on August 19, 1964 with a Delta D launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral. The satellite, in orbit approximately above the International Date Line, was used to telecast the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo to the United States.
The Princeton Three
October 4, 1957 the Soviet Union put the first satellite into orbit around the Earth. Sputnik one caused many in the U.S. scientific community to outburst on the lack of work put into a satellite program. One of the key contributors to these outbursts was a former German scientist, turned American through project paperclip, Wernher von Braun. Von Braun stated that if given the correct materials and the go ahead he would have an American satellite in orbit in a matter of months, and he did not disappoint. January 31, 1958, two months after the Soviets launch their second satellite, Sputnik II, into orbit Explorer I, the first American satellite, was launched into orbit. The Soviets launch of Sputnik I and Sputnik II showed that America was falling behind in fall facets of scientific research only adding to the need of a national laboratory set aside for scientific research according to the issues present.
History of spaceflight
Spaceflight began in the 20th century following theoretical and practical breakthroughs by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and Robert H. Goddard. The Soviet Union took the lead in the post-war Space Race, launching the first satellite, the first man and the first woman into orbit. The United States caught up with, and then passed, their Soviet rivals during the mid-1960s, landing the first man on the Moon in 1969. In the same period, France, the United Kingdom, Japan and China were concurrently developing more limited launch capabilities.
PoSAT-1
PoSAT-1, the first Portuguese satellite, was launched into orbit on September 26, 1993, on the 59th flight of the Ariane 4 rocket. The launch took place in the Kourou Space Centre, French Guiana. About 20 minutes and 35 seconds after launch, at an altitude of 807 km, PoSAT-1 separated itself from the rocket.
Udupi Ramachandra Rao
Rao started his career as a cosmic ray scientist, and worked under Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, which he continued at MIT. In association with the JPL Group, he was the first to establish the continuous nature of the solar wind and its effect on geomagnetism using Mariner 2 observations. Rao's experiments on a number of Pioneer and Explorer spacecraft led to a complete understanding of the solar cosmic ray phenomena and the electromagnetic state of the interplanetary space. Convinced of the imperative need to use space technology for rapid development, Rao undertook the responsibility for the establishment of satellite technology in India in 1972. Under his guidance, beginning with the first Indian satellite "Aryabhata" in 1975, over 18 satellites including Bhaskara, APPLE, Rohini, INSAT-1 and INSAT-2 series of multipurpose satellites and the IRS-1A and IRS-1B remote sensing satellites were designed, fabricated and launched for providing communication, remote sensing and meteorological services.
Indian Space Research Organisation
ISRO has also launched a set of experimental geostationary satellites known as the GSAT series. Kalpana-1, ISRO's first dedicated meteorological satellite, was launched by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on 12 September 2002. The satellite was originally known as MetSat-1. In February 2003 it was renamed to Kalpana-1 by the Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in memory of Kalpana Chawla – a NASA astronaut of Indian origin who perished in the Space Shuttle "Columbia" disaster.
Redstone (rocket family)
Juno I was a derivative of the Jupiter-C, used to launch the first American satellite, Explorer 1, on January 31, 1958. Although the U.S. possibly could have put a satellite into orbit before the Soviet Union had the ABMA been allowed to attempt a satellite launch in August 1956, the Eisenhower administration wanted the first U.S. satellite to be launched by a civil rocket developed by American engineers instead of a rocket derived from a military missile program and developed by the German engineers of Operation Paperclip. Additionally, the administration saw value in the USSR taking the first move to reach orbit because they would set the precedent that territorial overflight in space was fair game, necessary for the United States' space-based photoreconaissance ambitions in the wake of diplomatic protests against U-2 incursions of Soviet airspace.
Yubileiny
Yubileiny (, lit. "Jubilee") is an educational Russian satellite built by NPO PM to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to be placed into Earth orbit. The satellite was launched on 23 May 2008 aboard a Rokot class rocket from the LC-133 launch facility at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, after being delayed since the end of 2007. It was a secondary payload accompanying a cluster of three Gonets communication satellites, and utilised the excess capacity of the carrier.
Neil H. McElroy
On October 4, 1957, just four days before Defense Secretary Charles E. Wilson left office, the Soviet Union launched into orbit the world's first satellite (Sputnik I), suggesting that the Soviets were ahead of the United States in missile development. This event, which raised important questions about the U.S. defense program, served as a backdrop to the swearing in, on October 9, 1957, of McElroy as Secretary of Defense.
J. Allen Hynek
In 1956, he left to join Professor Fred Whipple, the Harvard astronomer, at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, which had combined with the Harvard Observatory at Harvard. Hynek had the assignment of directing the tracking of an American space satellite, a project for the International Geophysical Year in 1956 and thereafter. In addition to over 200 teams of amateur scientists around the world that were part of Operation Moonwatch, there were also 12 photographic Baker-Nunn stations. A special camera was devised for the task and a prototype was built and tested and then stripped apart again when, on Oct. 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched its first satellite, Sputnik 1.
BeiDou Navigation Satellite System
The first satellite, "BeiDou-1A", was launched on 30 October 2000, followed by "BeiDou-1B" on 20 December 2000. The third satellite, "BeiDou-1C" (a backup satellite), was put into orbit on 25 May 2003. The successful launch of "BeiDou-1C" also meant the establishment of the BeiDou-1 navigation system.
