- Intelsat I
Intelsat I (nicknamed Early Bird for the
proverb "The early bird catches the worm") was the first (commercial) communicationssatellite to be placed ingeosynchronous orbit , onApril 6 ,1965 . It was built by the Space and Communications Group of Hughes Aircraft Company (later Hughes Space and Communications Company, and nowBoeing Satellite Systems) forCOMSAT , which activated it onJune 28 . It was based on the satellite that Hughes had built forNASA to demonstrate that communications via synchronous-orbit satellite were feasible.Originally slated to operate for eighteen months, Early Bird was in active service for four years, being deactivated in January 1969, although it was briefly activated in June of that year to serve the "
Apollo 11 " flight when the AtlanticIntelsat satellite failed. It was deactivated again in August 1969 and has been inactive since that time (except for a brief reactivation in 1990 to commemorate its 25th launch anniversary), although it remains in orbit.The Early Bird satellite was the first to provide direct and nearly instantaneous contact between Europe and North America, handling
television ,telephone , and telefacsimile transmissions. It was fairly small, measuring nearly 2.5 × 2.0 feet (76×61 cm) and weighing 76 pounds (34.5 kg).Early Bird was one of the satellites used in the then record-breaking broadcast of
Our World .ee also
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Syncom , the first geosynchronous and geostationary satellitesReferences
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External links
* [http://www.boeing.com/defense-space/space/bss/factsheets/376/earlybird/ebird.html Early Bird] at boeing.com
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