50 Years Since TIROS-1

[Star Voyager]

50 years ago today, TIROS-1, the world's first suceesful weather satellite, lifted off LC-17A on top of a Thor-Able rocket at Cape Canaveral:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TIROS-1

 

[SiberianTiger]

Very cool. :thumbup: And the rocket was one really weird looking.

 

[Star Voyager]

Here's the NASA article:

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/tiros1-50th.html

 

[Lunar_Lander]

I think those rockets were actually called "pencil rockets" because of their shape

 

[bwog]

Is it still in space, or has it re-entered the atmosphere?

 

[tblaxland]

Is it still in space, or has it re-entered the atmosphere?

From what I can find, it is still up. Decayed from 693 x 750 km to 638 x 673 km.
http://www.heavens-above.com/orbit.aspx?satid=29
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraftOrbit.do?id=1960-002B

 

[Keatah]

When I was a kid I used to be afraid that that satellite would come down and try to come in the bedroom window at night and get me. It was a very 'serious' satellite. OTH: the telstar was a 'fun' satellite and I wanted one for the garage. I remember we got a white beachball and drew the solar panels on it with magic marker and as soon as we put the antennas on it all the air escaped. So we patched the hole and put the wire antenna into the blow-up nozzle. Except that the drawn-on solar panels didn't line up correctly with the axis. So we took gasoline and toulene to clean off the markers and in the process dissolved the plastic. Trying version 2 with a fresh ball we got something that looked pretty good. We then filled it with helium and lo-and-behold I had a real satellite that floated around the house!! I swear I was gonna start my own space program and charge admission to sit in the control room! (we had just gotten an atari 2600 and color tv and slide projector). Ohh the possibilities!!:rofl:

The telstar, to me, was *the* quintissential satellite design - at least to a 5 year old kid http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telstar

And I actually made a 'real' satellite out of cardboard boxes with calculator parts and displays and batteries and a sorts of wires and touchpads. And I bought this whole thing into the Hippos hotdog stand and 'tried' balancing it on the table. What a clumsy mess afterwards. This was like when I was in the 1st grade. What fun!