Mazaalai (satellite)
Released into space from the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer on the Kibō module of the International Space Station on 7 July 2017, "Mazaalai" is the first Mongolian satellite in space. It has imaging capabilities and can transmit songs back to Earth, but its primary mission will involve performing experiments including GPS location, air density measurement, and investigation of cosmic radiation.
Solrad 1
SOLRAD (SOLar RADiation) 1 was the public designation of the first satellite to successfully observe solar X-rays. Developed by the United States Navy's Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), the satellite was in many ways a direct successor to Project Vanguard, the first American satellite program. It shared satellite space with and provided cover for the first in the GRAB (Galactic Radiation and Background) series, a secret electronic surveillance (ELINT) program. SOLRAD/GRAB 1 was launched into orbit with Transit 2A via Thor DM-21 Ablestar rocket on June 22, 1960, marking the first time two instrumented satellites had been orbited at once.
Project Mercury
The Space Race began with the 1957 launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik 1. This came as a shock to the American public, and led to the creation of NASA to expedite existing US space exploration efforts, and place most of them under civilian control. After the successful launch of the Explorer 1 satellite in 1958, manned spaceflight became the next goal. The Soviet Union put the first human, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, into a single orbit aboard Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961. Shortly after this, on May 5, the US launched its first astronaut, Alan Shepard, on a suborbital flight. Soviet Gherman Titov followed with a day-long orbital flight in August 1961. The US reached its orbital goal on February 20, 1962, when John Glenn made three orbits around the Earth. When Mercury ended in May 1963, both nations had sent six people into space, but the Soviets led the US in total time spent in space.
Kitsat-1
KITSAT-1 or KITSAT A is the first satellite to be launched by the Republic of Korea. Once launched, the satellite was given the nickname "Our Star" ().
Vanguard TV0
Due to later problems with Vanguard it was not the first rocket to put into orbit an unmanned satellite. The first small-lift launch vehicle was the Sputnik rocket, it put into orbit an unmanned orbital carrier rocket designed by Sergey Korolyov in the Soviet Union, derived from the R-7 Semyorka ICBM. On 4 October 1957, the Sputnik rocket was used to perform the world's first satellite launch, placing Sputnik 1 satellite into a low Earth orbit.
The USA responded by launching the Vanguard rocket, that was intended to be the first launch vehicle the United States would use to place a satellite into orbit. Instead, the Sputnik crisis caused by the surprise launch of Sputnik 1 led the U.S., after the failure of Vanguard TV3, to quickly orbit the Explorer 1 satellite using a Juno I rocket launched on January 31, 1958. Thus Vanguard I was the second successful U.S. orbital launch. Thus started the space race, that gave the drive to put men on the moon with the USA's Apollo program.
Soviet rocketry
Sputnik 1 was the first artificial Earth satellite ever launched. On October 4, 1957, the USSR launched Sputnik 1 into orbit and received transmissions from it. Sputnik 1 was designed to be the forerunner for multiple satellite missions. The technology constantly underwent upgrades as the weight of satellites increased. The first notable failure occurred during Sputnik 4, an unmanned test of the Vostok capsule. A guidance system malfunction pointed the capsule in the wrong direction for the orbit-exiting engine burn, sending it instead into a higher orbit, which decayed approximately four months later. The success of Sputnik 1 was followed by the launch of 175 meteorological rockets in the next two years. In all, there were ten of the Sputnik satellites launched.
Fly Me to the Moon (film)
The narrator explains that in 1957, the Soviet Union launched Earth's first satellite Sputnik 1 into orbit. Four years later in 1961, when NASA was putting a monkey named Enos aboard Mercury Atlas 5, astronaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man on Earth to go to space. Feeling the sense of urgency to overtake the Soviets in the space race, U.S. President John F. Kennedy made a huge statement toward a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961, stating that before the decade is out, he plans to launch a man to the Moon and return him safely to the Earth.
Russian culture
In 1957 the first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite, "Sputnik 1", was launched; in 1961 on 12 April the first human trip into space was successfully made by Yury Gagarin; and many other Soviet and Russian space exploration records ensued, including the first spacewalk performed by Alexey Leonov, the first space exploration rover "Lunokhod-1" and the first space station "Salyut 1". Nowadays Russia is the largest satellite launcher and the only provider of transport for space tourism services.
Other technologies, where Russia historically leads, include nuclear technology, aircraft production and arms industry. The creation of the first nuclear power plant along with the first nuclear reactors for submarines and surface ships was directed by Igor Kurchatov. NS "Lenin" was the world's first nuclear-powered surface ship as well as the first nuclear-powered civilian vessel, and NS "Arktika" became the first surface ship to reach the North Pole.
History of telecommunication
The first U.S. satellite to relay communications was Project SCORE in 1958, which used a tape recorder to store and forward voice messages. It was used to send a Christmas greeting to the world from U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower. In 1960 NASA launched an Echo satellite; the aluminized PET film balloon served as a passive reflector for radio communications. Courier 1B, built by Philco, also launched in 1960, was the world's first active repeater satellite. Satellites these days are used for many applications such as GPS, television, internet and telephone.
Creation of NASA
Launched on January 31, 1958, Explorer 1, officially Satellite 1958 Alpha, became the U.S.'s first earth satellite. The Explorer 1 payload consisted of the Iowa Cosmic Ray Instrument without a tape data recorder which was not modified in time to make it onto the satellite.
Commercial use of space
Satellite radio was pioneered by XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio. XM’s first satellite was launched on March 18, 2001 and its second on May 8, 2001. Its first broadcast occurred on September 25, 2001, nearly four months before Sirius. Sirius launched the initial phase of its service in four cities on February 14, 2002, expanding to the rest of the contiguous United States on July 1, 2002. The two companies spent over $3 billion combined to develop satellite radio technology, build and launch the satellites, and for various other business expenses.
Ariel 1
Ariel 1, the first satellite from a nation besides the United States or the Soviet Union, was launched aboard an American Thor-Delta rocket from Launch Complex 17A at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, at 18:00:16 GMT on 26 April 1962. Ariel 1 was among several satellites inadvertently damaged or destroyed by the Starfish Prime high-altitude nuclear test on July 9, 1962, and subsequent radiation belt. It decayed from orbit on 24 April 1976.
Science and technology in Malaysia
The first satellite operated by Malaysia was during 1996 when a private company, MEASAT Satellite Systems Sdn. Bhd (formerly known as Binariang Satellite Systems Sdn. Bhd) bought 2 communications satellites from Boeing Satellite Systems named them MEASAT-1 and MEASAT-2. MEASAT-3 and MEASAT-3A was launched on 2006 and 2009 respectively. Malaysia successfully designed and built its first remote sensing satellite named TiungSAT-1 through collaboration between Astronautic Technology Sdn Bhd in Malaysia and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. in the United Kingdom. The satellite was launched into low Earth orbit on 26 September 2000 at Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. Malaysia's second remote sensing satellite, RazakSAT was launched on 14 July 2009 and RazakSAT-2 was planned to be launched in 2015.
Space Race
On January 31, 1958, nearly four months after the launch of "Sputnik 1", von Braun and the United States successfully launched its first satellite on a four-stage Juno I rocket derived from the US Army's Redstone missile, at Cape Canaveral. The satellite "Explorer 1" was in mass. The payload of Explorer 1 weighed . It carried a micrometeorite gauge and a Geiger-Müller tube. It passed in and out of the Earth-encompassing radiation belt with its orbit, therefore saturating the tube's capacity and proving what Dr. James Van Allen, a space scientist at the University of Iowa, had theorized. The belt, named the Van Allen radiation belt, is a doughnut-shaped zone of high-level radiation intensity around the Earth above the magnetic equator. Van Allen was also the man who designed and built the satellite instrumentation of "Explorer 1". The satellite measured three phenomena: cosmic ray and radiation levels, the temperature in the spacecraft, and the frequency of collisions with micrometeorites. The satellite had no memory for data storage, therefore it had to transmit continuously. In March 1958 a second satellite was sent into orbit with augmented cosmic ray instruments.
Natural satellite
The term "satellite" thus became the normal one for referring to an object orbiting a planet, as it avoided the ambiguity of "moon". In 1957, however, the launching of the artificial object Sputnik created a need for new terminology. Sputnik was created by Soviet Union, and it was the first satellite ever. The terms "man-made satellite" and "artificial moon" were very quickly abandoned in favor of the simpler "satellite", and as a consequence, the term has become linked primarily with artificial objects flown in space – including, sometimes, even those not in orbit around a planet.
Biosatellite
A biosatellite is an artificial satellite designed to carry plants or animals in outer space. They are used to research the effects of space (cosmic radiation, weightlessness, etc.) on biological matter while in orbit around a celestial body. The first satellite carrying an animal (a dog, "Laika") was Soviet Sputnik 2 on November 3, 1957. On August 20, 1960 Soviet Sputnik 5 launched and recovered dogs from orbit Earth orbit.
Marshall Space Flight Center
The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first man-made earth satellite, on October 4, 1957. This was followed on November 3 with the second satellite, Sputnik 2. The United States attempted a satellite launch on December 6, using the NRL's Vanguard rocket, but it barely struggled off the ground, then fell back and exploded. On January 31, 1958, after finally receiving permission to proceed, von Braun and the ABMA space development team used a Jupiter C in a Juno I configuration (addition of a fourth stage) to successfully place Explorer 1, the first American satellite, into orbit around the earth.
Kalpana-1
Originally known as MetSat-1, the satellite was the first launched by the PSLV-C4 into the Geostationary orbit. On February 5, 2003 it was renamed to Kalpana-1 by the Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in memory of Kalpana Chawla—a NASA astronaut who perished in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.
Fred Singer
Singer was one of the first scientists to urge the launching of earth satellites for scientific observation during the 1950s. In 1951 or 1952 he proposed the MOUSE ("Minimal Orbital Unmanned Satellite, Earth"), a satellite that would contain Geiger counters for measuring cosmic rays, photo cells for scanning the Earth, telemetry electronics for sending data back to Earth, a magnetic data storage device, and rudimentary solar energy cells. Although MOUSE never flew, the "Baltimore News Post" reported in 1957 that had Singer's arguments about the need for satellites been heeded, the U.S. could have beaten Russia by launching the first earth satellite. He also proposed (along with R. C. Wentworth) that satellite measurement of ultraviolet backscatter could be used as a method to measure atmospheric ozone profiles. This technique was later used on early weather satellites.
Vanguard TV1
Due to later problems with Vanguard it was not the first rocket to put into orbit an unmanned satellite. The first small-lift launch vehicle was the Sputnik rocket, it put into orbit an unmanned orbital carrier rocket designed by Sergey Korolyov in the Soviet Union, derived from the R-7 Semyorka ICBM. On 4 October 1957, the Sputnik rocket was used to perform the world's first satellite launch, placing Sputnik 1 satellite into a low Earth orbit.
The USA responded by launching the Vanguard rocket, that was intended to be the first launch vehicle the United States would use to place a satellite into orbit. Instead, the Sputnik crisis caused by the surprise launch of Sputnik 1 led the U.S., after the failure of Vanguard TV3, to quickly orbit the Explorer 1 satellite using a Juno I rocket launched on January 31, 1958. Thus Vanguard I was the second successful U.S. orbital launch. Thus started the space race, that gave the drive to put men on the moon with the USA's Apollo program.
Luigi Broglio
With the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957, there was a desire from many countries to pursue their own satellite research programmes. In Italy, the influential physicist Edoardo Amaldi in particular would press for the creation of an indigenous programme. Amaldi convinced Broglio to support the idea and both would eventually help form the Italian Space Research Commission, a branch of the National Research Council with the aim of gathering support for an Italian space endeavour. With Broglio as president of the commission, they were successful in lobbying the Italian government to support his proposal for a national programme to set up an offshore equatorial launch base with the support of NASA rockets and crew training. The programme would lead to the launch of the first Italian-built satellite, San Marco 1, the first not built by either of the era's superpowers, the Soviet Union or the United States.
SCORE (satellite)
Project SCORE (Signal Communications by Orbiting Relay Equipment) was the world's first purpose-built communications satellite. Launched aboard an American Atlas rocket on December 18, 1958, SCORE provided the second test of a communications relay system in space (the first having been provided by the USAF/NASA's Pioneer 1), the first broadcast of a human voice from space, and the first successful use of the Atlas as a launch vehicle. It captured world attention by broadcasting a Christmas message via shortwave radio from U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower through an on-board tape recorder. The satellite was popularly dubbed ""The Talking Atlas"". SCORE, as a geopolitical strategy, placed the United States at an even technological par with the Soviet Union as a highly functional response to the Sputnik 1 and Sputnik 2 satellites.
Symphonie
The Symphonie satellites were the first communications satellites built by France and Germany (and the first to use three-axis stabilization in geostationary orbit with a bipropellant propulsion system) to provide geostationary orbit injection and station-keeping during their operational lifetime. After the launch of the second flight model, they comprised the first complete telecommunications satellite system (including an on-orbit spare and a dedicated ground control segment). They were the result of a program of formal cooperation between France and Germany.Within the bilateral (CNES – GfW) French-German contract, and under industrial prime contractorship of the CIFAS consortium (which was a European economic interest grouping under French law) composed of six companies (three French and three German), their responsibilities were as follows:
Symphonie-A was successfully launched from the Kennedy Space Center on December 19, 1974, at 2:39 a.m. UT.Symphonie was the forerunner for numerous telecommunications services. Its prohibition on commercial use may have paradoxically induced a larger program for experimentation of space telecommunications than ever before – both in the number of participating countries and diversity of field applications. As an example of the extent of its use, 40 countries participated in links via Symphonie A and B (east-west and north-south) – from Quebec to Argentina, from Finland to Reunion Island and from China to Indonesia. The Symphonie A and B experiments may be divided into two types:
Explorer 4
Explorer 4 was an American satellite launched on July 26, 1958. It was instrumented by Dr. James van Allen's group. The Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency had initially planned two satellites for the purposes of studying the Van Allen radiation belts and the effects of nuclear explosions upon these belts (and the Earth's magnetosphere in general), however Explorer 4 was the only such satellite launched as the other, Explorer 5, suffered launch failure.
Satellite television
Satellite television had also developed in Europe but it initially used low power communication satellites and it required dish sizes of over 1.7 metres. On 11 December 1988 Luxembourg launched Astra 1A, the first satellite to provide medium power satellite coverage to Western Europe. This was one of the first medium-powered satellites, transmitting signals in K band and allowing reception with small dishes (90 cm). The launch of Astra beat the winner of the UK's state Direct Broadcast Satellite licence holder, British Satellite Broadcasting, to the market.
Telstar 1
Telstar 1 was a communications satellite launched by NASA on July 10, 1962, it was the satellite that allowed the first live broadcast of television images between the United States and Europe. It remained active for only 7 months, a much shorter service life than today's artificial satellites. Although it no longer works, it is still in the orbit of the Earth.
History of Earth
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite into orbit and, soon afterward, Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space. Neil Armstrong, an American, was the first to set foot on another astronomical object, the Moon. Unmanned probes have been sent to all the known planets in the solar system, with some (such as Voyager) having left the solar system. Five space agencies, representing over fifteen countries, have worked together to build the International Space Station. Aboard it, there has been a continuous human presence in space since 2000. The World Wide Web became a part of everyday life in the 1990s, and since then has become an indispensable source of information in the developed world.
History of the Goddard Space Flight Center
In April 1962, NASA launched Ariel 1 - a joint effort between Goddard and the United Kingdom and the first international satellite. Researchers in the U.K. developed the instruments for the satellite, and Goddard managed development of the satellite and the overall project.
Athena I
Four Athena I launches have been conducted, with one failure. Its maiden flight was conducted from SLC-6 at Vandenberg, and lifted off at 22:30 UTC on 15 August 1995. It was intended to place GemStar-1 into orbit, however the rocket was destroyed by the range safety officer after the failure of its thrust vectoring system resulted in a loss of control. The launch was the first from SLC-6, which had originally been built for the Titan III rocket for launches of the Manned Orbital Laboratory, and was later rebuilt for polar orbit Space Shuttle launches. Both MOL and polar Shuttle flights were cancelled before any launches were made from SLC-6.
The next Athena I launch was on 23 August 1997, and successfully placed the Lewis satellite into orbit for NASA. This launch also took place from SLC-6 at Vandenberg. The third Athena I launch was from LC-46 at Spaceport Florida, and took place on 27 January 1999. The payload, ROCSAT-1, was the first satellite to be operated by the Republic of China. The fourth launch, which was conducted on 30 September 2001, was the first orbital launch to be made from Kodiak Island. Known as the "Kodiak Star" mission, it successfully placed the Starshine 3, Picosat 9, PCSat and Sapphire satellites into orbit.
Geosynchronous satellite
Widely known as the "father of the geosynchronous satellite", Harold Rosen, an engineer at Hughes Aircraft Company, invented the first operational geosynchronous satellite, Syncom 2. It was launched on a Delta rocket B booster from Cape Canaveral July 26, 1963.
Redstone Arsenal
On 4 October 1957, the USSR orbited "Sputnik I", the first Earth satellite. A second Sputnik was launched a month later. On 6 December 1957, a first attempt to launch a satellite-carrying Vanguard failed. Toftoy, Medaris, and von Braun immediately pleaded for the opportunity to show what the Army's "space team" could do. The go-ahead was given and on 31 January 1958, America's first satellite, "Explorer I", was placed into orbit using a modified Jupiter launch vehicle (a four-stage system designated Juno I).
Pegasus (satellite)
The Pegasus satellite was named for the winged horse of Greek mythology and was first lofted into space by a NASA Saturn I rocket on February 16, 1965. Like its namesake, the Pegasus satellite was notable for its "wings", a pair of -long, -wide arrays of 104 panels fitted with sensors to detect punctures by micrometeoroids at high altitudes, in support of the Apollo Program to send manned lunar landing missions starting by 1970. Micrometeoroids were believed to be potentially hazardous to the Apollo crew if they could puncture the spacecraft skin. The sensors successfully measured the frequency, size, direction and penetration of scores of micrometeoroid impacts. The satellite also carried sample protective shields mounted on the arrays.
Bradford Parkinson
Beginning with the landmark launch of Sputnik in 1957, the first man-made satellite, members of the aeronautical and military spheres realized that satellite-based positioning was technically feasible, perhaps likely. The United States Navy experimented with the technology in 1960, launching the Transit positioning satellites which was mainly used for submarine navigation, in particular for initializing their on-board ballistic missiles. However, Transit only provided two-dimensional, periodic fixes every several hours with an accuracy of about 1/10th to 1/4 mile. Additional, satellite-based, navigation systems were proposed or launched throughout the 1960s including by the USAF/Aerospace Corporation, the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, and the Naval Research Laboratory. But because of the secrecy and competition for budgets, of such military endeavors, collaboration was minimal. Also, their collective promise of accuracy was not credible to Pentagon officials and they publicly voiced their skepticism of the whole premise. They did not believe the usefulness would justify the cost. Parkinson was met with extreme resistance, but used small-scale prototypes sell what would go on to become GPS.
Submarine-launched satellite
The first known attempt to launch a satellite from a submarine was conducted on July 7, 1998, when a Russian nuclear submarine (the K-407 Novomoskovsk) launched the Tubsat-N in Barents Sea using a Shtil' rocket. Tubsat-N was a German miniaturized satellite for communication designed by the University of Berlin.
List of unmanned NASA missions
Project Echo was the first passive communications satellite experiment. Each spacecraft was a metalized balloon satellite to be inflated in space and acting as a passive reflector of microwave signals. Communication signals were bounced off of them from one point on Earth to another.
NASA's Echo 1 satellite was built by Gilmore Schjeldahl Company in Northfield, Minnesota. Following the failure of the Delta rocket carrying Echo 1 on May 13, 1960, Echo 1A was put successfully into orbit by another Thor-Delta, and the first microwave transmission was received on August 12, 1960.
TV-SAT 1
TV-SAT 1 was launched by Arianespace using an Ariane 2 rocket flying from ELA-1 at Kourou. The launch took place at 02:19:00 GMT on 21 November 1987. It was the first Spacebus 300 satellite to be launched. Immediately after launch, one of its solar panels failed to deploy, and as a result of this the main uplink antenna, which was located behind the solar panel, could not deploy either. This failure was later established to have been the result of two hold-down bolts, which should have been removed prior to launch, being left on the satellite.
Tiangong program
After the United States threatened to use nuclear weapons during the Korean War, Chairman Mao Zedong decided that only a nuclear deterrent of its own would guarantee the security of the newly founded PRC. Thus, Mao announced his decision to develop China's own strategic weapons, including associated missiles. After the launch of mankind's first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1 by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957, Chairman Mao decided to put China on an equal footing with the superpowers ("我们也要搞人造卫星"), using Project 581 with the idea of putting a satellite in orbit by 1959 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the PRC's founding. However, it would not be until 24 April, 1970 that this goal would become a reality.
Explorers Program
The Explorers Program was the United States's first successful attempt to launch an artificial satellite. It began as a U.S. Army proposal (Project Orbiter) to place a, "civilian", scientific satellite into orbit during the International Geophysical Year; however, that proposal was rejected in favor of the U.S. Navy's Project Vanguard, which included the first sub-orbital flight Vanguard TV0. in December 1956. The Explorers Program was later reestablished to catch up with the Soviet Union its launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957 sparked the Sputnik crisis. Explorer 1 was launched on January 31, 1958, becoming the first U.S. satellite, as well as discovering the Van Allen radiation belt.
After NASA was established in 1958, the Explorers Program was transferred from the US Army. NASA continued to use the name for an ongoing series of relatively small space missions, typically an artificial satellite with a specific science focus. Explorer 6 in 1959 was the first scientific satellite under the project direction of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Over the following two decades, NASA has launched over 50 explorer missions, some in conjunction to military programs, usually of an exploratory or survey nature or had specific objectives not requiring the capabilities of a major observatory. Explorers satellites have made many important discoveries on: Earth's magnetosphere and the shape of its gravity field; the solar wind; properties of micrometeoroids raining down on the Earth; ultraviolet, cosmic, and X-rays from the Solar System and universe beyond; ionospheric physics; Solar plasma; solar energetic particles; and atmospheric physics. These missions have also investigated air density, radio astronomy, geodesy, and gamma ray astronomy.
Moon landing
Willy Ley wrote in 1957 that a rocket to the Moon "could be built later this year if somebody can be found to sign some papers". On 4 October 1957, the Soviet Union launched "Sputnik 1" as the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth and so initiated the Space Race. This unexpected event was a source of pride to the Soviets and shock to the U.S., who could now potentially be surprise attacked by nuclear-tipped Soviet rockets in under 30 minutes. Also, the steady beeping of the radio beacon aboard "Sputnik 1" as it passed overhead every 96 minutes was widely viewed on both sides as effective propaganda to Third World countries demonstrating the technological superiority of the Soviet political system compared to that of the U.S. This perception was reinforced by a string of subsequent rapid-fire Soviet space achievements. In 1959, the R-7 rocket was used to launch the first escape from Earth's gravity into a solar orbit, the first crash impact onto the surface of the Moon, and the first photography of the never-before-seen far side of the Moon. These were the Luna 1, Luna 2, and Luna 3 spacecraft.
The U.S. response to these Soviet achievements was to greatly accelerate previously existing military space and missile projects and to create a civilian space agency, NASA. Military efforts were initiated to develop and produce mass quantities of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that would bridge the so-called missile gap and enable a policy of deterrence to nuclear war with the Soviets known as mutual assured destruction or MAD. These newly developed missiles were made available to civilians of NASA for various projects (which would have the added benefit of demonstrating the payload, guidance accuracy and reliabilities of U.S. ICBMs to the Soviets).
Communications satellite
The first artificial satellite used solely to further advances in global communications was a balloon named Echo 1. Echo 1 was the world's first artificial communications satellite capable of relaying signals to other points on Earth. It soared above the planet after its Aug. 12, 1960 launch, yet relied on humanity's oldest flight technology — ballooning. Launched by NASA, Echo 1 was a aluminized PET film balloon that served as a passive reflector for radio communications. The world's first inflatable satellite — or "satelloon", as they were informally known — helped lay the foundation of today's satellite communications. The idea behind a communications satellite is simple: Send data up into space and beam it back down to another spot on the globe. Echo 1 accomplished this by essentially serving as an enormous mirror, 10 stories tall, that could be used to reflect communications signals.
Telstar 1
The first artificial satellite that the United States successfully put into space was named SCORE and was launched in December 1958. Through it, then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower sent a Christmas message to the entire world. But SCORE stayed in orbit for only a few months. Its enormous surface and the orbit very close to the planet Earth made it reenter after only 500 laps around the planet.
Satellite television
The first public satellite television signals from Europe to North America were relayed via the Telstar satellite over the Atlantic ocean on 23 July 1962, although a test broadcast had taken place almost two weeks earlier on 11 July. The signals were received and broadcast in North American and European countries and watched by over 100 million. Launched in 1962, the "Relay 1" satellite was the first satellite to transmit television signals from the US to Japan. The first geosynchronous communication satellite, Syncom 2, was launched on 26 July 1963.
Communications satellite
The first artificial Earth satellite was Sputnik 1. Put into orbit by the Soviet Union on October 4, 1957, it was equipped with an on-board radio-transmitter that worked on two frequencies: 20.005 and 40.002  MHz. Sputnik 1 was launched as a major step in the exploration of space and rocket development. However, it was not placed in orbit for the purpose of sending data from one point on earth to another.
Sun Jiadong
During the Cultural Revolution, Sun was appointed as the chief scientist of the Chinese satellite project. On April 24, 1970, the first Chinese space satellite, Dong Fang Hong I, was successfully launched. On March 3, 1971 the satellite "Shi Jian I" was launched. In 1975, China's first returning satellite was successfully launched. In 1984, China's first synchronized experimental communication satellite, Dong Fang Hong II was launched. Sun was the chief designer of all of them.
Normalized difference vegetation index
The exploration of outer space started in earnest with the launch of Sputnik 1 by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957. This was the first man-made satellite orbiting the Earth. Subsequent successful launches, both in the Soviet Union (e.g., the Sputnik and Cosmos programs), and in the U.S. (e.g., the Explorer program), quickly led to the design and operation of dedicated meteorological satellites. These are orbiting platforms embarking instruments specially designed to observe the Earth's atmosphere and surface with a view to improve weather forecasting. Starting in 1960, the TIROS series of satellites embarked television cameras and radiometers. This was later (1964 onwards) followed by the Nimbus satellites and the family of Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer instruments on board the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) platforms. The latter measures the reflectance of the planet in red and near-infrared bands, as well as in the thermal infrared. In parallel, NASA developed the Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS), which became the precursor to the Landsat program. These early sensors had minimal spectral resolution, but tended to include bands in the red and near-infrared, which are useful to distinguish vegetation and clouds, amongst other targets.
Timeline of astronomy
Russia launches the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, into orbit, beginning the space age. The US launches its first satellite, Explorer 1, four months later.
Moscow Aviation Institute
On 4 October 1957, the USSR launched the first artificial satellite opening up Space for mankind, graduates from MAI were deeply involved in the space program since its inception under the leadership of Sergey Korolev, the legendary chief designer of head of the Soviet space program and Mikhail Tikhonravov chief designer of satellites Sputnik-3, Luna-1, Luna-3, Luna-4.
During the cold war, students, faculty members and graduates of the university were involved in cutting edge research in the fields of Aeronautics, Missile development and armaments research. They were pivotal in keeping the USSR ahead in the arms race in close collaboration with the Aerospace and Defense industry and Research organizations like TsAGI, National Institute of Aviation technologies, Russian scientific-research institute of aviation materials, Central institute of Aircraft engines, 30th Central Scientific Research Institute, Ministry of Defence, Gromov Flight Research Institute among others.
Telecommunications engineering
Telstar was the first active, direct relay commercial communications satellite. Belonging to AT&T as part of a multi-national agreement between AT&T, Bell Telephone Laboratories, NASA, the British General Post Office, and the French National PTT (Post Office) to develop satellite communications, it was launched by NASA from Cape Canaveral on July 10, 1962, the first privately sponsored space launch. Relay 1 was launched on December 13, 1962, and became the first satellite to broadcast across the Pacific on November 22, 1963.
Space Shuttle Endeavour
On its first mission, it captured and redeployed the stranded "INTELSAT VI" communications satellite. The first African-American woman astronaut, Mae Jemison, was launched into space on the mission STS-47 on September 12, 1992.
Russian Academy of Sciences
Among the most important achievements of the Academy of the second half of the 20th century, there is, first of all, the Soviet space program. In 1957 the first satellite was launched, in 1961 Yury Gagarin became the first person in space, and in 1971 the first space station Salyut 1 began its operation. Substantial discoveries were also made in the nuclear branch and in other fields of physics. Furthermore, the Academy participated in opening new universities or new study programs in the already existed universities, whose best absolvents started their career at the research institutes of the Academy.
Wideband Global SATCOM
The first launch (WGS-1) was conducted by United Launch Alliance (ULA) on 1 October 10, 2007. The satellite was carried by an Atlas V (421) lifting off from LC-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS). After launch, the WGS-1 satellite was given the US military designation "USA-195". Its coverage area stretches from the U.S. western coast to Southeast Asia.
Launch of the second satellite (WGS-2) was also conducted by ULA, at 01:31 UTC on April 4, 2009, using an Atlas V 421. A ULA Delta IV flying from LC-37B at CCAFS launched the third spacecraft on 6 December 2009. The WGS-2 satellite was positioned over the equator around 60° East longitude (over the Indian Ocean) for use by U.S. Central Command in Afghanistan, Iraq and other parts of Southwest Asia. Originally, the second spacecraft was to fly on the Delta, and the third on the Atlas, but they were switched for an undisclosed reason.
WGS-3 was launched on December 6, 2009, covers the eastern Atlantic Ocean. The satellite was launched by a Delta IV "Medium+ (5,4)" rocket (originally Atlas V but switched with WGS-2; see above).
Unisphere
Three large orbit rings of stainless steel encircle the Unisphere at various angles. These orbit rings are believed to represent the tracks of Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, and Telstar, the first active communications satellite. In fact, the early design was to have a ring for each of a dozen satellites in place at the time of the Fair. This proved impractical, not only in the number of satellites, but also in the height of their orbits and the fact that geostationary satellites had no orbit path. As a result, a symbolic number of three was chosen for aesthetic reasons.
Sentinel-1
The first satellite, Sentinel-1A, launched on 3 April 2014, and Sentinel-1B was launched on 25 April 2016. Both satellites lifted off from the same location in Kourou, French Guiana, and each on a Soyuz rocket. Sentinel-1C and 1D are in development with launch dates to be determined.
Satellite
While Canada was the third country to build a satellite which was launched into space, it was launched aboard an American rocket from an American spaceport. The same goes for Australia, who launched first satellite involved a donated U.S. Redstone rocket and American support staff as well as a joint launch facility with the United Kingdom. The first Italian satellite San Marco 1 launched on 15 December 1964 on a U.S. Scout rocket from Wallops Island (Virginia, United States) with an Italian launch team trained by NASA. By similar occasions, almost all further first national satellites was launched by foreign rockets.
Sputnik (rocket)
The Sputnik rocket was an unmanned orbital carrier rocket designed by Sergei Korolev in the Soviet Union, derived from the R-7 Semyorka ICBM. On 4 October 1957, it was used to perform the world's first satellite launch, placing "Sputnik 1" into a low Earth orbit.
Sputnik 1
On 29 July 1955, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower announced through his press secretary that the United States would launch an artificial satellite during the International Geophysical Year (IGY). A week later, on 8 August, the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union approved the proposal to create an artificial satellite. On 30 August Vasily Ryabikov – the head of the State Commission on R-7 rocket test launches – held a meeting where Korolev presented calculation data for a spaceflight trajectory to the Moon. They decided to develop a three-stage version of the R-7 rocket for satellite launches.
On 30 January 1956 the Council of Ministers approved practical work on an artificial Earth-orbiting satellite. This satellite, named "Object D", was planned to be completed in 1957–58; it would have a mass of and would carry of scientific instruments. The first test launch of "Object D" was scheduled for 1957. Work on the satellite was to be divided among institutions as follows:Preliminary design work was completed by July 1956 and the scientific tasks to be carried out by the satellite were defined. These included measuring the density of the atmosphere and its ion composition, the solar wind, magnetic fields, and cosmic rays. These data would be valuable in the creation of future artificial satellites. A system of ground stations was to be developed to collect data transmitted by the satellite, observe the satellite's orbit, and transmit commands to the satellite. Because of the limited time frame, observations were planned for only 7 to 10 days and orbit calculations were not expected to be extremely accurate.
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
The first United States satellite launch, Explorer 1, was made by the Army Ballistic Missile Agency on February 1, 1958 (UTC) from Canaveral's LC-26A using a Juno I RS-29 missile. NASA's first launch, Pioneer 1, came on October 11 of the same year from LC-17A using a Thor-Able rocket.
Venesat-1
Venesat-1, also known as Simón Bolívar, is the first Venezuelan satellite. It was designed, built, launched, controlled and monitored by the CGWIC subsidiary of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. It is a communications satellite, which will be operated from a geosynchronous orbit. It was launched on a Chinese Long March 3B carrier rocket, from LA-2 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre, at 16:53 UTC on 29 October 2008.
Benefits of space exploration
The first communication "satellite" was actually a balloon called Echo 1 it was launched on August 12, 1960 and stayed roughly 1000 miles (1,609 km) above the Earth and didn't come back down until May 24, 1968. The first communication satellite that would be an actual satellite by modern standards was launched on July 10, 1962 and it was named Telstar. It allowed communication between the United States and Europe to occur almost instantaneously. Telstar operated for approximately a year before it shutdown, but even with its rather short lifespan, it proved that the usage of satellites as a form of long distance communication was possible and better than forms of communication before it. Now, communications satellites have many different functions and are far more sophisticated than the original ones. They can be used to communicate long distances in remote areas with the use of satellite phones. Airlines use them to provide internet service on their flights. They are also starting to be used to deliver internet to areas that are unable to get internet in any other way due to their location. The number of communication satellites has since expanded to about 2,000 in orbit that are able to provide continuous communication around the globe.
Jay Barbree
In 1958, while in a restroom, Barbree overheard a general and a NASA official, talking about an upcoming launch called "Project SCORE", one of the earliest American satellites. This would become one of Barbree's many "scoops", when after a bit of digging, he found that President Dwight D. Eisenhower would use the satellite to broadcast a pre-recorded Christmas message from outer space. When SCORE launched in 1958, Barbree broadcast the story, knowing the military would not deny it once the satellite was in space.
Satcom (satellite)
The Satcom series was a family of communications satellites originally developed and operated by RCA American Communications (RCA Americom). Satcom was one of the early geostationary satellites; the first were the Syncom series, in 1964. The first Satcom satellite, Satcom 1, was launched on December 13, 1975. The last satellite, Satcom K2, was placed into orbit on November 27, 1985 and was de-orbited in February 2002. Satcom was first superseded and then replaced by the GE series of satellites.
Television
The world's first commercial communications satellite, called Intelsat I and nicknamed "Early Bird", was launched into geosynchronous orbit on 6 April 1965. The first national network of television satellites, called Orbita, was created by the Soviet Union in October 1967, and was based on the principle of using the highly elliptical Molniya satellite for rebroadcasting and delivering of television signals to ground downlink stations. The first commercial North American satellite to carry television transmissions was Canada's geostationary Anik 1, which was launched on 9 November 1972. ATS-6, the world's first experimental educational and Direct Broadcast Satellite (DBS), was launched on 30 May 1974. It transmitted at 860 MHz using wideband FM modulation and had two sound channels. The transmissions were focused on the Indian subcontinent but experimenters were able to receive the signal in Western Europe using home constructed equipment that drew on UHF television design techniques already in use.